Apple on Tuesday unveiled a smaller iPad, the 7.87-inch screen iPad Mini, as had widely been anticipated. But the company had more than a few other surprises up its sleeve during its new product spectacle at the California Theatre in San Jose, California, not the least of which was a new iMac desktop computer with a five-millimeter edge that may have stolen the show.
Also unveiled by Apple executives CEO Tim Cook and senior vice president of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller were a new MacBook Pro Retina display 13-inch laptop model, which had been rumored ahead of the launch, a fourth generation full-sized iPad and a new Mac Mini desktop computer box.
On top of the new hardware, Apple unveiled new software that seeks to capitalize on the company’s prominence in education and growing appeal to the business sector, namely, a new version of iBooks Author, Apple’s interactive e-book publishing platform and a new version of its iBooks digital bookstore.
“We told you earlier this year that you would see some incredible innovation from Apple across the year, innovation that only Apple could deliver,” said Cook, “We think we’ve kept our promise, and I hope that you agree.”
Wall Street didn’t seem to agree, however, with Apple shares falling over 2 percent immediately following the presentation.
The full hour and 12-minute long Apple unveiling event, which was live streamed on Apple’s website but restricted to users of its Safari Web browser, was quickly posted online in its entirety and is available here.
Here are the major takeaways about the new products:
iPad Mini
The product that that been rumored long in advance of Tuesday’s event became a reality finally, coming in at 7.87 inch diagonal screen, 0.28 inches thick (7.2 millimeters), and 0.68 pounds.
Coming in white and black versions, the new device also has a front and back facing camera — for videoconferencing and taking photos, respectively — and gets 10 hours of battery life.
But price may prove to be the most important point: $329 for the cheapest version of the iPad Mini, which is 65 percent more expensive than its direct form factor competitors, the Amazon Kindle Fire HD and the Google/Asus Nexus 7 tablet. (The iPad Mini escalates in price from $329 to $659 depending on storage space and cellular connectivity options).
The competition, which runs versions of Google’s Android software, is of special concern given that Apple’s Schiller brought it up himself during the unveiling, spending several minutes comparing the iPad Mini to the Google Nexus 7 literally side-by-side on the giant projection screen on stage at the California Theatre, taking both devices through the paces of Web browsing and accessing apps, showing how the iPad Mini consistently displayed the same experience as the full iPad, while the Nexus 7 on several occasions brought up views fit for the smaller screens of smartphones.
“The iPad Mini is two thirds larger to surf the Web,” on landscape mode, said Schiller.
Apple has seen its tablet market share fall from 81 percent in the U.S. in 2011 to just 52 percent this year while Android tablets have gained market share, according to a recent Pew Research study, and that was conducted prior to the release of the Google Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD.
iMac
The newest version of Apple’s modern desktop computer line has come along way from the first translucent blue bulb-like model that debuted in 1998. Now it’s so thin it’s difficult to even see it when turned on it’s side.
“Looks like a piece of cardboard on an Apple stand,” tweeted New York Times tech reporter Nick Bilton.
The actual thickness of the screen is 5 millimeters, which Apple advertises as being “so thin, it’s not possible to weld the pieces using traditional methods,” which resulted in the company using “friction-stir welding,” to mix the molecules of the aluminum front and back plates together.
That’s 40 percent thinner than the immediate previous generation of iMacs. The new computer is also 75 percent less reflective and “up to” 50 percent more energy efficient, according to Apple.
The new iMac also offers what Apple calls a “Fusion Drive,” a combined solid state hard drive and a flash drive that the software recognizes as a single drive, one which automatically transfers frequently-used programs to the flash drive for quicker access.
But it’s still quite pricey, starting at $1,299 for a 21.5-inch version and $1,799 for a 27-inch version.
iPad “fourth generation”
An iterative update that gives buyers of the iPad “3,” “the new iPad,” unveiled in March something to groan about, coming with an A6x processor that Apple says makes the device “twice as fast” as its predecessor, as well as “advanced WiFi” that’s also doubly faster.
Macbook Pro Retina 13-inch laptop
The main attraction is of course Apple’s trademarked “Retina” display, which purports to be so high resolution and pixel-dense that the human eye can’t discern the difference between the pixels at a “normal working distance,” with over 4 million pixels on the screen. This is the same display found on the last two version of the iPad (counting the fourth generation).
The new computer is also thinner, lighter and faster.
“It is incredibly thin, just 0.75 inches thin,” Schiller said, introducing the product. “It’s 20 percent thinner,” than the previous generation of MacBook Pro Retina.
At 3.57 pounds, the computer is also lighter than its predecessor by a pound and “the lightest MacBook Pro ever,” according to Schiller.
Continuing the trend of eliminating its optical disk drives, Apple also removed it from the new Macbook Pro 13-inch Retina model, replacing it instead with a USB3 port, an HDMI port and an SD card port in the spot where the optical drive was formerly located.
But in a holdover, the laptop still contains Intel integrated graphics, rather than a discrete, or dedicated video card, which some worry could cause problems with smoothness in the display rendering, as Ars Technica pointed out.
Mac mini
Another iterative update, making Apple’s small desktop computer housing (which lacks a display) twice as fast with an Intel Core i7 quad-core chip and thunderbolt and USB3 port, as well as improved graphics performance.
