Step 1: Apple announces new product.
Step 2: Accessory makers photoshop their entire product lineup to fit that new product.
Step 3: The press is deluged with PR emails.
And so it goes. The first in my inbox was iLuv, and its product picture people really have been busy shrinking everything down for the iPad Mini. If you’re planning on buying Apple’s shrunken-iPad-2-with-a-better-camera, then you’re not going to want for cases, chargers or any other crap.
There were a couple of big surprises yesterday at Apple’s iPad mini event. The first was the pricing of the iPad mini itself: while everyone anticipated a $249 or $299 starting price, the iPad mini actually starts at $329… a good $70 higher than devices like the Google Nexus 7.
But there was another surprise. No one heard a peep in the last few months about Apple’s new Fusion Drive, a combination solid state and platter based hard drive that “fuses” the best aspects of flash and traditional hard drive storage.
Those aspects? Solid state drives (or SSDs) over much faster reading and write speed, as well as “instant-on” boot up from sleep or power down. This leads to huge performance boosts all across the Mac. Traditional hard drives, however, have a couple key advantages: they are both cheaper and have more capacity, allowing you to easily store massive media libraries.
So what’s the point of the Fusion Drive? Simple. It’s the best of both worlds: the speed and instant-on of an SSD, with all of the storage space of an HDD. But how does it work?
AT&T has announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2012 this morning, and once again, Apple’s iPhone has been its biggest-selling smartphone. The carrier sold 6.1 million smartphones in total during the three-month period, a whopping 77% of which were iPhones.
On Monday, we learned Gearbox Software was finally gearing up to bring its Borderlands franchise to iOS. An advert in a digital game guide for Borderlands 2 revealed the title’s name, Borderlands Legends, and promised that the title would arrive this month.
Gearbox has now confirmed that Borderlands Legends will be hitting the App Store on October 31, but it might not be what you were expecting.
As a brand, China’s GooPhone has made a name for itself not only because of their laughably stupid branding, but by the fact that they consistently manage to rip off Apple’s next product design before Cupertino gets their product to market… then threaten to sue Apple for IP violations.
Saucy! And now GooPhone is at it again, announcing a $99 iPad mini clone called the GooPad that looks exactly like an iPad mini, right down to the icons.
Apple has updated its YouTube channel with two new videos for the just-announced iPad mini and its Smart Cover. The first video features Apple design guru Jony Ive explaining the design process for the iPad mini, while the second video is a 37-second TV ad for the new tablet’s Smart Cover.
Ive talks about how the iPad mini is a “concentration, not a reduction.” If you have a friend who’s interested in learning about the iPad mini, then this is the video to show them. You’ll start seeing the second ad for the Smart Cover on TV.
Apple announced the next version of iBooks software at the iPad mini event earlier today, and version 3.0 has now gone live in the App Store. This major update to iBooks brings multiple enhancements, including continuos page scrolling, iCloud support, and integration with iOS 6’s sharing options. Publishers can now push out over-the-air updates for books purchased in the iBookstore as well.
It’s not a whole lot to go by, but this image surfaced on the Dead Trigger Facebook page, teasing the existence of a Halloween update for the Android and iOS zombie shooter, Dead Trigger. Will you be fighting pumpkin-head zombies?
As you may have noticed, Apple announced the iPad mini today. Soon after, of course, came the analyst perspective – if there’s a strong demand for the iPad mini device, we may see serious supply issues. This has been rumored already in regards to the aluminum back for the new iPad mini, but this is the first report that a shortage of display units may also have a role to play.
“We’re now starting to see the issues that [Apple] is having with Samsung,” said Richard Shim, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch, in an interview with CNET.
Samsung is not supplying displays for iPad mini, according to the analyst, which leaves only two suppliers to make the smaller iPad mini for Apple.
Along with the announcement of the iPad mini today, Apple debuted a brand-new commercial for the device that’ll likely be airing on TV soon. In traditional Apple style, this ad features both the full size iPad and its mini counterpart set against an all-white backdrop.
Apple has been really stepping up their advertising game lately, first with the excellent iPod ad last month, the funny iPhone 5 spots, and now this new iPad commercial. Check it out after the break.
Just in case you’re not interested in watching the full iPad mini keynote, we’ve compiled the entire thing down into just 90 seconds, like always. Check out the video after the break to see Tim Cook and Phil Schiller announce all of today’s products, at a rapid rate.
The iPad mini just left the land of make believe to become Apple’s hottest new gadget. And on our just-recorded special edition CultCast, we’re ready to reveal our first impressions of the mini’s smaller form factor, compact screen, and higher than expected price tag.
Plus, are you more than a little peeved that Apple just made their 7-month-old “New” iPad obsolete? Sure, the newly announced 4th-gen iPad the is great news if you didn’t just buy the now last gen iPad 3, but if you did, you’re probably none too enthused.
Our discussion on that and our other hardware first impressions on this very special edition CultCast! Subscribe now on iTunes, or easily stream The CultCast via Apple’s free Podcasts App.
The iPad mini is a totally new product for Apple. It represents a beautiful juxtaposition of the iPhone’s 4-inch display and the Retina iPad’s larger 10-inch canvas. While the rest of the industry has already shifted its focus to 7-inch tablets, Apple entered uncharted territory for itself today.
Based on what we’ve seen, the iPad mini looks like a very compelling device. I’m sure Apple will sell bazillions. What I don’t understand is Apple’s pitch for the iPad mini. What purpose does it serve, and what kind of customer is it intended for? There’s no denying that Apple unveiled a great product today, but the purpose of the iPad mini was muddled by a confusing pitch.
Today’s iPad Mini event was incredible. Tim Cook and the gang just unleashed a tsunami of new Apple products on the world for the second straight month. Yes, the iPad Mini made an appearance, but there was so much more sweet stuff that it’s hard to keep up with all the details.
Rather than getting lost in the flood of thousands of different posts that will be written about the Apple event today, we’ve broken down all the necessary info into delicious bite-size information nuggets just for you, so you can know all the essentials.
Here’s everything that Apple announced at today’s keynote:
Why is the iPad mini $329 instead of $200? In the promo video above, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design, the venerable Sir Jonathan Ive, gives an implicit explanation. The iPad Mini is not a reduced iPad, he says, but a concentrated one.
Here’s his rationale:
Wondering which iPad is right for you: the iPad mini, the iPad 2, or the iPad with Retina Display? Apple now has a dedicated page explaining the difference between the models, for everything from spec to price.
Source: Apple
The fourth generation iPad is now here. That means the third-gen iPad you bought just six months ago is a big pile of silicon dust: twice as slow as the new iPad, without a new connector, with none of its advantages.
Hey, bummer. Apple feels for you, man. That’s why they’re discontinuing the third-gen iPad and selling you the iPad 4 starting at just $379 for the 16GB Wi-Fi only model, just $50 more than a base 16GB iPad mini.
The 32GB and 64GB models are $469 and $549. Want a top of the line 64GB iPad with LTE? It’ll cost you $679 refurbished. At the low end, you can buy a refurbished iPad 3 for the price of a brand new iPad 2.
Source: Apple
The iPad mini is amazingly thin and light but not at all undersized. That’s the first impressions of reporters at Apple’s press event.
Reporters got their their first look at the iPad mini this morning, and the results are trickling in. Most emphasize how light and thin it is, and the quality of the build. And while it’s smaller than a regular iPad, it’s by no means tiny.
Here’s a sample of reporters’ first impressions:
Apple Head of Marketing, Phil Schiller, took the stage today and asked a very important question. “What does the iPad mini do that the iPad doesn’t already do?” he wondered aloud.
His answer was only half as good – “It can fit in one hand.” Here at Cult of Mac, however, we think that’s only part of the story. The fact is that Apple’s newest, smallest, thinnest iPad makes a perfect gaming controller.
Today Apple announced that the iPad mini will be available for pre-order this Friday, October 26th and ship on Friday, November 2nd. What you may have missed is that this launch timeframe applies to Wi-Fi-only iPad mini models. If you want to buy an iPad mini that’s equipped with cellular data, then you’ll have to wait a few more weeks.
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If you weren’t able to watch the entire iPad Mini keynote live, Apple has just added the video to their website and you can watch it at this link whenever you want. Another option is to download the video via iTunes at the following links:
There always seems to be an echo of people on the Internet that are disappointed after an each Apple event. Maybe it’s those people’s own fault because they hyped the products up too much in their minds before actually seeing them. Or maybe Apple’s under-delivered a little bit on the iPad Mini.
I plan to buy an iPad Mini on November 2nd (mostly because I just sold my iPad 3 last night), but part of me wishes the iPad Mini was just a little bit better. I wish it either had a better processor, a better display, or a better price. If Apple had improved just one of those three things a little bit then I’d be warp-drive enthusiastic about it. But after the unveil, the iPad Mini doesn’t look more compelling than a Kindle Fire or Nexus 7, other than that it runs iOS 6.
What do you think about the iPad Mini? Are you excited? Disappointed? Or is everything just as you thought it would be? We’d love to hear y’alls reactions, so head over to the forums and let us hear them.
Click here to share your reaction to the iPad Mini in the Cult of Mac Forums
Apple announced the iPad mini today, a smaller iPad model that starts at $329 for a 16G model. Along with the new form factor and a lightning connector cable, Apple is also making Smart Covers for the new iOS device. You can see them right on the Apple Store website.
As it says in the official Apple Press release, the iPad mini Smart Cover will be available in six colors, including dark gray, blue, green, pink, light gray, and (PRODUCT) RED. It will cost $39 and fit that sweet new Wi-Fi iPad mini you can pre-order on October 26, purchase in an Apple retail store on November 2. The Wi-Fi + Cellular models will show up mid-November.
Source: Apple
Apple just brought the Apple Store back online, and is now ready for your purchases. You can’t pre-order the iPad Mini till October 26th, but if you’re totally jonesing for a new MacBook Pro with Retina display, iMac, or Mac Mini, you can buy one right now.