I agree for the most part. It will probably come out as expected though, April-ish. But another major release in Sept, just 5 months away? I call bulls**t on that.
Exactly the iPad deserves it's own refresh period. Why lump it in with the iPods? Or even the iPhone? Tablets are their own category. April puts them in the great period of being after CES and MWC but before the actual release of most of those devices.