Special Event: Apple October 2013 Event

Big news on tap from Apple today, and after a "State of the Apple" rundown, OS X was first up

MAC

Apple started of the day with OS X Mavericks, the 10th update to the OS X operating system.  After a rundown of all the features, Craig Federighi made an amazing announcement, Mavericks is free for EVERYONE.  Upgrading from as far back as Lion to Mavericks is free, and available today.

Phil Schiller then hits the stage to announce new 13" and 15" MacBook Pros, with the 13" Starting at $1299, 15" Starting at $1999....each down $200 from last years prices and shipping TODAY.

MacPro was up next, and it is insane!  Intel Xeon E5, 4,6,8, or 12 cores. 1866Mhz DDR3 ECC Ram, up to 64 GB of RAM.  Dual worstation grade GPUs with up to 7 teraflops of processing power.  PCIe Flash storage.  Thunderbolt 2 expansion, and can power up to three 4K displays.  Dual audio out, 4 USB3, 6 Thunderbolt 2 ports. Priced starting at $2999 with 3.7GHz Quad-Core Xeon, 12GB RAM and available in December.  This new MacPro will be the first Mac designed and BUILT in the USA for quite some time.

Next up was Eddy Cue, to talk about applications.  iLife on stage first, with new versions of Garage Band, iPhoto, and iMovie.  Bringing the design cues from the recently released iOS 7.  Photo books now possible from iPad.  iMovie now re-designed to be identical on iOS and Mac.  Garageband now supports up to 32 tracks on iOS devices with 64Bit processors.  Using iCloud integration songs you start working on while on the go with your iPhone or iPad are now available from where you left off on your Mac.  Huge focus here on seamless movement from iPad and iPhone to your Mac when you get home or to the office.  Once again, all FREE with a new iOS or Mac, and available today.

iLife was next, showing of re-designs for Mavericks and iOS.  Full file compatability across iWork, now 64Bit so it's faster than ever.  Context sensitive control panel on the Mac to make changes faster and easier.  Shared editing and live colaboration across all platforms.  Again, all FREE with purchase of a new Mac or iOS device, and available today.  As Eddy said, "today is the biggest day ever for Apps" at Apple.

iPad

In three years iPad has changed the computing world.  Tim showing quotes saying it would not change NetBooks, and one saying "Anyone who thinks this is a game changer is a tool".  More than 475,000 iPad applications in the app store.  Customers using iPads in hundreds of ways the designers never envisioned.

Phil Schiller back to talk about new iPads.  The biggest step yet....iPad Air!  Thinner, Lighter than any iPad yet.  Still 9.7" screen, bezel 34% smaller.  7.5mm thin, 20% thinner than last iPad.  Down to 1lb, was 1.4 last year.  Apple claiming it is the "Lightest full sized tablet in the world".  A7 chip from 5S, full 64Bit computing now on iPad.  Also will have M7 Motion Co-Processor.  Now 8x faster than the original iPad, 72x graphics performance versus original iPad.  Available in Space Grey and White, starting at $499 for 16GB Wi-Fi, shipping November 1st.

iPad Mini was next.  Retina display is finally here.  2048x1536, same pixel dimensions as new iPad Air.  Also running the new A7 chip with M7 motion co-processor.  Also available in Silver and Space Grey.  Starting at $399 for 16GB with Wi-Fi.  Current mini will still be available at $299.  New Mini with Retina Display will ship in November.  

Only real surprises were that the Mini would get the A7 instead of an older processor like the previous generation, and that TouchID was nowhere to be found on iPad, which pundits thought would appear on the full sized device.

In all a big day.  All new software being FREE is an amazing announcement, new Macs to go with the new OS were important to keep momentum moving forward on the desktop, and new iPads in time for the holidays.

 

Review: First round of iPad mini cases/covers has arrived

OK, so far I have received several cases/covers for the iPad mini, and a couple show why third-party case manufacturers need to be careful not to rush products to market too early.

Apple SmartCover for iPad miniThe first to arrive actuall got to me before the mini did.  Apple's SmartCover for iPad mini is much like the SmartCover for the original iPad.  Attached by magnets along the left hand side of the iPad, it lays across the face of the iPad protecting the screen.  Lined with micro-fiber cloth, it also can be removed and folded to be used as a screen cleaner.  It protects the glass but leaves the sides and back uncovered, and provides no real protection in case of a fall.  It is better than nothing, and holds in place fairly well over the screen to protect the glass while it is in a bag or pocket, but provides little protection.

Ionic 2-Tone leather caseThe next case to come in was the Ionic 2-Tone Designer Leather Case Cover.  This case looks great, and is well constructed.  The stiching is well done, and special attention to design was used to provide a magnetic flap to secure the iPad instead of the typical velcro or friction flaps used in most other cases.  The problem is that Ionic rushed this case out without having design specs from Apple for screen size and more importantly, the size of the bezel around the screen.  Apple changed the way it did bezels with the mini, and rather than being equal widths on all four sides, the long sides of the bezel are narrower.  This brings us to the problem with Ionic's case.  More than 1/4 inch of screen is obstructed on each of the long sides.  As you can see, the case covers a significant portion of the screen along both edgesThis was done because prior to the announcement of the iPad mini, no one could have expected that for the first time the bezel would be narrowed along those edges.  Ionic's designers couldn't take that into account, and so they are shipping a case that is not at all funtional for this device.

The last case to arrive is the iTronz Black High Quality PU Leather Smart iPad Mini case folio.  My favorite of the three I've recieved so far, but again it was obviously rushed into production.  Unlike the ionic above it was designed after the announcement, as evidenced by the proper placement of the side cut around the screen.  The design is pretty common, it fits the device well and provides fair ammounts of protection.  The issue comes from the placement of magnets in the front flap.  They are intended to activate a magnetic switch in the ipad to enable the unlocking of the device.  The magnets are not aligned properly for the switch, so you still have to manually turn the ipad on.  Not a big deal, but not as convinient as it was intended to be.

The bottom line is this folks.  By christmas there will be a lot of cases from well known manufacturers that work exactly the way you expect them to.  While the proces may be cheaper on these no-name imports, sometimes you get what you paid for.

Review: Apple iPad mini

When Apple finally announced the iPad mini two weeks ago, the only question most people in the tech industry had was where they would set the price. The device had been rumored for years, and was expected long ago. We received our answer, and many thought it was far too high. At $329 it is $130 more than the Amazon Kindle Fire HD, and more than $70 more than Google's Nexus 7.

What the analysts failed to anticipate was the impact that Apple has on the public. Just as they did with MP3 players when the iPod was released, Apple has not just released another device in a crowded market, they have released THE iconic device in a market that many didn't know really existed.

Many people in my family would never have heard of the Kindle Fire without my telling them (and showing them mine). I'm sure many of you could say the same. However when Apple announces a product people hear about it, and more importantly for Apple, they run down to buy it. They stay up past midnight for preorders to make sure they have it before the people they work with. Apple announced that they sold more than 3 million new iPads over the first weekend, more than twice what the analysts expected. Here's how they did it.

Apple knows tablets. With more than 80% of the market in the US they know tablets better than anyone. Apple didn't need to change anything but size. They didn't need to design a new interface or operating system the way the other companies I've mentioned needed to. They didn't need to wait for developer support, because they used the same specifications developers were already writing for from the iPad 2. If you have used an iPad or iPhone before, you already know how to use an iPad mini. Since there are more than 200 million iOS devices already sold, that is a huge group of potential users to draw from, and a group with more brand loyalty than any other in the consumer electronics market.

As Phil Schiller said during the announcement, this is "every inch an iPad". From the familiar grid of icons to the 4:3 aspect ratio in a world of widescreen tablets, the iPad stands out, and in the minds of many above the rest of the market.

It has replaced both my Kindle Paperwhite and my iPad 3 in my daily life, and I expect I'm not alone.