The official CE liveblog, brought to you by Branch.
55 minutes to go!
Let's take a last-minute look at the rumours and recap what we expect to see at the event...
The biggest announcement will, of course, be the iPad mini. Based on leaks, it will basically look like a shrunken down version of the existing iPad. 9to5Mac says mini Smart Covers are coming, too.
Don't forget the retina MBP 13", iTunes 11, a new Mac Mini and iMac.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is also on its way. 9to5Mac published specs for 3 different models this morning: 9to5mac.com
My best guess on iPad mini pricing is 16GB WiFi base model will be $299 and everything will go up from there. I assume there will be 4G/LTE models as well. 2 screen sizes x 2 colours x 3 storage sizes x 2 data options = 24 total iPad models. How will stores ever stock all of these?
I'll be glad if it's $299, but I have a feeling — and I hope I'm wrong — Apple will start at $329 for the iPad Mini.
Also, the name: I think Apple will go with iPad (7.85-inch), not iPad Mini.
That's what I was thinking too; 10" and 7" iPad, just like 13" and 15" MacBook. However, 9to5Mac Smart Cover leak from this morning seems to indicate they'll go with the iPad mini name.
Here we go folks!
Tim Cook is out!
"It's great to be back in California Theater. We've had some very fond memories here and we're going to be creating a few more today." — Tim Cook
"We sold out the first weekend, selling more than 5 million units. This was fantastic. This is the most iPhones ever sold in the opening weekend, and the most phones ever sold in the opening weekend." — Tim Cook
200 million devices already upgraded to iOS 6! — Tim Cook
That's incredibly fast for just 1 month.
"We've been working on new features that make your life easier, like documents in the cloud." — Tim Cook
"We've been working on new features that make your life easier, like documents in the cloud." — Tim Cook
"Features like iMessage, it's of course the best way to send anyone a message on a Mac or iPod touch or iPad, you can see all your messages on all devices. Already in just last year, customers have sent 300 billion messages. You're sending them at 28k per second. Maybe more right now." — Tim Cook
"And finally shared photo streams — the best way to share what you want with the people you want. Customers have already shared over 70m photos with friends and family."
275,000 iPad apps in the App Store “These are not stretched out smartphone apps” - Tim Cook. ZING!
700K iOS apps, 275K iPad apps, 35B apps downloaded.
Tim is talking about iBooks now.
Devs have been paid $6.5 to date.
1.5M books in the iBook store, 400M iBooks downloaded.
New iBooks has continuous scrolling.
You can post excerpts to Twitter and Facebook if you like, and 40 languages are supported. We're seeing Korean, Japanese and Chinese script.
New iBooks integrated with iCloud to sync bookmarks, etc. Improved from previous version. Share quotes from books straight to Facebook and Twitter.
40 new languages, like Korean and Japanese.
Available today.
On to the Mac!
Mac has outgrown PC market for the last six years.
Mac is #1 desktop and #1 notebook in U.S.
Macs have been No. 1 desktop and notebook in the U.S.
"We're going to continue innovating with the Mac, and we've got some really great stuff to show you this morning"
"Today is a very big day for the Mac" - Schiller
Schiller!
13" MacBook Pro is Apple's best selling Mac.
Schiller just announced the 13" MacBook Pro!
The "new" 13" MacBook Pro, that is. Just 0.75 inches thin.
3.57 lbs.
No optical drive.
MagSafe 2, dual Thunderbolts, SD card, HDMI output and dual USB 3.0. No optical drive, of course, a Retina display.
2560 x 1600
4,096,000 pixels.
75% percent reduction in glare. IPS panel.
13" rMBP starts at $1699. Ships today.
Rest of the MB line stays at the same prices.
Mac Mini time
"Next up, the Mac Mini… [laughs]… you knew there'd be something called Mini in this presentation."
Apple announces 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display currenteditorials.com
Now for the iMac.
Next gen iMac looks amazing. Well under an inch thin.
80% percent thinner than the previous. 5MM thin at the edge.
"This is so thin we wanted to do something even more with it. the way this is welded is called friction stir welding."
21.5-inch and 27-inch. 1,920 x 1,080 and 2,560 x 1,440 respectively.
Core i5 or i7 processors, NVIDIA Kepler graphics, up to 768GB of flash or 3TB HDD, and 32GB of RAM.
Four USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt ports.
Apple Fusion Drive. What?!
128GB Flash Storage, with 1TB or 3TB HDD, fused into one drive. Optimized for Mountain Lion.
Core applications and OS stays on the SSD, documents stay on the HDD.
"For those who are still stuck in the past we do offer an external optical drive."
Base is $1,299 with a 2.7GHz i5 with 1TB HDD and 8GB of RAM, ships November. The 27-inch model starts with a 2.9GHz i5, 8GB of RAM and 1TB HDD for $1,799, ships in December.
This uses up to 50% less power when idling.
Tim is back.
iPad time.
Crazy Mac stuff, and we'll have full specs on CE later on!
100M iPads sold to date.
Tim is talking iPad now. 2 weeks ago, Apple sold their 100 millionth iPad!
"Why is the iPad so popular? Well it turns out there's a simple reason: people love their iPads!" Laughs.
"They love the display. They love the camera for FaceTime. They love that they can connect anywhere they go on Wi-Fi or cellular. They love iPad's legendary all day battery life. And they love all of the amazing apps optimized for iPad."
iBooks Textbooks now available for 80% os U.S. high school curriculum.
2500 schools using iBooks Textbooks.
94% of the Fortune 500 use iPads.
Tim "We are just getting started" (with iPad)
Schiller's back! Here we go.
Schiller is heading back on stage to show off new iPads
4th generation iPad!
New A6X processor in the iPad 4.
iPad 4 has 720p FaceTime HD camera.
2x faster WiFi, Lightning connector for iPad 4.
New Lightning to USB and Lightning to SD cables, also HDMI and VGA.
Same pricing as iPad 3.
The iPad 4 rotates on screen to reveal the 7" iPad hiding behind!
iPad mini it is!
"Isn't just a shrunken down iPad, it's an entirely new design" Schiller. Features similar chamfered edges to the iPhone 5.
7.2mm thin.
Black has slate back like iPhone 5.
Same resolution as original iPad, 1024 x 768. 7.9" display.
Phil comparing iPad mini to Nexus 7 on stage.
iPad mini display is almost an inch larger than Nexus 7, yet hardware is same physical size.
Apple clearly felt the Nexus 7 was their biggest threat, not Kindle.
He's now showing how Nexus 7 has stretched smartphone apps, compared to tailored iPad apps.
iPad mini will have LTE.
Same 10 hour battery as iPad 4.
16GB iPad mini starts at $329.
iPad 2 is sticking around at $399. Surprising.
32 for $429, 64 for $529.
iPad mini preorders start October 26th. WiFi iPad mini shipping November 2nd.
Cellular versions shipping two weeks after that.
Sounds like Tim is wrapping up the event now.
That's all, folks! Thanks for joining our first CE liveblog on Branch!
And that's a wrap! Check out CurrentEditorials.com for all the details!
