Apple, for the first time, live-streamed their event over the Apple TV (and over the web too, I think, but I wouldn’t know—I was engrossed in my ATV stream). It was held at the California Theater in San Jose, California at 1AM our time (10AM Oct. 23. their time). Tim Cook made the usual introductions and updated everyone on the progress of Apple activities and products. Among the first things Cook announced was a new version of iBooks, which featured, among other things, continuous scrolling of chapters in the books.
But let’s get to the meat of the announcements. Phil Schiller made most of the announcements, by the way.
The entire Mac line was updated:
No mention was made of the Mac Pro, so I guess it’s officially the end of the line for it.
The iPad was also updated to have faster internals in its 4th generation: an A6X chip, which provides twice the processor speed and twice the graphics power of the last iPad version. It was also designed with 2x faster wifi, and has a Lightning connector.
And then the much-awaited non-announcement of the day: the iPad mini!
It comes with a 7.9″ screen. It’s 7.2mm thin, and weighs 0.68 lbs. It’s got thinner side bezels so you can hold it in one hand, and it comes in black (with a slate back) or white. All existing apps work with it, with its 1028 x 768 pixel resolution (unfortunately not Retina display, though—comparisons to the iPad 2 were made, but not a mention of the new iPad’s better resolution).
Quickly now:
It sells with an optional Smart Cover or wrap-around Smart Case that comes in multiple colors. The iPad mini retails for $329 for the base model of 16GB wifi, and moves up from there. Pre-orders start on Friday the 26th, and the wifi versions will be released on Nov. 2, with the LTE versions to be released after two more weeks.
That’s the gist of it for now. More details to follow in the days to come on Technoodling. It’s 2:30am and I gotta sleep.
