Technology giant Apple held an event to discuss their plans, share stats and even announce new products and we’ve got the 7 best pieces of info here.
Similar to the way that Adam and Eve flocked to ‘that’ particular apple in the iconic bible story, consumers and the media are suckers for every interesting tidbit that Apple, of the tech behemoth sort and not the fruity kind, have to share. The proverbial snake in this analogy, of course, are the press invites and the Garden of Eden, if you will, are those very same conferences that they invite the media to. Apple threw one of these reveal pressers just yesterday, announcing not just an impressive boatload of stats that will likely set Blackberry execs off crying, but some previously rumoured new technology too. But, if you don’t have time to sift through your tweet stream or to scour through the liveblogs, we’ve got the 7 best Apple announcements from their October 22nd event for you to peruse right here.
1. The iPad Air
Apple products usually innovate in one of three ways, they make them cheaper, more colourful or far lighter. The iPad Air (picture above), as you might imagine, falls into the latter category, weighing in at just 1 pound and able to be hidden behind a pencil (as introduced at the press conference) Apple’s new light as ‘air’ (these puns just write themselves, honestly) device is just over 30% lighter than the iPad that was released at the end of 2012. However, it may be lighter but this feather resembling tablet still includes the stunning Retina display and in fact, the only specs that are different from that of the past iPad (other than its weight and height) are the battery (the iPad Air’s is slightly less powerful – down from 42.5 watt-hour to 32.4) and the fact that the iPad Air runs on Apple’s superfast A64 bit processor, to keep it running smoothly too. It launches on November 1st.
2. iPad Stats
Apple aren’t one to be shy and why should they be when they’re one of the biggest, most successful tech pioneers around? They used their presser yesterday to throw some of these stats around once more, with the aim of wowing us most likely, and you can understand why. In terms of market share, Apple are the ones to beat, according to Apple themselves, as they dominate the tablet market with the iPad, as it has an 81% market share in comparison to the measly leftover 19% that’s divvied up by everyone else. They also boasted that there are now over 465,000 dedicated iPad apps (apps that aren’t just ported from iOS) so it’s understandable as to why so many users want to buy the thing.
3. Apple OS Mavericks 10.9
Despite the definition of a maverick being “an unorthodox or independent-minded person” there’s very little that’s reckless about Apple’s new operating system. Unless you class incredibly powerful computers as being ‘on the wild side’, that is. Rather, the tagline is far more practical with Apple saying that their new OS for computers will let users “Do even more with new apps and features.” Said apps and features include Maps and iBooks, previously introduced on iOS, along with some additions that allow users to organise their desktops better. What’s more is that Mavericks 10.9 is free to download for those who are running Apple’s Snow Leopard OS or higher.
4. Apple Have Outlasted Expectations
Going back to Apple’s ego for a moment, the company had more to say on their success. Just last month they sold their 170 millionth iPad (for reference that’s like every person in the UK owning three of Apple’s tablet) and they also say that there are plenty of critics who will be surprised at this number. Negative comment highlights that Apple shared on stage are as follows, “It’s not going to revolutionise anything, it’s not going to replace netbooks.” (netbook sales have dropped drastically during the iPad’s reign), “Anyone who thinks it’s a game changer is a tool” and “I can’t see a need for the thing”, critiques that we could all laugh now, given just how well the iPad has done.
5. iPad Mini With Retina Display
Rumoured to have been delayed until next year, Apple defied expectations and ’anonymous sources’ by announced the iPad Mini with Retina display! Now, tablet users who don’t want to pay for the lighter and more expensive iPad Air that we mentioned earlier but still want to downsize their iPad without skimping on-screen quality will like that the new iPad has the same resolution as the iPad Air (2,048 x 1,536) along with the 64-bit A7 Apple chip. It scraps the LCD screen seen in the last iPad Mini, likely making the other iteration look paltry in comparison, but those who want to upgrade to the iPad Mini with Retina display can do so when it’s released later in November.
6. Apple and Productivity
While the duo of iPad reveals may be getting most of the press coverage, there were also plenty of announcements (plus a dig at Microsoft!) in terms of apps and productivity. In iWork, Pages, Numbers and Keynote have all been ‘rewritten for desktop’, complete with new user interfaces so that you can create spreadsheets, charts and other such things far easily. Keynote is even at such a level that Apple ran their entire presentation using it. They also demonstrated making a poster using Pages, which lets you drag photos onto the page, and they also gave a shout to iCloud too, saying that you’ll soon be able to collaborate in iWork via iCloud, letting you collaborate with “friends who are stuck on PCs”. It’s also worth mentioning that all of these apps are available for free, provided that you purchase a new Mac or iOS device, that is.
7. Mac Pro
And what better way to use all of these productivity apps than on your $3,000 Mac Pro? While the numbers following that dollar sign may make Apple’s new desktop seem rather pricey, the specs that you get with it seem to be worth the cost. The Mac Pro desktop will run on the Mavericks 10.9 OS, it will have a 3.7GHz quad-core Xeon CPU, 12GB of RAM and a 256GB hard drive and while these specs might sound rather fancy, it all equates to the Mac Pro ‘being ‘rather good’ when it’s released in December.
Disappointed by Apple’s new gadgets or are you hoping to buy some of them? Let us know in the comments.
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