In what may just be the speediest jailbreak ever, Dev Team uberlord MuscleNerd has confirmed that he has already jailbroken the iPad 2 and Apple A5X SoC.
On his Twitter stream, MuscleNerd just wrote:
jailbroken iPad3: https://twitpic.com/8x48rt https://twitpic.com/8x48xg (Just a first step, still lots of work to do! No ETA!)
It’s likely that the A5X was jailbroken using the same iOS 5.1 exploits already being worked on for the A5 CPU used by the iPad 2. They do, after all, share the same processor, if not graphics.
Jailbreaks take a long time from proof of concept to an app that anyone can run on their own tablet, so be patient. Still, jailbreakers should take heart: the iPad 3 is not impenetrable, and a jailbreak should be out within a matter of weeks or months.