Apple is expected to launch the iPad 5, iPad
Mini 2, plus Mac Pro and Mavericks software, in California and London.
Photograph: Kimihiro Hoshino/AFP/Getty Images
Will the iPad go gold or not?
Following the launch of the gold iPhone 5S, and its apparent popularity with iPhone buyers, a gold-coloured new iPad is certainly a possibility. Alleged leaked back shell for the iPad in space grey.
Supposed leaks of back shells for the iPad originally
indicated that Apple would be moving the iPad to its new iPhone 5S-like
"space grey" and silver colour scheme, replacing the current
aluminium-only back colour option of the iPad 4 and iPad mini.
Recent supply chain predictions from research firm KGI indicate, however, that a gold iPad will not appear at this time, contradicting leaks of an alleged gold iPad mini, complete with Touch ID home button ring, which appeared on Tuesday from China. Alleged gold iPad mini leak from China. Photograph: Weibo
Given the apparent success of the golden iPhone 5S, especially in
China where Apple is hoping to make significant inroads, a gold iPad
could still be on the cards even if not at this juncture.
Updated
Apple's OS X Mavericks is a move against the open web
OS X Mavericks takes one step closer to a siloed app existence, following the lead of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS.
With OS X Mavericks, Apple is moving more and more towards the app
model kickstarted by the rise of app-based smartphone operating systems
like Android and Apple's own iOS.
Instead of relying on the browser to provide services like maps,
Apple is launching the desktop equivalent of its Apple Maps app from the
iPhone - a paradigm shift that could launch a move against the open web
and towards the siloed information clustering of isolated applications. Alex Hern asks, is appification necessarily a bad thing?
What Apple's release of OS X Mavericks hints at is more of the
company's software strategy. And what it says is that Apple has looked
at the progress of its closed world of iPhone apps - and it likes what
it sees.
While there are advantages to switching from the web to an app, though, there remain trade-offs.
Publishers are sometimes spooked by some by the open web's ability to block adverts, or that sites don't stop the public copying and pasting content. But those 'problems' are advantages for the public.
The debate about whether information is better online or siloed away
in apps has gone quiet when it comes to mobile devices; the two exist in
an uneasy truce, with most publishers grudgingly offering both options.
Named after a deadly surf break, is OS X Mavericks really that lethal?
Apple's OS X Mavericks is named after a break at Half Moon Bay, California. Photograph: Frans Lanting/Getty Images/Mint Images
For its latest iteration of its Mac computer operating system, Apple
has ditched its big cat naming scheme leaving OS X 10.8 "Mountain Lion"
as the last of the kitties. Instead, Apple named OS X 10.9 "Mavericks,"
which might conjure up images of a jet-washed Tom Cruise, but is
actually named after a Californian surf spot with a deadly reputation,
as Alex Hern explains:
Mavericks is regarded as one of North America's most dangerous surf
breaks. In 1994, it became one of the few locations to kill a
professional surfer when Hawaiian big wave rider Mark Foo wiped out. In
2011, Mavericks claimed another life when Sion Milosky drowned.
Just the month before, Milosky had won the North Shore underground surfer of the year, leading Surfing Magazine to write “we’ll
be watching Si to see where this momentum takes him”. He used some of
his $25,000 prize money to pay for the trip to Mavericks.
Even among surfing's select group of big-wave riders – maybe 100 in
the world – only a handful will take on the winter swells at Mavericks,
where waves can reach 80 feet. Those that do need specialist equipment –
helmets, sometimes lifejackets, jetski tow-ins and emergency backup.
None of which makes for a comfortable marketing metaphor with a
mainstream piece of computer software.
After retina, is 3D next?
It seems increasingly likely that, after Tuesday's event, the
entirety of Apple's mobile device line-up will have retina displays. In
just over three years, the company will have moved all its iPhones,
iPads and iPod touches to the high-resolution screens. But, Charles Arthur asks, what next?
Given how keen Apple is to build its Chinese business, and how much
it wants to push film viewing on the iPad, and how many films now come
with a 3D version, you could tease out a thread of logic which says that
it would gain a significant commercial advantage if it could come up
with a screen able to display 3D films. How would that be done?
Certainly not with glasses (they're a pain, easily lost or broken,
expensive, and dorky), but perhaps with some sort of lenticular method.
Likely? It's hard to tell.
Updated
iPad sales – going down the tubes?
iPad 5 case leak shows slimmer iPad-mini like design. Photograph: Sonny Dickson
Not the kind of coverage Apple will want on launch day of its new and, supposedly, big Christmas selling, tablets. Business Insider's Henry Blodget has visualised iPad sales from June 2011 to now – and the graph isn't pretty.
Sales dropped 14% in one year to 15m units – in a market forecast to
grow 50% this year. Granted, Apple virtually created the market, so its
market share was bound to drop. But raw sales numbers dropping too?
Apple will be hoping that the new iPads turn this around.
The larger problem, arguably, is that Apple is trying to maintain
premium pricing in a market in which competitors are increasingly
selling high-quality iPad alternatives for significantly lower prices …
The company's profit margin is so high, and this is producing so much
profit, that investors have made it one of the most valuable tech
companies in the world. If Apple sacrifices its profit margin and profit
to increase its mobile platform market share, investors will probably
scream. (It is a slowdown in sales and drop in profits, after all, that
has clobbered the stock over the past year.) If, on the other hand,
Apple maximises its current profit at the expense of market share, as it
appears to be doing, this will likely weaken the company's market
position long-term … The right answer is for Apple to reinvest more of its gigantic profits by reducing the prices of its iPads and iPhones.
Updated
A built-in-keyboard cover?
What to expect – we've spelt out what's most likely from the Apple event on Tuesday night. The teaser on Apple's invite was "we've still got a lot to cover", which some have taken to mean Apple is actually making a cover. That's quite literal. From Gizmodo UK:
According to ex-Apple employee and industry commentator Jamie Ryan,
Apple has been working on “a few different styles” of iPad keyboard
covers for a while.
Well yes, but working on new prototypes – of which you'd expect Apple
to produce hundreds before settling on a viable consumer product –
doesn't mean it is Actually A Thing.
We're giving a likelihood rating of 2 out of 5. It feels a bit desperate.
Updated
Good morning!
Apple fans queue for the iPad mini at a store in Tokyo. Photograph: Koji Sasahara/AP
Apple is holding a launch event today in San Francisco's Yerba Buena
centre, California, with webcasts in London's Kings Place and an event
in Japan.
As has become traditional this time of year, the tech world is widely expecting refreshes to the iPad line. iPad 5 is due to get slimmer, a faster A7 X processor and Touch ID, the fingerprint access Apple introduced with the iPhone 5S in September, while iPad mini 2 is likely to get a retina HD display and, if it's lucky, maybe a splash of colour. Release dates are likely for the new Mac Pro – a futuristic black cylinder designed around its ventilation shaft – and the operating software OS X Mavericks.
Wild cards could be a new Thunderbolt display (that line hasn't been added to since 2011), an Apple TV update or even a new iPad cover with built-in keyboard.
The much-rumoured iWatch, which has been gazumped by Samsung's Gear,
among others, is not expected until 2014. But then, Apple traditionally
likes to end its launch events with "one more thing …"
And we have plenty of non-Apple tablet news to bring you too, all in the build up to Tuesday night's event. Watch this space …
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