October 23 preview: Imagining Apple's iPad mini event

October 23 preview: Imagining Apple's iPad mini event



Apple update

Tim Cook: Year One


iPad mini

iPad mini preview redux



iPad 3 mark II

Regarding the iPad 3 mark II



iBooks 3.0 appears in iTunes listing ahead of iPad mini event





New details on new Macs rumored for Oct. 23 Apple event





iTunes 11



iOS 6.x




Join us for our coverage on Tuesday.


Rene Ritchie


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Reader comments

October 23 preview: Imagining Apple's iPad mini event


1. Apple's problem with ibooks is not so much selection as it is DRM. You're tied to iOS devices. Amazon's is preferable because the Kindle apps are available on multiple platforms. Until Apple makes ibooks available on multiple platforms, they won't be kicking Amazon's teeth in.

2. Itunes isn't anywhere near the end. It's a critical part of iOS. You cite that people still use desktops as if that's an endangered species. You need itunes and a computer if you want the best iOS experience. Without itunes, managing iOS devices would become a pain.

Apple uses a standard eBook format. As long as you don't use any of the fancy Apple-only features (something that Amazon does also), you can read the books on any eReader.

Yes, the DRM is a problem, especially when you don't even have a Mac client yet!!! And, correct, to really compete, they will need Windows, Android, Web-browser, etc. based clients as well. People might put up with DRM if they don't feel too locked in (like we already do with Kindle). Outside pop-novels, books are something we look at more long-term than stuff like music or movies... it's critical Apple gets that and responds. But, as Rene mentioned, content is another equally huge issue keeping many of us at Amazon for now.

When he talks about ending iTunes, he doesn't really mean end iTunes. He's talking about ending iTunes as we know it now. As he has talked about in the past, along with many other bloggers, iTunes is old and overweight. iTunes started as music, but over the last 11 years, has gobbled up every other media Apple has introduced (movies, TV, apps, books, etc.) And it was all lumped into iTunes for 2 reasons. 1) convenience for the user and Apple, and 2) an simple way to get all of that media on Windows. But now, iTunes is getting two bloated. It needs to be split up. Some of the media should be spun-off into separate apps. They should release a separate iBooks app definitely. And others could be re-released separately.

Nobody wants to pay extra $$$ just to store their massive iTunes libraries on the cloud when they have a desktop/laptop. It would be a self-inflicting wound if Apple were to kill the desktop version of iTunes.

1. I'm not suggesting iTunes should be killed. I'm suggesting it should be reimagined... it was once for music, but has since gobbled up every other media type Apple has rolled out. Which has made iTunes a slow app, for one thing, and has also made it complicated. So, no it shouldn't be killed. But, it is in desperate need of slimming down. I'm simply suggesting they should adopt their iOS iTunes strategy and implement it on the desktop. They have separate Music, Video, iBooks, and Podcasts Apps. So no, don't kill iTunes, simply slim it down.

2. You don't understand how iTunes, the iTunes Store, iCloud, and iTunes Match work. When you buy something on the iTunes Store, it is forever attached to your Apple ID. When you use iCloud, you're not "storing" your media files. iCloud just allows you to redownload those purchased items to your other devices. If you ripped music from CDs or downloaded from sharing services and you have those songs in your iTunes library, you can pay $25/year for iTunes Match and the iTunes Store will scan your songs and match them to songs in their store and then those songs will be attached to your Apple ID. So on the only way you have to pay to "store" your media in iCloud is if you ripped or illegally downloaded.

I'm excited by the hints that the new iBooks might support comic book like content. This will do a lot for independent comic book artists if true.

AirPlay direct!!! That would make my day. Even though I'm interested in the iPad mini, that would pale in comparison to AirPlay direct.

Not betting on a 9.7 inch iPad upgrade this soon after The New iPad came out. Less than 6 months away from what has become their usual cycle doesn't seem likely.

It's not going to be a full refresh. Most likely, if anything, the iPad 3rd gen will get a Lightning port (for transition purposes) and global LTE. Nothing that should make the people who have already bought it upset.

Apple is known for giving away advanced hints of a feature of what they will show off at their events. For the iPad Mini, it is of note to notice that "colour" is in style. Perhaps the iPad Mini will come in colors other than white and black? Perhaps the iPad Mini will be called the iPad Color. Perhaps it will have a retina display that brings out true colour. Well, I guess we'll see tomorrow.

Only a few more years, and I'll be taking my courses in University/College to pursue my future career. I dream of being able to use textbooks from iBooks, so the only thing I have to carry around is my iPad. The problem is, that iBooks is US only. :(. They'd better make it available here in Canada within the next 2 years. I hope they announce Canada support for textbooks soon.

Really excited for this Apple Media Event! Really hope that they do unveil iPad Mini, as well as a 13 inch MacBook Pro! Oh and of course, iTunes 11 will be fantastic!

I'm not excited by these tech events anymore, it seems like there's a special event every week for products that we already known about. What if Apple just quietly added new products to their store. No media events, just check out Apple.com one day and BAM new iphone whhaaattt???