Apple is holding a special event today at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, California to unveil the fifth-generation iPad and second-generation iPad mini, alongside updated iLife and iWork software—and quite possibly some surprises. In addition to individual stories discussing the developments as they happen, we’re providing this running, updated feed of what’s taking place at the event. If you have computer or iOS device access, you can watch the proceedings for yourself at Apple’s web site, otherwise enjoy our text-based coverage as the event takes place, and afterwards.
iPad: Apple sold 170m iPads as of this month. 475,000 apps just for iPad. iPad Air introduced as the fifth-generation iPad’s name. New A7 chip is inside. iPad 2 lives on for $399, amazingly. iPad mini 1G drops to $299, and Retina iPad mini starts at $399.
Apps: Apple announces 1 million apps in the App Store, downloaded 60 billion times. All new iLife apps for iOS + Mac, including flattened and simplified iMovie, flattened iPhoto, and 64-bit support for A7-series devices. Free with iOS devices, starting today. iWork also free, available today.
Mac: Retina MacBook Pros now $200 less expensive, featuring new components, and 13” model is thinner and lighter than before. OS X Mavericks released today, free to all Mac users of Snow Leopard or newer machines.
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2:20PM ET: Cook runs through all of the ‘innovation’ and new products of the past month. iPhones, iPads, Macs, OS X Mavericks, etc. Video ad to show off new iPad Air, spotlighting how thin it is—pencil thin. “The type of innovation that only Apple can deliver.” iPad shown with “Designed by Apple in California” now in larger text on the bottom. That’s it for the event.
2:15PM ET: New mini time. Retina display confirmed for the iPad mini. 2048×1536 just like the Air and prior iPads, at 7.9” with an A7 processor. Silver and white, gray and black versions. 10 hour battery life, MIMO antennas and expanded LTE support, too. 5MP iSight camera and new FaceTime HD camera. $399—and coming later in November. $299 iPad mini first-gen will stick around. Four iPad models. New iPad cover starts at $39. An iPad Case—leather case—for $79 iPad Air, or $69 for mini. “Customers love protecting their iPads with covers and cases.” Tim Cook returns to the stage. No gold iPads, no Touch ID, no A7X for those keeping track.
2:05PM ET: Apple wants to get iPads into hands of customers. Worked on next-generation – Phil Schiller to discuss.
Biggest step yet, claims Phil, in video demo. Thinner, lighter, and more powerful. It’s the iPad Air. 43% thinner bezel. Device is 7.5mm thin, 20% thinner than before. Now 1 pound weight. It’s the lightest full-sized tablet. A7 processor, M7 motion coprocessor, very similar to the iPhone 5s processor it appears. MIMO for faster Wi-Fi, improved graphics and app loading by around 2X. Expanded LTE support a la iPhone 5s/5c. 5MP iSight camera, dual mics, and 1080p HD video, 10 hours battery life. $499 price, replacing prior iPad. Silver/white or space gray/black colors. New FaceTime HD camera. iPad 2 available at $399, still. November 1 start date for shipping, China included in initial launch. No Touch ID. Video demo discussing all of the selling points.
2:02PM ET: Video of how iPads are being used. Basically, for everything.
1:58PM ET: iPad details are up now. Apple originally defined the iPad as its most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary device. Some people doubted it, deeply. “Who remembers netbooks,” Cook asks. They sold the 170 millionth iPad this month. iPad is used more, Cook claims, than any of its competitors. This questionable metric of tablets being used on the web is trotted out again, 81% iPad to 19% others. iPad continues to be rated number one for satisfaction. 475,000 iPad apps, custom made for iPad, not just iPhone apps stretched out like competition.
1:56PM ET: Over 20 different Apple apps are being updated today. Tim Cook’s back up.
1:49PM ET: Now, iWork. Pages, Numbers, Keynote redesigned from iOS 7 and also for the Mac. New UIs. Full file compatibility across platforms, and full 64-bit support.
New context-sensitive formatting panels on the Mac remove clutter of unneeded tools; new effects and animations for Keynote, which has been used in the presentation. Keynote has new physics, more realistic effects. Demo of Pages, sharing from Mac over web to any computer with a web browser. Collaboration being added to iWork for iCloud, synchronous changes going instantly between two computers over the web. iWork also free, available for download today.
1:41PM ET: That’s it for Mac. Now Eddy Cue to discuss apps, starting with iLife. Biggest updates ever, he says. New iMovie, iPhoto, GarageBand for Mavericks and iOS. All 64-bit + iCloud-ready. iPhoto iOS has lost skeuomorphic elements in favor of a flatter look; same with iMovie, clean and simple design to make it easier to use. No project creation or editing if you don’t want, but you can get “desktop class effects” including speed up/slow down iPhone 5s slo-mo changes for the videos. Mac also gets new design of iMovie. iMovie Theater places all of your edited clips in one place to be viewed across devices, including Apple TV. GarageBand can do 16 track editing on 32-bit, 32 track editing on 64-bit, hinting that the iPad will go 64-bit today. Demo of GarageBand, featuring recorded session musician drum tracks that can intelligently add to existing tracks where desired. All iLife apps will be free with Mac or iOS devices, available today.
1:34PM ET: Mac Pro. 4/6/8/12 core options, Intel Xeon e5, 1866MHz DDR RAM, AMD FirePro with up to 12GB of RAM. Lots of technical details, with flash storage up to 1TB, expandability via Thunderbolt 2 if needed. Can run three 4K displays and has HDMI 1.4 for 4K TVs. Four USB 3 ports, six Thunderbolt 2 ports as well. Dual Gigabit Ethernet. Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11ac. Several big creative customers have had a chance to try it. New Final Cut Pro X was put in the hands of Dean Devlin for realtime 4K editing. New Aperture for photo editing, as well, cutting editing time ‘exponentially’ according to a photographer. Music producer loving it. Shocking $2999 starting price – offset by reality of including expensive components. Available in December. 75% less energy consumption than the prior Mac Pro. Quiet, same level of sound as the Mac mini. Assembled in the United States. Apple plays video to show off the creation of the computer.
1:30PM ET: 15” Retina MacBook Pro – Intel quad-core 4th-gen processor.
