Apple announces special event - September 9th

DubDJ

Apple has just sent out invites for the rumoured special event, confirming the rumoured September 9th date.



The tagline and poster is very different from recent years. Most definitely there'll be an iPhone or two, but I'm hopeful for the much rumoured wearable to also be unveiled. Recent reports seem to say it is a strong possibility. In a few days we'll know for sure though.

Event kicks off 6pm Irish time and is usually streamed though their website and via the Apple TV.

Dudda

Strange we haven't seen any leaks of the iWatch, eg we know the size of the new iPhones screen but haven't a clue what size the screen is on the iWatch.

Anyone think a new Apple TV will make an appearance?

Creamy Goodness

Dudda wrote: »

Strange we haven't seen any leaks of the iWatch, eg we know the size of the new iPhones screen but haven't a clue what size the screen is on the iWatch.

Anyone think a new Apple TV will make an appearance?

The original iPhone didn't leak either because they didn't put it into the supply chain until they announced it. I'd imagine they're doing the same here.

Don't think Apple TV will make an appearance here, the event in October will be iPad / Apple TV / iPod I think.

DubDJ

I'd love to see an Apple TV with the App Store, but I'd imagine that's a seperate announcement. Maybe alongside the iPad in October, if they really do have the best product pipeline in years it can't just be the addition of a wearable. It would have to be something else significant. If neither are announced then it's just the usual refreshes which would make the statement ridiculous.

Sad Professor

I think Apple’s full TV offering is at least another year or two away. They have a lot of roadblocks to overcome with TV. A spec bumped Apple TV alongside their Mac announcements in October is a possibility, but I’m not sure there’s any need when the current box does everything it needs to do. Apple have their eyes set on the whole home entertainment experience. Tv, movies, games, apps, everything. They will wait until all the pieces are in place. And with their main competition stalled, there's no reason to rush it.

DubDJ

Interesting about this whole change of venue and also this strange three-storey stucture that Apple are building in the lead up to the event. It's a much larger audience than usual and it's very unusual for Apple especially with the sturcture. Maybe it's just to show of home automation or Carplay but who knows.

This event is probably going to be one of the most hyped up in a while.

Tzardine

I expect to be considerably underwhelmed.

Unfortunately a trend lately with apples press events.

Gumbo

Tzardine wrote: »

I expect to be considerably underwhelmed.

Unfortunately a trend lately with apples press events.

I actually agree. I was so underwhelmed when Samsung released the S5. Seems to be a trend lately alright.

DubDJ

Tzardine wrote: »

I expect to be considerably underwhelmed.

Unfortunately a trend lately with apples press events.

In fairness the last two WWDC's were pretty good IMO. Just on the hardware side, bar the Mac Pro, nothing interesting has been released.

banquo

The 2013 WWDC was probably the best Apple event since iPhone launch 2007.

Am silly excited for this.

Zcott

Can't wait. Normally I've been working at WWDC time or big announcement time but not this time

Dades

This announcement coincides with the global release of Destiny.

How the hell am I supposed to choose between watching the announcement feeds and playing this game?

Dman001

The 'Wish We Could Say More' tagline does sound like a new productline will be unveiled, so the iWatch seems inevitable. The fact it hasn't been leaked yet would be a good indicator that it won't be shipping until next year, as rumours suggest.

Can't say I'm into all this wearable/Smartwatch stuff, with the exception of Google Glass. While the Moto 360 is the closest Smartwatch to actually make me consider buying one, they often only serve as a fancy perdometer or heart rate monitor. I'd love to see Apple change my perception on them however.

Fingleberries

Dades wrote: »

This announcement coincides with the global release of Destiny.

How the hell am I supposed to choose between watching the announcement feeds and playing this game?

If you have xbox one you can snap IE and play destiny at the same time

Dades

Fingleberries wrote: »

If you have xbox one you can snap IE and play destiny at the same time

That level of mental multitasking is beyond me.

I'm just about able to walk and talk at the same time. :pac:

Inquitus

Dman001 wrote: »

Can't say I'm into all this wearable/Smartwatch stuff, with the exception of Google Glass. While the Moto 360 is the closest Smartwatch to actually make me consider buying one, they often only serve as a fancy perdometer or heart rate monitor. I'd love to see Apple change my perception on them however.

I find it hard to see the iWatch really taking off. With just 18% of the global Smartphone market, Apple's potential market is very limited to begin with, couple that with only a fraction of that 18% being interested in investing in the iWatch I find it hard to see how they can take over the wearable devices market, unless there's a version running Android Wear, and lets be honest hell is likely to freeze over first.

Same applies to Samsung's Tizen Smartwatchs, noone wants a watch that ties them to one vendor, buy an Android Wear watch and it will work with whatever android device you have now, or buy in the future.

Zcott

Hearing they're going to announce the iWatch along with the iPad Air 2, which might be available the same day as the iPhone 6.

Nonoperational

Inquitus wrote: »

I find it hard to see the iWatch really taking off. With just 18% of the global Smartphone market, Apple's potential market is very limited to begin with, couple that with only a fraction of that 18% being interested in investing in the iWatch I find it hard to see how they can take over the wearable devices market, unless there's a version running Android Wear, and lets be honest hell is likely to freeze over first.

Same applies to Samsung's Tizen Smartwatchs, noone wants a watch that ties them to one vendor, buy an Android Wear watch and it will work with whatever android device you have now, or buy in the future.

18% of the global smartphone market is still absolutely huge.

Zcott

Also, this event is going to be livestreamed on apple.com.

DubDJ

Zcott wrote: »

Also, this event is going to be livestreamed on apple.com.

Nice countdown clock added to the site as well.

http://www.apple.com/live/

Snake

Nonoperational wrote: »

18% of the global smartphone market is still absolutely huge.

But how many of those will buy it? 18% being 112,289,000 now that's how many units have sold in the last too years, so let's say it's 110,000,000 if only half of those people buy one, that's only 5,000,000 iwatches. Not a lot at all.

frozenfrozen

Snake wrote: »

But how many of those will buy it? 18% being 112,289,000 now that's how many units have sold in the last too years, so let's say it's 110,000,000 if only half of those people buy one, that's only 5,000,000 iwatches. Not a lot at all.

I think you accidentally a zero

mahoney_j

Home from New York yesterday,was in Apple store on fifth avenue on Tuesday morning and there was a 7 person q formed already in anticipation of I phone 6 arrival,a full week before it's release!!

Sad Professor

Zcott wrote: »

Hearing they're going to announce the iWatch along with the iPad Air 2, which might be available the same day as the iPhone 6.

The iWatch, two new iPhones and new iPads at the same event? I doubt it. The iPad will be in October, same as last year.

Zcott

Sad Professor wrote: »

The iWatch, two new iPhones and new iPads at the same event? I doubt it. The iPad will be in October, same as last year.

iPad rumour makes sense. It's just a minor spec bump, thinner case and touch ID. Takes all of five minutes and that includes the Jony Ive 'we made it magical' video.

Sad Professor

Even if it just a spec bump, Apple are trying to position the iPad as a full productivity device, not a big screen iPhone. There’s rumours of split-screen multitasking and a larger screen iPad coming in October. Apple have kept the two devices separate. They aren’t going to shove them both into the same event. Not least because that will leave nothing for them to talk about in October except Yosemite and the new MacBook Air.

This going to be a fairly jam-packed event as it is.

Zcott

Sad Professor wrote: »

Not least because that will leave nothing for them to talk about in October except Yosemite and the new MacBook Air.

The 12" Air? There's the rumoured iMac refresh too. And hopefully retina iMacs...

banquo

Don't Apple usually, in recent years, usually unveil extra products in the second autumn event? A la the iPad mini event?

Zcott

Yep, it's usually the October Mac and iPad announcement. Although if they're planning on releasing the iPad Air 2 next week they might have something planned for October.

12" iPad?

DubDJ

Less than 24 hours away. Have to say I haven't been this excited about an Apple event for a while. Mainly looking forward to the rumoured wearable. I haven't even gave a thought to the fact we'll probably be getting iOS 8 in a few days which is usually what I look forward to.

murpho999

Inquitus wrote: »

I find it hard to see the iWatch really taking off. With just 18% of the global Smartphone market, Apple's potential market is very limited to begin with, couple that with only a fraction of that 18% being interested in investing in the iWatch I find it hard to see how they can take over the wearable devices market, unless there's a version running Android Wear, and lets be honest hell is likely to freeze over first.

Same applies to Samsung's Tizen Smartwatchs, noone wants a watch that ties them to one vendor, buy an Android Wear watch and it will work with whatever android device you have now, or buy in the future.

Snake wrote: »

But how many of those will buy it? 18% being 112,289,000 now that's how many units have sold in the last too years, so let's say it's 110,000,000 if only half of those people buy one, that's only 5,000,000 iwatches. Not a lot at all.

I think the numbers are wrong here but don't think either of you get marketing.
18% is a huge number
People describe this as a bad number but don't realise that iPhone is a dominant phone. Cheap chinese smart phones are not really competitors and people forget that Samsung have low end phones as well.

Also I would imagine that Apple hope that iWatches would hook more new customers into the Apple suite of products and lead to sales of more iPhones and/or iPads.

GhostInTheRuins

How long after the event do they usually release the new ios version? I'm hoping it'd be right after or even a day or two later, but I don't think it's looking likely because so far there's no sign of a GM release.

I'm actually looking forward to getting my hands on ios8. First time ever I'll give up my jailbreak for the new release straight away.

Sad Professor

The GM of iOS 8 should be released tomorrow with the final version following a week to 10 days later.

DubDJ

I think it used to be the same day as the new iPhone but I think last year they released it on a normal day and not side by side with the new iPhone as usual.

Frank Lee Midere

Snake wrote: »

But how many of those will buy it? 18% being 112,289,000 now that's how many units have sold in the last too years, so let's say it's 110,000,000 if only half of those people buy one, that's only 5,000,000 iwatches. Not a lot at all.

Surely half of 110,000 is 55M.

iPhones hold their value too. And last longer. A lot of people in work near me have the 4S. A compelling upgrade where we could use a wearable - were it useful - and Apple could see tens of millions sold.

FourFourRED

Sad Professor wrote: »

The GM of iOS 8 should be released tomorrow with the final version following a week to 10 days later.

Yeah GM tomorrow with general release most likely Tuesday/Wedneday of next week & the phone itself on the following Friday.

banquo

Gimme.

DubDJ

So strange to think that Apple hasn't released one major hardware device or even revised any of their current iOS devices or Macs since October 2013 (Other than the delayed Mac Pro in Dec). I know they've changed stuff around like the 8Gb 5c and the same with a small change to the MacBook Pro and iPod Touch but they've had no major announcements. Even though they were supposed to release new products "across 2014".

I'm hoping for big things tomorrow but I don't usually overhype these events, there's a lot to go on from leaks which kinda helps with long-term decisions whether to upgrade, but it also takes the wow factor from it a little.

I'd expect the following tomorrow based on leaks;
- Two iPhone models - 4.7" and 5.5". Glad to see NFC arriving, and hoping Apple will allow it to be used by third party accessories which is the only thing I'd use it for. Also the usual internal upgrades, A8, better camera (I'd like to see 4K recording). One thing I'm not too happy to hear is that the 5.5" could have a more powerful feature list - saphire display, more ram and obviously it will have the advantage of the bigger battery. I'm leaning towards the 4.7" because I hate phablets, but maybe they'll slim the bezels down.

- Apple wearable - Hopefully Apple will pull it out of the bag design wise, I really love the look of the Moto 360, I think it's the one to beat from a design aspect, even with that black bar and poor battery. The possibility of NFC is all the more exciting if they leave it open for third party use. Hoping it will have wireless charging too, and a half decent battery. The wearable is what I'm most interested in.

- iOS 8 - I'm hoping for one or two exclusives to be revealed, obviously passbook will supposedly gain NFC payments support but I'd like to see a few surprises on top of that.

- Other than those three I'd imagine we'll see the usual number crunching from Tim Cook at the beginning, and maybe some fitness/home automation demos. Maybe that's just for attendees at the end though.

This is the most hyped up Apple event for me in quite some time. Hoping it doesn't disappoint.

banquo

I liked it better when there were 3 announcements a year: Spring (iPad), Summer (WWDC) and Autumn (Music, Macs). And sometimes you'd get two in Autumn!

This cramming-it-all-into-Christmas bull**** has totally messed up my internal calendar.

Edit: Also, cannot wait for the 25 minute demo of Infinity Blade MMXIV tomorrow, said no-one ever.

Sad Professor

iPad could go back to Spring. I'm not convinced we'll see a new one in October.

banquo

Sad Professor wrote: »

iPad could go back to Spring. I'm not convinced we'll see a new one in October.

I've had a similar hunch. And you tend to be right on these things.

Zcott

But is a new iPad really worth its own event? They're very much going down the Mini and Air route, so unless there'll be that rumoured 12" iPad, all iPads in the foreseeable further will be refinements of the current models.

godtabh

i would be suprised if they law a 5.5 inch iphone with the ipad. I've seen a few places reference the iphone air now.

Doodah7

I forgot to check last night/this morning, is the event being streamed on Apple TV this evening?

Gumbo

tallpaul wrote: »

I forgot to check last night/this morning, is the event being streamed on Apple TV this evening?

Apple TV and www.apple.com and can be watched on any Apple or iOS Device.

Zcott

TODAY!

DubDJ

If your a Windows user and want to watch the live stream check out this method using VLC.

mad muffin

Apple is actually blogging this event this year. Not just streaming.

http://www.apple.com/live/2014-sept-event/

mad muffin

Here we are ready for the event...

banquo

Oh God I'm so excited.

mad muffin

Looking through some of the photos here Apple has some protestor this year.