The Highlights of the Apple Special Event, 22nd October 2013
The Apple Special Event took place on 22nd October at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California. The event touched on the company’s new product launches, operating system updates and the success of iOS7. In this article we will bring you the highlights of the event and provide you with details about some of Apple’s upcoming product launches.
iPhone 5C and 5S
The highly anticipated launch of the iPhone 5C and 5S took place on 20th September 2013. By the end of the first weekend after the launch, it was reported that Apple had sold a whopping nine million phones, making it the biggest iPhone launch ever! Both the iPhone 5C and 5S come with Apple’s latest operating system, iOS7.
iOS7
Just five days after its launch, iOS7 was being used on twenty million devices, making it the biggest and fastest software upgrade in history. At the event, it was announced that sixty four per cent of Apple devices now run on the latest software. iOS7 comes with a wide range of new features, with one of the most popular being the iTunes Radio. The radio already has over twenty million listeners, with one billion songs being played last month in the US alone.
The App store
During the event the success of Apple’s App store was discussed. The App store now has over one million apps with cumulative downloads of sixty billion. CEO Tim Cook said that ‘the App store continues to be the best place for developers to be rewarded for their creativity’ with developers earning over thirteen billion dollars.
iLife and iWork suites
Apple also announced the launch of their iLife suite upgrade. This suite includes iMovie, GarageBand and iPhoto. It was also announced that iPhoto would now be available on the iPad. Apple’s office suite of applications iWork will now come free with Mac and iOS purchases. It can also be downloaded for free. This suite includes Apple’s presentation program Keynote, a word processor called Pages and a spread sheet application called Numbers.
OS X Mavericks
During the event Apple announced the latest version of their OS X, Mavericks. The new operating system will be available for free and can now be downloaded directly from the Mac App store. As expected, the operating system offers increased speed and efficiency, but the updates also provides a more robust notification system, multiple monitor support and a revamped finder. The upgrade includes two new apps, iMap and iBooks. It is also said to improve the battery life of devices with the company claiming that a MacBook Air users can benefit from an hour or so extra battery life using the new operating system.
New MacBook Pro releases
Yet another announcement was the launch of Apple’s new MacBook Pro releases. The new MacBook Pros are the first personal computers with retina displays. As well as having a stunning high-resolution display, the device also boasts a thin and light design, enhanced performance and extended battery life. It is available as either thirteen or fifteen inch. The 13 inch MacBook Pro is 3.46 pounds lighter and 0.71 inches thinner than its predecessor. It uses Intel Irish graphics, which are up to ninety per cent faster than the previous generation, has up to nine hours of us battery life and uses Thunderbolt storage. The 15 inch MacBook Pro uses Irish Pro graphics, has up to eight hours of battery life and uses Thunderbolt 2 storage. Both the thirteen and fifteen inch MacBook Pros are now available to purchase.
Mac Pro
The Mac Pro has been described as ‘the most radical Mac ever.’ The new design features next generation Intel Exon, next generation Flash storage, Thunderbolt 2 and new generation video. The company also highlighted how quiet the device was, stating their aim was to make it no louder than a Mac Mini!
iPad
Since its launch three and a half years ago, around one hundred and seventy million iPads have been sold worldwide. In terms of tablet usage the iPad currently dominates the market by a whopping eighty one per cent. The company went on to state that there are currently around four hundred and fifty thousand apps, which are custom designed for the iPad by third party app developers. During the event the company spoke of their two upcoming releases, the new iPad Air and the iPad Mini 2, both of which will be available in November, just in time for Christmas!
iPad Air
The new iPad Air boasts a 9.7 inch retina display. It is the lightest full size tablet on the market, measuring just 0.3 inches in thickness and weighing just 1 lb. The company claim it is twenty per cent thinner across the entire device than the previous model. The new iPad Air comes with an Apple A7 chip, enhanced CPU and graphics, a 5-megapixel iSight camera and a FaceTime HD camera. It is available in silver, white, space grey and black and will be launched on 1st November 2013.
iPad Mini 2
The second November launch will be the iPad Mini 2. This product has been upgraded with the new Retina Display feature. Like the iPad Air it comes with an A7 chip. Its CPU is four times faster and its graphics are eight times faster than those of the original iPad mini. The upgrade has ten hours of battery and comes with an iSight camera. It is available in silver, white, space grey and black and will be available late November.
Conclusion
So there we have it! It certainly was a jam-packed event, full of information about Apple’s latest upgrades and launches. We look forward to seeing how well the iPad Mini 2 and iPad Air do when they hit the shops next month.
