Apple Special Event Notes, October 23, 2012
Here is an overview of the Apple event, especially as it applies to eBooks and the EPUB format.
iPhone 5
Tim Cook said that iPhone 5 is off to a phenomenal start, selling more than 5 million units over the opening weekend. He then said there is no better place to buy an iPhone than one of Apple’s own stores and showed a video of the phone launch in Apple retail locations.
iPods and iOS
The new iPods are off to a phenomenal launch (Cook needs to retire “phenomenal” NOW) and have sold over 3 million units. There are currently over 200 million devices running iOS 6. It is the fastest operating system upgrade in history.
Customers have place 125 million documents in iCloud. Cook says that iMessage is the best way to send messages to other iOS and Mac users. Over 300 billion iMessages have been sent in last year; 28,000 a second.
There are over 700,000 apps in app store; 275,000 iPad apps are now available. 35 billion apps have been downloaded from the app store. Apple has paid out $6.5 billion to app developers.
iBooks
iBooks is one of the most popular apps on the app store. There are now over 1.5 million books available in iBookstore; over 400 million have been downloaded by customers. “And today we are announcing a new version of iBooks.” It contains a new option with continuous scrolling. This means you can read a book like a Webpage if you prefer. New iBooks is better integrated with iCloud. You can tap on your favorite quote in a book and share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. iBooks now supports over 40 languages. Highlighting Korean, Chinese, and Japanese books that read vertically and right to left. The new iBooks app is now available in the app store. CNET now has a video for the portion of the presentation here.
Mac
Mac is now the number one desktop and notebook computer in the United States. Apple is pleased with progress of Mac, but are not standing still.
Phil Schiller now presenting new innovations. “Today is a very big day for the Mac.”
Everyone has fallen in love with the new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display. The number-one selling notebook is bestselling notebook and computer in the Mac lineup. There is now a new 13-inch MacBook Pro.
It is 0.75 inches thick (20% thinner). It ways 3.57 pounds; almost a pound lighter. It is lightest MacBook Pro ever. It has a Retina display. 2560 x 1600 pixels; 4X pixels of previous MacBook Pro, over 4 million pixels. This is almost twice as many pixels as and HD TV. Reading email, you can’t see the pixels. There is new software now available that supports the Retina display.
FaceTime camera is a 720 p; dual mics.
MacBook Air starts at $999; MacBooks start at $1199; MacBook Pros Retina start at $1699.
Mac Minis have been upgradedl; $699 and $999 for server version.
iMac is the number one desktop model in United States. We have had seven generations of iMac. Today we have the next generation of iMac. It looks mighty thin on screen. “It is the most beautiful Mac we have ever made.” The edge is 5mm thick; 80% thinner than previous version. Friction stir welding is used to merge the molecules of the aluminum. The display is now laminated to the glass. 21.5-inch and 27-inch panels are available. Full lamination design and plasma deposition process make the screen 75 % less reflective. Has 720 p FaceTime camera, dual microphones, and speakers. iMac can have up to 12 GB of RAM. Customers can choose a HDD hard drive or Flash. Now customers can also choose Apple Fusion Drive: 128 GB flash storage, 1TB or 3TB HDD, it is built into Mountain Lion. The Fusion Drive figures out what should be used on Flash and what should be used on HDD.
iMac comes with wireless keyboard, mouse, or trackpad. 21.5-inch iMac starts at $1299; starts shipping in November. 27-inch iMac starts at $1799; starts shipping in December.
iPad
Two weeks ago 100 millionth iPad was sold. 100 million in just two and a half years. Apple sold more iPads than any PC maker has sold in their entire lineup. Tablet Web traffic share: iPad 91%; all other tablets 9%. Why are iPads so successful? Cook: “People love their iPads.” Apps help people learn. Apple has been surprised by how quickly the iPad has been embraced in education. iBooks textbooks are rich, engaging multi-touch textbooks. (And just when we get to the good part I am losing the feed.) iBooks textbooks are now available for 80% of the U.S. high school core curriculum. Mathematics, history, environmental science. iBooks textbooks are now in over 2500 classrooms in the U.S. New iBooks Author with new views available.
Phil is back to talk about new iPads; the fourth generation. Faster performance: the new A6X chip. We can’t even see the competition in the rearview mirror. Next-generation ISP. 10-hour battery life. FaceTime HD camera update. Cellular has expanded LTE coverage. 2x faster Wi-Fi. Lightning connector. New USB and SD cables; HDMI and VGA cables. Comes in black and white. 16 GB Wi-Fi for $499. Cellular starts at $629.
iPad mini
Now showing the new smaller iPad so it can be used in ways and place customers couldn’t use it before: iPad mini. You can hold it in one hand. It is an entirely new design, not a shrunk-down version of full size iPad. It is very thin. 7.2 mm thin; 23% thinner than iPad. .68 pounds. White/silver or black. The screen is 7.9 inches on the diagonal. Pixels are exactly the same: 1024 x 768. All software for iPad works on iPad mini. Great for reading a magazine or book. Comparing iPad mini to “that other product” without mentioning it by name.
Dual-core A5 chip. FaceTime HD front-side camera. 5MP iSight camera on back. Untrafast wireless. Faster Wi-Fi. Lightning connector. 10-hour battery life. Tagline for iPad mini: “Every inch an iPad.” Also designed entirely new smart cover for the iPad mini; removed aluminum hinge.
iPad mini starts at $329. iPad 2 at $399. iPad $499.
iPad mini and new-generation iPad can be pre-ordered starting Friday, October 26. Wi-Fi will ship a week later; cellular a week (two?) after that.