Apple's iPad mini Event Live Blog
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 23, 2012 11:20 AM EST11:14AM PDT - Thanks for reading!
11:13AM PDT - We're pretty much done here, off to hands on next! Stay tuned!
11:13AM PDT - Tim is now thanking the Apple teams for building all of these products
11:12AM PDT - Moving to a fall release schedule for the iPad is interesting, transitioning to 32nm for the iPad likely helped force that
11:11AM PDT - It looks like we're done for 2012 releases from Apple
11:11AM PDT - Looks like we'll be closing up soon
11:11AM PDT - Tim Cook is back on stage now
11:09AM PDT - Now showing the iPad mini TV ad
11:09AM PDT - Below is the list of launch countries for the WiFi versions
11:09AM PDT - 2 weeks later you'll see cellular versions, first in the US then gradually around the world
11:09AM PDT - WiFi versions will ship on November 2nd
11:08AM PDT - Both devices can preorder on 10/26
11:08AM PDT - Same price adders for larger capacities and LTE
11:08AM PDT - Starts with 16GB and WiFi for $329
11:07AM PDT - I want an A6 in the iPad mini
11:06AM PDT - Glass on the front is 0.2mm thin, touch is 0.12mm thin
11:06AM PDT - Removed the aluminum edge, wraps the iPad mini in one color
11:05AM PDT - New smart cover for the iPad mini
11:05AM PDT - "Concentration of, not a reduction of, the original"
11:02AM PDT - Now showing a video about the new iPad mini
11:02AM PDT - 10 hour battery life
11:02AM PDT - Lightning connector
11:01AM PDT - 802.11a/b/g/n 2.4GHz and 5GHz WiFi
11:01AM PDT - LTE supported, same capabilities from the iPad 4
11:01AM PDT - FaceTime HD front side camera, 5MP iSight camera on the back
11:01AM PDT - dual-core A5, likely 32nm
11:01AM PDT - A5 SoC
11:00AM PDT - Talking about internals now
11:00AM PDT - Apple is serious about defending its iPad territory
11:00AM PDT - Comparing iPad mini apps to Android apps on the N7
10:58AM PDT - 35% larger display area compared to Nexus 7
10:58AM PDT - Nexus 7 is thicker and heavier than iPad mini
10:57AM PDT - Now comparing it to Nexus 7
10:57AM PDT - All iPad apps obviously work on the mini
10:56AM PDT - 1024 x 768 panel
10:55AM PDT - 7.9-inch display
10:55AM PDT - Comes in black and white
10:54AM PDT - 0.68 lbs
10:54AM PDT - 23% thinner than 4th gen iPad
10:54AM PDT - 7.2mm thin
10:54AM PDT - Now talking specs
10:54AM PDT - Looks very thin
10:52AM PDT - iPad mini
10:52AM PDT - Now talking about the smaller iPad
10:52AM PDT - No word on physical dimensions, same chassis?
10:51AM PDT - Same configurations and prices as previous gen
10:51AM PDT - Lightning to USB, SD card, VGA and HDMI cables
10:51AM PDT - Lightning connector
10:51AM PDT - 802.11a/b/g/n 2.4 and 5GHz
10:50AM PDT - 2x faster WiFi
10:50AM PDT - This is key, Apple is moving iPad to the same release schedule as iPhone almost
10:50AM PDT - FaceTime HD camera updated, updated LTE coverage
10:50AM PDT - New ISP, 10 hours battery life
10:49AM PDT - doubles graphics perf as well
10:49AM PDT - doubles CPU performance
10:49AM PDT - A6X!
10:49AM PDT - 4th gen iPad?
10:48AM PDT - hooray Phil
10:48AM PDT - Phil Schiller is back on stage to talk about new iPads
10:48AM PDT - iPad with Retina Display, fastest selling iPad of all time
10:48AM PDT - "We are just getting started"
10:47AM PDT - 94% of the Fortune 500 is either testing or deploying iPad
10:47AM PDT - This is clearly designed to address questions about Windows 8/RT in corporate
10:47AM PDT - Now talking about iPad in the business market
10:47AM PDT - iBooks Author available today as a free download on the Mac apps stores
10:47AM PDT - Mathematical expressions, sorry
10:46AM PDT - Publishers can now insert mathematical experts directly into books
10:46AM PDT - New portrait only templates, embedded fonts
10:46AM PDT - Latest version of iBooks Author announced today
10:46AM PDT - Smaller publishers, teachers, universities are apparently using this as well as the big three
10:45AM PDT - Textbooks created with iBooks Author are now in over 2500 schools in the US
10:45AM PDT - iBooks Textbooks are now available for 80% of US high school core curriculum
10:45AM PDT - Talking about iBooks Author, used to make interactive textbooks
10:44AM PDT - Talking about how quickly iPad has made an impact in education markets
10:43AM PDT - Thankfully the new iMacs don't ship for a while, very interested in exploring Apple's SSD caching
10:43AM PDT - Sidenote: There's no way I'm going to have time to review all of this stuff
10:42AM PDT - "iPad accounts for over 90% of tablet web traffic"
10:41AM PDT - Sold more iPads in June quarter than any PC maker sold of their entire PC line
10:41AM PDT - 100M sold in 2.5 years
10:41AM PDT - Two weeks ago, Apple sold its 100 millionth iPad
10:41AM PDT - "It seems like each time we get together there's a new number or new statistic"
10:40AM PDT - Next up: iPad
10:40AM PDT - Done with the Mac updates
10:40AM PDT - Uses up to 50% less power at idle
10:39AM PDT - Ships in December
10:39AM PDT - 27-inch iMac, 2.9GHz quad-core i5, GTX 660M, 1TB HDD for $1799
10:39AM PDT - Start shipping in November
10:39AM PDT - 21.5-inch iMac 2.7GHz quad-core i5, GT 640M, 1TB HDD for $1299
10:38AM PDT - iMac comes with wireless keyboard and wireless magic mouse
10:38AM PDT - SSD caching systems rarely work well, but with a large enough cache...
10:38AM PDT - This will be very interesting to test
10:38AM PDT - Over time it'll migrate that stuff from HDD to flash
10:37AM PDT - All your docs, apps and images will go to hard drive
10:37AM PDT - All software that comes on your iMac automatically fits on flash
10:37AM PDT - Built into Mountain Lion, sounds like SSD caching done Apple-style
10:37AM PDT - Fused into a single volume in software
10:36AM PDT - 128GB of flash storage and 1TB or 3TB HDD
10:36AM PDT - iMac and Mac Mini now offers Apple Fusion Drive
10:36AM PDT - Customers can choose either HDD or SSD
10:36AM PDT - Talking about storage now
10:36AM PDT - SSD or HDD supported
10:35AM PDT - Kepler, quad-core IVB, up to 32GB of RAM
10:35AM PDT - sheds up to 8 lbs vs. previous gen
10:35AM PDT - 40% less internal volume vs previous gen
10:35AM PDT - FaceTime HD camera, better stereo speakers, dual mics
10:35AM PDT - Each display is individually calibrated, Apple has been doing this for a while it seems
10:34AM PDT - 75% less reflection than previous gen iMac
10:34AM PDT - Plasma deposition process for applying the AR coating, need Vivek's analysis here
10:34AM PDT - max brightness over 300 nits
10:34AM PDT - 2560 x 1440 that is
10:34AM PDT - Two IPS display options, 2560 x 140 for the 27-inch
10:33AM PDT - Removed optical drive
10:33AM PDT - Never done something like this on such a large display
10:33AM PDT - Display is laminated to the outer glass
10:33AM PDT - New display, 5mm thinner
10:32AM PDT - Friction stir welding used to make the chin
10:31AM PDT - 80% thinner than previous generation, extends entire length
10:31AM PDT - 5mm thin edge
10:30AM PDT - Now looking at the next-gen iMac
10:30AM PDT - 7 generations of iMac
10:29AM PDT - Probably going to get IVB updates as well
10:29AM PDT - iMac
10:29AM PDT - One more Mac to talk about
10:28AM PDT - Consumes 11W at idle
10:28AM PDT - Both configs shipping today
10:28AM PDT - dual or quad core Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs, HD 4000, 1TB HDD or 256GB SSD
10:27AM PDT - "you knew there'd be something called mini in this presentation"
10:27AM PDT - Now talking about Mac mini
10:27AM PDT - Done with MacBook lineup updates
10:26AM PDT - Old gen non-rMBP will still stick around
10:25AM PDT - Now showing the new 13-inch rMBP ad
10:25AM PDT - Starts shipping today
10:24AM PDT - Starts at $1699 for 2.5GHz dual core i5 with 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage
10:24AM PDT - The 13-inch rMBP is totally made for Haswell, with no dGPU the Haswell version will be the no-compromise version. I wonder if we'll see 4-cores in the next model
10:23AM PDT - Ships with Mountain Lion obviously
10:23AM PDT - dual core Ivy Bridge, HD 4000 (no dGPU), 802.11n, 8GB RAM standard, 7-hour battery, up to 768GB of storage
10:22AM PDT - Now talking internals
10:22AM PDT - New speakers, dual mics, backlit keyboard, FaceTime HD (720p) camera
10:21AM PDT - Now talking about Retina Display support in iLife and Pro apps
10:21AM PDT - 29% higher contrast, 75% reduced reflection, 300 nits at full brightness - IPS
10:20AM PDT - 13-inch rMBP has more pixels than any competing 15 or 17-inch notebook
10:20AM PDT - 13.3-inch display, 2560 x 1600
10:19AM PDT - Retina Display of course
10:19AM PDT - No optical drive, SD card, USB 3, HDMI on the other side
10:19AM PDT - MagSafe 2, 2 Thunderbolt ports, USB 3, headphone, dual mics
10:19AM PDT - Lightest MBP ever
10:19AM PDT - Weighs around 3.5 lbs
10:18AM PDT - 20% thinner
10:18AM PDT - .75" thin
10:18AM PDT - Brand new 13-inch MacBook Pro
10:18AM PDT - Setting the stage perfectly for the 13-inch rMBP announcement
10:18AM PDT - Number 1 selling notebook is the 13-inch notebook, and #1 selling Mac
10:17AM PDT - Talking about the 15-inch rMBP right now
10:17AM PDT - MacBook is up first
10:17AM PDT - Phil is awesome, he always gives us some technical details
10:16AM PDT - Here come the new Mac announcements, Phil Schiller is taking the stage
10:16AM PDT - This is exactly why we've seen such an increased focus on Ultrabooks and Windows 8 recently
10:16AM PDT - Mac is the #1 US desktop and #1 US notebook
10:15AM PDT - For the past year, Mac market outgrew PC market 15% to 2%
10:15AM PDT - Now talking about the Mac
10:15AM PDT - New iBooks available today
10:15AM PDT - Korean, Chinese, Japanese supported
10:14AM PDT - Over 40 languages supported
10:14AM PDT - Tap on favorite quote to share on facebook or twitter
10:14AM PDT - iCloud support in the new iBooks app
10:14AM PDT - Flick while you're reading, words scroll by just as you'd expect
10:13AM PDT - Continuous scrolling support
10:13AM PDT - Today announcing a new version of iBooks
10:13AM PDT - 400M books downloaded since the inception of the store
10:13AM PDT - Now have over 1.5M books available on the bookstore
10:12AM PDT - Speedy WiFi makes me happy
10:12AM PDT - Now talking about iBooks
10:12AM PDT - now paid out over $6.5B to developers
10:11AM PDT - 35 billion apps downloaded from app store
10:11AM PDT - iMessage data also says quite a bit about how tightly knit the Apple ecosystem is, will be difficult for competitors to draw intrenched users away
10:11AM PDT - 275K iPad apps
10:10AM PDT - Messages sent per second is an interesting way to look at engagement/adoption
10:10AM PDT - 28,000 iMessages sent per second
10:09AM PDT - 300 billion iMessages sent
10:09AM PDT - 125 million documents in the cloud just over the last year
10:09AM PDT - Talking about synergy between iOS and Mac devices
10:08AM PDT - Now talking about Mountain Lion and iOS 6
10:08AM PDT - Fastest upgrade rate of any software in history
10:08AM PDT - After 1 month, 200M devices running iOS 6
10:07AM PDT - Likely about to drop some adoption numbers on us
10:07AM PDT - Moving on, talking about iOS 6
10:07AM PDT - Together with the rest of the new lineup, already sold over 3M iPods
10:06AM PDT - Now talking about the new iPods
10:06AM PDT - I somehow need to finish writing a bunch of stuff in between meetings today, did I mention today is going to be packed?
10:04AM PDT - Watching a video of the iPhone 5 launch now
10:04AM PDT - http://www.speedtest.net/result/2260289603.png
10:03AM PDT - Oh wow, the WiFi just got awesome
10:03AM PDT - The most iPhones ever sold opening weekend, and most phones ever sold in an opening weekend
10:03AM PDT - iPhone 5 sold more than 5 million units in the first weekend
10:03AM PDT - Talking about iPhone 5's launch
10:03AM PDT - Getting started with a few updates
10:02AM PDT - Tim Cook just took the stage
10:02AM PDT - After the iPad event we'll also have a bunch of really interesting coverage for those interested in Windows RT
10:02AM PDT - Things should be getting underway any minute now
10:00AM PDT - Seats are almost full, the event is about to begin, both LTE and WiFi are a bit shaky at this point
09:52AM PDT - We are seated!
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
89 Comments
View All Comments
dishayu - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
the ignorance? pot, kettle, black.It IS the same thing. You make big sheets of of high ppi LCD matrix, harvest as many zero pixel defect large screens as possible and use the rest to harvest screens for tablets/phones/smaller devices. Don't come up with bs theories with no logical backing. LCD manufacturing does not work the way you think you do. They DON'T make individual small/large screens.
uhuznaa - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
Because producing 27" displays with this pixel density in economic yields is incredibly hard. And because you won't be selling hundreds of millions of them to justify what you have to invest for that anyway.And hardly anyone is buying PC displays for any serious amount of money anyway.
dishayu - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
first up, the ppi will not be the same...27 inch screen is approx 4 times the surface area of 13.3 inch screen
4K resolution has approx 2x the pixels of 2560x1600
So, it works out to be about half the pixel density which should be a lot less challenging. And 4K makes atleast as much sense on a 27 inch desktop monitor as 25x16 does on a 13 inch laptop screen (i.e. almost none).
lmcd - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
The mini should have been predicted: after all, the A5 just got a successful die shrink around the time of the 3rd iPad, with a huge battery life jump. Since Apple usually doesn't like lower end products having advantages over higher end, this shrink obviously wasn't for the 10-inch form factor. Similarly, the iPad is considered higher-end than the iPhone, and the A5X was already 45nm (or 40, I forget), so instead of making a die-shrink they just upgraded it.The 13-inch Retina was exactly where expected. Form factor changes with the iMac weren't totally predictable except when you note that the TDPs changed on Ivy Bridge and Apple wouldn't waste an opportunity like that.
Shadowmaster625 - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
$329 for something that has no usb port and cant even take an sd card or anything. They are beyond stupid. 16GB is nothing in 2012. The thing will be nothing more than a paperweight in 6 months for anyone actually dumb enough to buy it. Apple stock price will reflect this stupid move.dugbug - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
Im sure they won't sell anyweb2dot0 - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
You're are spot on.With their track record of making gazillion dollars, how could they ever make any right decisions. They are beyond stupid. Apple stock price will plummet and go out of business in 6months time.
I agree with you, iPad mini will be a complete disaster. Just like the folks who bought Apple when they were at $38/share. Dumb asses ....
Oops ... that would be me.
Ok, I admit you have a point, I mean who's the one with the cash in their bank account right?
I mean who are these idiots who bought iPad/iPad2/iPad3 and soon to be iPad4 and iPad mini with no USB port?!!?!?!? No one will ever buy that piece of crap.
DukeN - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
The Nexus 7 has 30% more pixels than the iPad mini. And of course, Apple glosses over this by yelling they have 35% more display area because their 7.9" screen is larger than the 7" for the Nexus.web2dot0 - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
I agree. It's a launch party, so I fully expect them to promote other competing products.Just like how Samsung does when they launch their products during the time when they didn't have Retina display phones. Fully praise to their competitors.
Scannall - Tuesday, October 23, 2012 - link
The Nexus 7 also happens to be a plasticy, clunky bit of junk. Sold at cost. Poor build quality, running a slow OS. Yes, I said it. Dalvic sucks. Having to run apps through a wannabe Java layer makes things run like, well Java. Slow no matter how much CPU power you throw at it.