Your assertion is correct. Those Xeons you linked are based on the same chips that are in the imacs. They are based on mainstream desktop chips which are also used in light workstations and micro servers. Haswell will not be right around the corner at that time.
Actually those, the Xeon E3 class offerings, will be "around the corner ta that time". The E3 1200 v3 should be out on the market in the June-August 2013 timeframe if Intel launches the overall Haswell line on time.
But yes those are likely to be used across the whole Mac Pro line if going release machines in the same "horsepower class".
However, if look at the benchmarks in the article the E5 2687W versus the E3 1280 v2 are a bit skewed versus the likely Mac Pro line up. First of all Apple will probably not use anything like the E5 2687W. That the maximum hottest running E5 in Intel's line up. Apple didn't use them in 20008, 2009, 2010, or 2012. It is very unlikely they will use one with those characteristics in 2013. Not only the TDP high, but the price is in the nosebleed zone too. Throwing Apple's 30% markup on top of that would assure that relatively no one bought the box (selling thousands worldwide is a colossal waste of time for Apple).
What may happen though if the Ivy Bridge E5 slide out into Sept-Oct is that top end Haswell E3 are about as fast as the entry-midrange Sandy Bridge E5 . Notice how the i7 990X ( Westmere technology and entire tick-tock cycle behind) lags behind the E3 1280 v2. By the time the E3 1280 v3 is on the market the E5 1600 Sandy bridge models will be an entire tick-tock cycle behind also.
If the clock rates are cranked up a bit and the new transactional memory stuff is effective, then on some parallel loads they'll make up some ground on the Sandy Bridge models with just two cores more.
The ivy xeons appropriate to the mac pro wouldn't be out until the second half of next year. Haswell would be at least a year beyond that assuming no hiccups like we had with Sandy.
There is out and then there is "out and available for workstation vendors". Intel released the Sandy Bridge Xeon E5's to super computer vendors back in Nov 2011. Workstations from system vendors didn't get them until April-May 2012. We'll see this Fall if they pull the same stunt. Ship to select vendors for about 6-8 months before ship to "regular system vendors" again. If Intel latches into that pattern there is a chance Haswell E5 will be in boxes in late 2013. They'll just be boxes that cost over $1M.
That said, one of the potential issues with Haswell E5 models is that it is reported they'll use DDR4 memory.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/05/ddr4-memory-is-coming-soonmaybe-too-soon/
[**]
Since the DDR4 standard isn't final yet (real soon now), that is a potential slide out of 2013 for even the limited release systems.
It will be one of the implementation differences between the server class and mainstream class of Haswell implementations. Similar, to how Sandy Bridge E5 have PCI-e v3.0 while it took Ivy Bridge for it to trickle down to the mainstream line.
[** The article mentions an Haswell-EX processor. I suspect there won't be one just like there was no Sandy Bridge-EX processor. It is really the -EP (and -E derivative of the -EP ) that is the basis for the E5 line up that is at issue. Mac Pro's won't use E7 ( -EX) Xeons either. Or E5 4600 series. There are more Xeon subseries that won't be used in a Mac Pro then will be.
-EX will likely have to wait again for the Broadwell process shrink to get its "as many cores as possible" implementation out the door. Ivy -EX is projected at 15-16 cores. The next step is probably 19-20. ]