As has become my custom, with each Apple event I predict what I think Apple will unveil. You can read the recap that I posted about what was announced, but let us look at how I did with my predictions. Here is what I predicted.

Predictions

• New Apple Watch Bands – 100%
• Services Bundle – 95%
• Apple Watch Series 6 – 90%
• No New iPhones announced – 80%
• Apple Watch Series 5 staying around – 75%
• Apple Watch Series 6 SE – 60%
• Apple Watch Series 6 SE price of $179 – 50%
• New iPad Air – 60%
• New iPad Air has iPad Pro-inspired design – 60%
• All Apple Services included in bundle – 25%

New Apple Watch Bands – 100%

I guessed that Apple would release new Apple Watch bands, and boy did they ever. They have a whole bunch of new colors for existing bands including five new Sport Band colors, seven new Sport Loop color combinations, three new Nike Sport Band color combinations, and three new Nike Sport Loop color combinations. There are a slew of new Hermes bands and even a couple of new stainless steel colors, Gold Milanese and Graphite Milanese bands.

Along with the new color combinations, there are three new Apple Watch Band types. These are the Leather Link, the Solo Loop, and the Braided Solo Loop. The Leather Link is a new look to the Leather band. It takes the existing Leather band and adds in links, so it provides some texture to the band. The Solo Loop is a one-piece watch band that is designed to fit snugly, yet is flexible enough to be removable. The Braided Solo Loop is the same design as the Solo Loop, but it is made with 100% recycled yarn and silicone threads to create a comfortable band.

The Solo Loops come in 9 different sizes, 1 to 9 for the 40mm, and 4 to 12 for the 44mm watch. These are not compatible with the Series 3 or earlier Apple Watches. These are only compatible with the Series 4 and newer.

Services Bundle – 95%

Apple did announce a services bundle called "Apple One". Available later this fall, Apple One consists of three different tiers, "Individual", "Family", and "Premier". All three tiers include Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and iCloud. The amount of iCloud storage varies. It is 50GB for the Individual plan, 200GB for the family plan, and 2TB for the Premier plan. The Premier plan also includes Apple News+ and a brand new service, Apple Fitness+.

The Apple One bundle does allow you to purchase additional storage for iCloud on top of the included storage. Furthermore, it will support those who have a different iTunes account versus an iCloud account.

Apple Watch Series 6 – 90%

Apple did announce a new Apple Watch Series 6, which as a 2.5x brighter screen and a new Blood Oxygen sensor and accompanying app. The Apple Watch Series 6 does also have two new aluminum color options, Blue and PRODUCT(RED). These are being delivered into people's hands as of today.

No New iPhones announced – 80%

Apple did not announce any new iPhones at this event. Apple stated on their last earnings call that the iPhone would be a few weeks late, so it makes sense that there were no new iPhones announced at this event.

Apple Watch Series 5 staying around – 75%

I was wrong about this one, kinda, more on that in a minute. The Apple Watch Series 5 is no longer available for sale.

Apple Watch Series 6 SE – 60%

Apple did announce an Appel Watch SE. It is not a Series 6, but it does use the Series 5 internals. It does not have an always on screen, nor the blood oxygen sensor, but it does have a brighter screen and uses the same form factor as the Series 4 and newer, so it can support the new Apple Watch bands discussed above.

Apple Watch Series 6 SE price of $179 – 50%

Nope, the price of the Apple Watch SE starts at $279, not $179.

New iPad Air – 60%/New iPad Air has iPad Pro-inspired design – 60%

Apple announced a new iPad Air that does indeed have a designed inspired by the iPad Pro. It now has square sides, and the Touch ID sensor has been moved to the top button. This provides the ability to have smaller bezels, so the screen can now be larger at 10.9 inches instead of the previous 10.5-inch size. The new size also means that it can support the same Magic Keyboard as the 11-inch iPad Pros. With the redesign, it now supports the 2nd Generation Apple Pencil and charges in the same manner through magnets on the side of the iPad Air.

The iPad Air also comes with the A14 Bionic chip, so it has even faster performance. The A14 Bionic also includes a beefier neural engine for faster on-device machine learning and even better graphics.

The iPad Air comes in five colors, Silver, Space Gray, Rose Gold, Green, and Sky Blue, with the latter two being new. The new iPad Air is a bit more expensive than the last version. The new model starts at $599 for a 64GB Wifi-only model, and it will be available in October.

All Apple Services included in bundle – 25%

All of Apple's services have been included in a bundle, although it is the most expensive, they are still in the bundle.

Recap

Overall, not too bad on my predictions. I only missed 2 out of 10, so 80% correct. I'll take it. It will be interesting to see what the next event holds. Once that is announced I will do another prediction post, a recap of the event, and a recap of my predictions for that event. Before that series of posts though, I will have a review of the Apple Watch Series 6, which I just received, so look for that soon.

Apple is having their "Time Flies" event tomorrow. While nothing is certain, there are some possibilities for what we will see. Here is what I think we will see.

Apple Watch Series 6

With the event being namee "Time Flies", it suggests that we will see something related to "time", and there is a chronometer that Apple sells called the Apple Watch. Since 2015, Apple has released a new Apple Watch. This year is likely no different.

What I think will be different is that there will be two new Apple Watch models introduced. The Apple Watch Series 6 and what I'll dub the next as the Apple Watch SE. The Apple Watch Series 6 will likely have better battery life, possibly a new sensor. My guess is that the Apple Watch Series 6 SE will have the same form-factor, same processor, but may only have the features that were in the Apple Watch Series 4. The key with the Apple Watch Series 6 SE is that it will be less expensive. I predict that the "SE Model" will have a starting price of $179. Furthermore, it will replace the Apple Watch Series 3. Lastly, I think the Series 5 will stick around at a starting price of $299.

The last Apple Watch related item is new bands. Apple considers the Watch to be a fashion item. The way to customize the Apple Watch that is most noticeable at first glance is through choosing you Apple Watch band. I predict that Apple will release at least 3 new Apple Watch Bands.

I give the likelihood of a new Apple Watch at 90%, and an Apple Watch SE model at 60%. I am guessing the price point of the Apple Watch SE being $179 at 50%, and keeping the Apple Watch Series 5 at 75%. I give the likelihood of new Apple Watch bands at 100%.

iPads

Earlier this year Apple released a new set of iPad Pro models. Therefore, I do not think we will see new iPad Pro models, although it is always a possibility. Instead, I think we will see new iPad Air. I think it will have an updated processor, an iPad Pro-inspired design with flat edges and a slimmer bezels.

I give the probability of a new iPad Air at 60% and having an iPad Pro-inspired design at 60% as well.

iPhone

Typically in September Apple unveils their new iPhones. I do not think that this will happen at this event. This is due to Apple's Chief Financial Officer, Luca Maestri, indicating that this year's Apple's iPhones will be a released a few weeks later than normal. This is, as you might expect, due to COVID-19.

I am giving the possibility of not hearing about iPhones at 80%. It is always possible that Apple will announce new iPhones, and if that does happen they will not be available for a month or so.

Services Bundle

Many have postulated that Apple may eventually bundle of their services. It appears as though this might actually be coming to fruition. With the 3.4.0 beta of Apple Music on Android, there are strings that indicate that a services bundle might be coming. This bundle will include Apple Music as well as other services.

I am guessing that there is a 95% chance that Apple announces this bundle, even if it is not available right away. I am guessing that the bundle will include Apple TV+, Apple Music, Apple Arcade, and iCloud Storage. I give this a 25% chance of being the case.

Predictions Recap

• New Apple Watch Bands - 100%
• Services Bundle - 95%
• Apple Watch Series 6 - 90%
• No New iPhones announced - 80%
• Apple Watch Series 5 staying around - 75%
• Apple Watch Series 6 SE - 60%
• Apple Watch Series 6 SE price of $179 - 50%
• New iPad Air - 60%
• New iPad Air has iPad Pro-inspired design - 60%
• All Apple Services included in bundle - 25%

Once the event is over I will post about the event and later in the week a recap of how well my predictions went.

Today Apple sent out invites to the press to encourage them to watch a Special Event from Apple Park. The event will start at 10 a.m. Pacific time. There is no indication of what will be announced. It is rumored that it will be iPhones, which is possible. However, at Apple's last earnings call at the end of July, they indicated that this year's phones were "a few weeks behind schedule", due to COVID-19.

If you visit the Apple Events page with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that is capable of performing Augmented Reality, and tap on the image there, you will be able to see the image within Augmented Reality. When you do this, you will see the logo transform from its current shape to the date and back again. Below are the start and end images.

Source: Apple.com

Today Apple held their World Wide Developer Conference keynote. The keynote was a long one that was brimming with a look at the new features of each of their operating systems. Let us look at these in the order they were announced, starting with tvOS.

tvOS

tvOS is Apple's large-screen operating system, specifically designed for the Apple TV. tvOS just received an update with the new TV App. Even though it just received an updated app, tvOS is not sitting still. In fact, tvOS 13 will add a few new features that will be great for all sorts of users.

When you first start your Apple TV with tvOS 13, you will see a redesigned home screen. This home screen will show movie and tv show previews for your "Up Next" queue.

The first addition is great for families, multi-user support. You will now be able to switch users on the Apple TV so that you can get a personalized experience with it. This includes "Up Next", Music, and any other recommendations. You can switch users by using the new Control Center, which is available by swiping from the right.

One of the iconic features of tvOS are the screensavers. There will be some new screensavers, but instead of being aerial views, these will actually be underwater shots. I think these are going to be a good change of pace for the Apple TV.

One of the areas that Apple is hoping users to use their Apple TV is with gaming; specifically with Apple Arcade. When it comes to gaming there is one thing that you absolutely need to have a great gaming experience and that is a controller. Apple is bringing support for two of the most popular game controllers, the Xbox One Controller and the Playstation DualShock 4 controller. These will be able to be paired with an Apple TV so you can use them to play games on the Apple TV.

tvOS may not be getting a ton of new features, but it is getting some much needed ones.

watchOS

watchOS 6 will bring a few new features that will be very welcome. The Apple Watch is a very personal device. One of the ways that you are able to customize the watch is through the Watch Face you use.

Watch Faces

watchOS 6 will bring a few new watch. Some of the new Watch Faces that you can choose from are a Gradient, which will change as the day progresses. There is a "Large Numerals" watch face which will, as the name suggests, will show large numbers. The Large Numerals face will also allow a couple of complications. There is a new Digital Face, which will provide a large time display with multiple complications. There is also a new California Dial, which alternates between Arabic and Roman numerals. The last new watch face is a Solar Face, which will show the sun's position throughout the day.

There are still additional watch faces. The newest face is is a Modular Compact face. This watch face includes rich

One last ability for watchOS, which is reminiscent of many time keeping items is that the Apple Watch will now provide you with a haptic chimes on the hour. If the sound is on, you will also get audio feedback.

Apps on watchOS

There are also a few new apps that will be coming to watchOS 6. The first of these apps is an Audiobooks app. This will allow you to continue listening to the audiobooks that have been purchased from iTunes.

There are those instances when you are out and about and you think of a really great idea and you want to record it in some manner. If you are not in a position to be able to type it out using your iPhone, you can now use the Voice Memos app to watchOS, so you can record your memos and they will synchronize to the rest of your devices.

The last app that is available within watchOS is a calculator app. The app will allow you to do calculations on the go, but it will also allow you to split the view with others in your group.

There is one last thing about apps on watchOS. Apps can now be entirely independent. This means that you will no longer need to install an iPhone app just to install an Apple Watch app.

The ability to install apps by themselves on the Apple Watch means that there is also an App Store on the Apple Watch. With the app you can view Editor’s choices, preview apps, and even purchase apps directly from an Apple Watch. Now you will not need to use a keyboard on the Apple Watch, because you can use Siri or dictation to find the apps you are looking to install.

The inclusion of additional apps as well as app independence will be great for the platform there are some additional changes to one area where there is a major focus, Health and Fitness.

Health and Fitness

Tracking health is an important thing for everyone to do. However, this is not always easy to do. There is one additional app that relates to health and fitness that is on watchOS 6. It is designed for use by half of the population, specifically women. The app is designed to allow women to track their menstruation cycles.

The Cycle Tracking app will allow a woman to record aspects of her monthly cycle to help create an idea of what is normal for her. Some of the aspects that you can track include symptoms, amount of bleeding, headaches as well as cramping.

The Cycle Tracking app will also allow predict your fertility window, so you will be aware.

The Cycle Tracking features are not just available on watchOS, they are also available within the Health app on iOS so more women will be able to track their monthly cycles.

This is a great step forward in being all inclusive when it comes to health.

There is another app that is available in watchOS that will help everyone to protect an aspect of their health that they may take for granted, their hearing. Noise is something that most people encounter every day and may not think about, except when it interferes with things that we are attempting to accomplish.

When you encounter loud noises for extended periods of time this can have a detrimental effect. Most notably hearing loss. In order to help us identify when we are in an excessively loud environment, Apple has included a new app in watchOS 6 called ‘Noise’.

Noise will run in the background and check periodically to see if you are in a noisy environment. If you are, then it will alert you to this fact so you can take the proper precautions. All of the noise detection and processing is done on your Apple Watch and it is not sent to Apple nor are any of the detections saved in any way.

Now that we have covered watchOS, let us move to iOS.

iOS

iOS is Apple’s largest platform with over 1 billion devices that are running iOS. iOS 13 is a huge update for users. Just like with iOS 12, iOS 13 isF significantly faster. In fact it is up to 2x faster and FaceID is up to 30% faster. Besides the operating system being faster, the apps that you download will actually be smaller. Downloads are now up to 50% smaller and app updates are up to 60% smaller. This means that you will use less data.

The most noticeable change in iOS 13, and one that users have wanted, is a Dark Mode. Dark Mode is just like it is on macOS where the entire operating system will request the dark mode for all apps. You can switch between light mode and dark mode. iOS is now also using a "Card" view instead of a full screen overlay, so this will help you know where you are at.

There are a few additional changes in iOS like a new Share Sheet. The new Share Sheet will provide sharing options, including photos, and you can even share with a single tap. There are a few other changes, for Music you can now follow the lyrics while playing a song. Safari has a new Text size option, which is available on a per-website basis.

There are a few privacy additions that have been added. The first is with you being able to control when an app can use your location. You will be able to allow an app to use your location only during a session. If the same app requests your location again in the future, you will be prompted again. This allows you to decide when to share your location. A second privacy item is called "Sign in with Apple".

Apple now has its own option for allowing you to sign in to a service. You can use your Apple ID to sign in. While apps have to incorporate it, when they do you will have full control over how much information you share. You can decide to share your email address, or you can decide not to. If you decide to not share your email address a random, service-specific, email address will be generated for you. This email address will be a private relay that will take any incoming emails from the service and send them to your actual email address with the service never getting your actual email address. Again, this allows you to control who sees your information and who does not.

Messages is one of the most used applications on iOS. There are some enhancements to messages as well. You are now able to decide who to share your name and photo with. This is done on a per-message thread basis. So if you do not want to share your information, you do not have to.

On the topic of photos, you can now do some additional customizations to your Memoji. These include eye shadow, lipstick, piercings, the look of your teeth, additional hair styles, more hats, and even additional glasses. If you are so inclined you can choose to add AirPods to your Memoji as well. That is not all for your Memoji though. You will now also be able to get a sticker pack of your memoji. This means that you can use your memoji on all of your devices, provided they are run-in an A9 processor or later.

Photos

Photos provides a new layout for looking at your photos. It will also remove duplicates and clutter while you are looking at your photos. There are some new editing options, but the biggest will be to rotate a video. Any of the effects that you can do on a single photo you can now also apply to video as well.

There is another large update, and this one is to the iPad.

iPadOS

The iPad has received a significant update, it is now a distinct platform. iPadOS is designed specifically for the iPad. This includes additional features specifically designed for iPad, like having your Today View widgets pinned to the side of your apps so they are always visible while in landscape view.

Besides Today View, you can now have multiple windows from the same app running and within multiple spaces. This means that you can have two notes side by side, or two safari windows, or even notes and mail or any other apps that support it. On your home screen within iPadOS, by default there are more icons on the screen, specifically six per row instead of the standard five.

There are now also some new system-wide gestures for copy, paste, undo and redo. These are all three finger gestures. Three finger pinch will copy, while three finger spread will paste. three finger swipe left will undo, and three finger swipe right will redo.

Files

With the iPad being more than just a consumption device, that means that additional features are needed for file management. On iPadOS this is done using the Files app. The Files apps has gained a bunch of new features. There is a new view, the "Column View". This is similar to the Column View on macOS where you can easily view a hierarchy of files. You can also see metadata about a file or folder and perform some basic actions like rotating an image and making a PDF.

Besides being able to view your files differently, you can also share an iCloud Folder, which will be great for collaborative projects. Files can now natively connect to SMB file shares, which means that if you have a Windows device you will be able to connect to it from right within the Files app. That is not the only way to get files into the Files app, you can now connected a thumb drive, SD Card, or external hard drive and and import the files directly into your Files app. If you are importing files from an SD Card you can also select which app to import the files into, meaning that you can bypass Photos app entirely and import them into another app.

Safari

Safari is an app that no one can survive without. With iPadOS Safari gets a Desktop-Class experience. What this means is that instead of always getting the mobile layout for a website, you will more likely get the desktop layout. This is great for sites that automatically push you toward the mobile version, just because you are running iOS.

Besides getting the proper site, you will also be able to manage your downloads in Safari on iPadOS and there are 30 keyboard shortcuts that you can use within Safari.

Apple Pencil

The Apple Pencil is a great tool for accomplishing work on the iPad. Apple has reduced the latency of the Apple Pencil from 20 milliseconds to 9 milliseconds. This is a 55% reduction in the lag between when you perform an action and when it is displayed on screen. This will mean that actions you take will feel almost instantaneous.

There are some tools for developers too, like the new PencilKit API will allow them to incorporate the same Apple Pencil functionality within their apps.

Those are the highlights for iPadOS, let us move onto macOS.

macOS

The latest version of macOS changes a lot of things about macOS. First off, the name. macOS 10.15 is called macOS Catalina. macOS Catalina brings an end to a couple of different eras. The first is that the operating system partition will be read-only, which will protect the system from any malicious software. The second, and a much bigger change for users is the elimination of iTunes.

iTunes Replacement

iTunes, as we know it, is going away. It is being replaced by four different apps. Music, Podcasts, TV, and Finder; yes you read that correctly.

The new Music app will allow you to manage your music, including synchronizing the data to your iOS devices. Music on macOS will also bring lyric synchronization to the Mac so you can sing along with your favorite songs.

The Podcasts app will provide a dedicate podcast listening experience. One feature of Podcasts is the new search, which will use machine learning to index the contents of spoken content so you can find any podcast with just a few clicks.

The TV app is just like that one iOS and tvOS and will allow you to watch any of your Apple TV Channels, purchased movies or television shows all from within the TV app. Content within the TV app will be able to play 4K HDR using HR10 or Vision and support for Dolby Atmos is also built-in, so you can watch 4K content if you have a capable Mac.

Finder is actually how you manage your iOS devices. This is where you perform update, backups, and the like. The best part of this is that when you plug in your iOS device guess what happens...NOTHING. There are no apps that open, it just appears in the sidebar of Finder.

Other macOS Features

There is a new feature for macOS that involves your iPad, that feature is called SideCar. With SideCar you can use your iPad as a secondary display. You can connect the iPad via a cable or wirelessly.

Activation lock will allow any Mac with a T2 security chip to act like iOS device and will not allow anyone to boot it without you typing in your password. The operating system will not even load up. This makes the idea of stealing a Mac even less attractive.

Project Catalyst

Last year Apple announced that they would be bringing the ability to run some apps from iOS on the Mac. They have done so with Project Catalyst. Come the fall you will be seeing some iPad apps available on macOS, if the app developers do the work. This means that some of your favorite iPad apps will be available on the Mac. An app that Apple mentioned was the Twitter app, so we may be seeing that this fall.

Closing Thoughts

Today Apple unveiled a whole lot of new features across all of their platforms. One of the big things mentioned is privacy. This is exhibited through the new ability to select whether to share your location with an app on iOS, or the ability to not provide your email to a service through the "Sign In with Apple" feature.

tvOS brings a new look and feel, with support for multiple users all of whom will get personalized recommendations, "Up Next" queue, and your own music library. tvOS will also bring support for the two main console controllers, the Xbox One and the Playstation DualShock 4 for the Apple Arcade. The new screensavers will allow you to take a look at the life that we do not see often, ocean life.

watchOS 6 brings a slew of new Watch faces, including a Gradient face, Large Numerals face, a new Digital face, the California Dial, and Solar Face. watchOS 6 also includes a calculator app, an audiobooks app, voice memos, an all new Cycle Tracking app for women, and the new Noise app will help everyone with protect their hearing. Apps on watchOS can now be independent and will not require an iPhone app. watchOS will also get its own App Store, which you can use to install apps directly on the watch.

iOS 13 brings even faster performance than iOS 12, including faster Face ID, and even smaller app downloads. iOS 13 also bring an all new Dark Mode which means you can make your content pop. The new Share Sheet will provide suggestions. Music will synchronize lyrics to what you are listening to. With iOS 13 you can also customize your Memoji even more and you can use your Memoji with stickers everywhere.

The iPad has seen a significant update with its own operating system, iPadOS. iPadOS 13 brings all of the same as iOS 13 and its own features. With iPadOS you can run multiple windows of the same app, provided a developer adds support. The Files app now supports iCloud Folder Sharing, SMB file sharing, and even USB and SD Cards. Safari on iPadOS also gets some additional features, like showing you the desktop site views, a download manager, and many shortcuts.

From what we have seen so far, tvOS 13, watchOS 6, macOS Catalina, iOS 13, and iPadOS 13 all look like quality updates. All of the operating systems will be available as updates in the fall. There are many many more features that have not been covered. There is one last item that was announced was a preview. It was for the Mac Pro, which will be covered in another posting soon.

Today was Apple’s September event. It is not surprising that Apple has announced some new devices. What is surprising, is the number of items that Apple has announced. For this article, we will only cover the first two, Apple Watch and iPad. Let us look at each one of these.

Apple Watch

Apple did not announce a new watch, but reiterated some of the features of watchOS 2. Some of the features of watchOS 2 includes new watch faces, third party complications, and time travel. One of the features of watchOS is the ability to have native applications. Apple highlighted some of the companies whom will be bringing applications to the Apple Watch. These include Facebook, Go Pro, iTranslate, and Airstrip.

Hermes Collection

One of the ways of grouping watches is by collections. Apple has announced a new collection called the Hermes collection. This collection features a stainless steel Apple watch paired with different bands. These bands are all leather. The watch faces for the Hermes collection uses the same design as their traditional watches.

The leather bands that are part of the the Hermes collection are one of three styles. Cuff, Tour, or Double Tour. The Cuff band only comes in the 42mm size. The Cuff has been customized to allow the heart rate sensors to remain in contact with the skin. The Cuff will cost $1500.

The Tour band comes in both 38mm and 42mm varieties. The Single Tour comes in three colors. The first is a brown leather. The second is a Noir leather. The Noir leather is black in color. The last color is only available in 38mm and is the Cupcake Leather band. It’s a bright red band. The single Tour has a double-clasp and looks similar to a classic leather band.

Similarly, the Double Tour comes in a variety of colors, but only in the 38mm variety. The four bands are Fauve Barenia Leather, Etain Leather, Capucine Leather, and Bleau Jean leather. These four colors are brown, gray, red, and blue. The difference between a Single Tour and a Double Tour is that the Double Tour is designed to wrap around a wrist twice, with part of the band being off to one side as to not obstruct the heart rate sensor.

The Single Tour will begin at $1100 and the Double Tour will begin at $1250. All of the Hermes collection will be available in October 2015.

The collection is not the only addition to the Apple Watch family. Apple also added a couple of new colors. The colors Rose Gold and Yellow gold. These are both aluminum, but have a new finish. The availability of these is today, starting at $349 for the 38mm and $399 for the 42mm.

The last change that Apple made is to add some additional band colors. The new sports band are lavender, antique white, stone and midnight blue, as well as new (PRODUCT)Red sports band. The Apple Watch Sport silver aluminum is also now available with new orange or blue Sport Bands.

The stainless steel Apple Watch also received a new option, the Black model can now be ordered with a black sports band.

A new Apple Watch Edition was also introduced, an 18-karat rose gold with a midnight blue Classic Buckle.

The addition of the Rose Gold and Yellow Gold aluminum Apple Watches are a nice change. The addition of a new collection may just be signaling the beginning of how Apple will expand its Apple Watch to appeal to more individuals.

iPad

One of the things that Apple has done over the last five and a half years since the introduction of the original iPad in 2010 has been have a new release of an iPad just about every year. The original iPad had a 9.7-inch screen, and Apple introduced a new screen size, a 7.9-inch when they introduced the iPad Mini in October of 2012. Well, today Apple has introduced a third screen size for the iPad, 12.9-inches. This screen is on the iPad Pro.

iPad Pro

The iPad Pro, as stated sports a 12.9-inch display that is 2732 pixels by 2048 pixels. The 2048 pixels is the same size as the landscape orientation of the iPad Air 2. The iPad Pro also comes with an A9X processor that has a built-in M9 motion co-processor. The iPad Pro has dual microphones, which is also the same on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Yet, the iPad Pro has one feature that is not available on other iOS devices, four speakers. Sound coming out of the four speakers will automatically change based upon the orientation of the iPad Pro. The iPad Pro also comes with a Touch ID Sensor, up and down volume control and even a 3.5mm headphone jack. There is a new connector for the iPad Pro, the Smart Connector. The Smart Connector does not replace the lighting adapter but is a new connector that allows bi-directional data and power to any compatible devices. The Smart Connector will allow 3rd party devices.

There are a couple of accessories specifically for the iPad Pro. The first one adds some benefits of the device. The accessory is a stylus, called the Apple Pencil.

Apple Pencil

Many people would think that a stylus would not be needed, and they do not have to purchase it. The Apple Pencil is a $99 option. The Apple Pencil is designed to be paired with the iPad Pro. The Apple Pencil allows a user to choose how much pressure they wish to apply. The more pressure applied, the thicker the line will be. The Apple Pencil can get down to a single pixel, if that is what is desired. One of the most interesting aspects of the Apple Pencil is that if a user wants to put some shading effects onto a drawing, they can simply tilt the Pencil and the proper amount of shading will be applied. The Apple Pencil does require some charging, however, the connector is a Lightning connector. The Apple Pencil can charge from the iPad Pro and can get a 30-second charge in 15 seconds. So you can quickly charge the Apple Pencil and get back to work.

Smart Keyboard

The iPad Pro also has another accessory, the Smart Keyboard. The Smart Keyboard is a keyboard and cover. The Smart Keyboard will allow someone to plug their iPad Pro in to the cover. The Smart Keyboard works well with the Smart Connector to provide power and data to the the keyboard. The Smart Keyboard will cost you $169 when it is available.

The iPad Pro comes in three models, 32GB Wi-Fi only, 128GB Wi-Fi only, and 128GB LTE model. The prices for these three models are $799, $949, and $1079 respectively. The iPad Pro will be available for pre-order in October and will be available in November.

iPad Mini

There was another iPad that received an update, the iPad Mini 4. The iPad Mini 4 received a slight upgrade to an A8 Processor, and the M8 co-processor. The capacities have remained the same at 16GB, 64GB, and 128GB. The iPad Mini 4 comes in the same colors as before, Silver, Gold, and Space Grey.

There has been no change to the 9.7-inch iPad Air line. It remains the same as it was before the keynote.

The prices of the iPad line has changed. The complete line up of the iPads is now iPad Mini 2, iPad Mini 4, iPad Air, iPad Air 2, and iPad Pro. The prices start at $269, $399, $399, $499, and $799 respectively. The iPad Mini 4 is available for order today. The iPad lineup is now all A7 or newer, but all of the iPads have Retina-level graphics.

Apple made a couple other product releases that Apple has done today. Given how long the keynote was the remaining updates will be covered in another story tomorrow.

Apple has officially announced their September 9th event for 10AM Pacific at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. The tagline is "Hey Siri, give us a hint". More on the tagline in a bit. But first, the rumors.

Rumors

I have been reading the rumors of what will be announced. It is widely expected that new iPhones will be announced. They are presumed to be the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. This would not be a stretch to expect these two items to be released. Some of the items rumored for this new phone is Force Touch. Force Touch is currently found on the Apple Watch as well as the trackpad in the 2015 MacBook Pros and the 2015 MacBook.

There seems to be a number of people who question what benefit Force Touch would bring to a phone. While others have touted potential benefits, it would seem that Apple would want to bring the technology to all of their devices. This could possibly come to fruition when paired with the rumored new Magic Mouse and keyboard. There has been no mention of a standalone trackpad, but one could easily see that coming in the future.

The second feature is a better camera, in particular a 12 Megapixel camera. The camera is one of the main features that many users, including myself, use to determine which iPhone to purchase. For me, since the iPhone is my primary camera, I want the best one possible. The second rumored feature for the camera is that it may be capable of shooting 4K video. 4K Video would absolutely be a benefit for the iPhone. While it would not be the first phone to be able to shoot 4K video, it would be the first iOS device to have this capability. Having the capability of shooting 4K video would mean that users would need a way to not only process the 4K video on a Mac, but also be able to show off the 4K video. A new Apple TV would be ideal for this task.

Apple TV

The second possibility for a new product is a new Apple TV. It was rumored that Apple would release a new Apple TV, completed with an App Store and Software Development Kit (SDK) for developers, at its 2015 World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC), which was held in June. This did not happen. The rumored features, besides an App Store and SDK, for the Apple TV has been 4K playback and a refreshed User Interface.

While 4K has been rumored, others have quashed the idea that a new Apple TV would be capable of playing back 4K Video. However, if the rumors of 4K video on an iPhone are true, then it would only make sense to have an Apple TV capable of displaying 4K content. Even if it only a user's own generated 4K content. If Apple does not release an Apple TV with 4K display capabilities, it may limit the allure of being able to shoot 4K video on an iPhone, for most individuals.

There will definitely be a segment of the population that would shoot 4K video on an iPhone and then process it and use it for more than just showing off to friends and family. I could easily see a show like House of Cards using an iPhone Video shot in 4K in one of their episodes as a plot point. Even if the video was only to make sure it was not grainy when streaming in 4K.

4K iMac

It is not likely that Apple will announce a 21.5" iMac that has a 4K monitor at the September 9th event. Instead, that could be announced at an October Event with the iPad. However, there are rumors that a 21.5" iMac with a 4K monitor will be released. To go with the idea of releasing 4K capabilities on a number of Apple's devices.

Siri

The tagline of "Hey Siri, give us a hint". Is a good one. It is possible that Apple may unveil the capabilities for Siri to do more with iOS 9. Even if Siri does not do a lot more, they are using it to get some to use Siri on their iOS device and ask "Hey Siri, give us a hint". When you do this, you may get a range of responses. Below are some of the ones that I have received.

Overall

Regardless of what Apple announces on September 9th, it will be something. Once we know, we will have all of the details. Until then, we will just keep speculating.

Apple's October event was a big one. They introduced new iPads and updated one Mac and introduced another new Mac the last thing to talk about is software and services and with that, let us dive in.

iOS 8.1

Apple introduced iOS 8.0 last month. In that time 48% of iOS devices are running iOS 8.0, and 47% are running iOS 7. The remaining 5% are running an earlier version of iOS. iOS 8.1 includes a couple of bug fixes and includes support Apple Pay. iOS 8.1 will be available on Monday, October 20th as a free upgrade for all of those running iOS 8.0. The iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 should be running iOS 8.1. Besides Apple Pay, there are other new features for the update, just Apple Pay.

WatchKit

At the September event, Apple announced their new product line, the Apple Watch. At that time they also announced a new framework, WatchKit; they stated that it would be coming later this year. They were not incorrect when they stated this. At today's event, Apple announced that the WatchKit framework would be coming in November to allow developers time to determine how best to support the Apple Watch with their applications. There was no update on release date for the Apple Watch outside of "Early 2015".

Apple Pay

Apple introduced its payment service, Apple Pay, last month at their September Event. At that time, they stated that Apple Pay would begin rolling out in October. Well, a date has been set, and it is on Monday, October 20th, and it will only begin in the United States. Apple has partnered with the three largest card issuers, Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. Also at the September event Apple stated that they were starting with the largest banks. In the interim, they have signed up over 500 banks. All of these will begin to roll out support for Apple Pay this year as well as early next year.

OS X 10.10 Yosemite

All Macs being shipped today, including the updated Mac Mini and the iMac with 5K Retina Display will be running OS X 10.10 Yosemite. It is available now in the Mac App Store and is available for Free. If you are running OS X 10.8 or OS X 10.9 Mavericks, you can upgrade right now.

OS X Server 4.0

There was a piece of software that was not mentioned and that is OS X 10.10 Yosemite Server. It was also updated to version 4.0. Unlike OS X 10.10 Yosemite, Server 4.0 is not a free upgrade and costs $19.99. It can be downloaded from the Mac App Store. OS X Server 4.0 will only run on OS X 10.10 Yosemite.

iWork

One of the suites of software that was announced as receiving an update is the iWork Suite. Pages, Numbers and Keynote have been updated to take advantage of the features of OS X 10.10 Yosemite. Pages 5.5 includes support for Handoff, iCloud drive support, an updated file format, Apple Support for mail merge, and improved table support. Numbers 3.5 includes support for Handoff, iCloud Drive, an updated file format, improved table support, and the ability to easily resize and re-position charts. Keynote 6.5 includes support for Handoff, iCloud Drive, an updated file format, the ability to move and customize items in the presenter's display, the ability to pair Keynote with nearby iOS devices by using Multipeer connectivity, and improved table support.

iWork is a free upgrade for those who have already purchased the applications. If you have not, you can download Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for $19.99 each.

GarageBand

GarageBand has been updated to 10.0.3. The changes associated with this are OS X 10.10 Yosemite support, Mail Drop support, a new Voice template to easily create a voice track, and the addition of audio-effect plugins. GarageBand is available in the Mac App Store as a free update, or $4.99 if you do not already own the application.

iMovie

iMovie 10.0.6 includes an updated look for OS X 10.10 Yosemite, a set of new export options, including Audio Only, the ability to share a frame as an image, the ability to email HD video with Mail Drop, improved performance, and the ability for developers to create App Previews as well as screen capturing directly from an iPhone or iPad. It is available now in the Mac App Store as a free update, or $14.99 if you do not already own it.

iPhoto

iPhoto received only a very minor update to version 9.6. The only fixes are compatibility fixes for OS X 10.10 Yosemite. It is available in the Mac App Store for free.

Final Thoughts

Even though we knew that OS X 10.10 Yosemite was right around the corner, we did not know the exact release date. The unveiling of the Apple Pay start date, as well as the accompanying iOS 8.1 update, will let users being using Apple Pay on Monday. With over 500 banks that will be supporting Apple Pay, it is quite likely that a bank near you will be supporting the service sometime soon.

On October 11th, Apple announced their "It's been way too long" event. Tomorrow is that event. You can watch it live at Apple.com at 10AM Pacific, or 26 hours from the time that this was posted. With that, I thought I would share my predictions for what we will see.

iPads

Just like with iPhones, new iPads have become a yearly occurrence. This year should not be any different.

iPad Air

I am thinking we will see an updated iPad Air that encompasses Touch ID, is slightly thinner, has the same A8 and M8 co-processors and incorporates the same 802.11AC wireless chipsets, along with the same Retina HD screen as the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Right now, the iPad Air only comes in two colors, Black and White. It is possible that the new iPad Air may come in Silver, Gold and Space Gray, much in the same manner as the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Outside of these slight improvements, there may not be much for the iPad Air.

iPad with Retina Display

This line is currently the 4th Generation iPad. My prediction is that this model will disappear and is replaced with the current iPad Air; all at the same price point.

iPad Mini

The iPad Mini was originally released in November of 2012 and received an update in 2013 with the introduction of the iPad Mini with Retina. It is my prediction that the iPad Mini will disappear and be replaced by the current iPad Mini with Retina. The new iPad Mini with Retina 2, will mimic the iPad Air, except that it will be smaller. The possible new features include Touch ID, a thinner form factor, 802.11AC wireless, and Retina HD Screen. The iPad Mini may also come in the same three colors, Silver, Gold, and Space Gray, as the other devices.

Apple TV

The current Apple TV was last released in March of 2012 and has not been appreciably updated since then. There was a slight upgrade called 3rd Generation Revision A. The only change The 3rd Generation Apple TV uses Apple's A5 Chip. This is chip that was released with the 3rd Generation iPad, iPhone 4S, 5th Generation iPod Touch and original iPad Mini. The Apple TV presently supports 1080p playback. It is my prediction that Apple will release a new Apple TV, running an shrunken down A7 chip that supports 4K playback and 802.11AC wireless, and has Gigabit connectivity. I know that adding 4K playback is a stretch, but given the future capabilities of 4K, it is not inconceivable that Apple may introduce this. The 4K version of the Apple TV may be considered a new product, like the Apple TV Pro and may also be at an increased price point.

OS X 10.10 Yosemite

Every year Apple releases a new version of OS X, at least this has been the case since 2011 when Apple introduced Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. As I am writing this, OS X 10.10 Yosemite was at Golden Master 3. It is almost 100% certain that we will see the release of OS X 10.10 Yosemite. It will almost certainly be a free upgrade for existing OS X users whom are running Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or later.

OS X 10.10 Yosemite Server

In a similar fashion to OS X 10.10 Yosemite, we will see OS X 10.10 Yosemite Server. Apple has had a habit of reducing the price of OS X Server. Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Server was $499 for the unlimited-client version, OS X 10.7 was $49.99, and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and OS X 10.9 Mavericks were both $19.99. I have a suspicion that Apple may reduce this to $9.99, or, as a bold move, make it entirely free. Honestly, I do not see Apple making it free, but it would be a nice change.

Macs

With a new version of OS X there are typically new Macs to go along with the new Operating System. Any new Mac purchases will likely have OS X 10.10 Yosemite on them.

MacBook Pro

The non-retina MacBook Pro has not seen an update since June 2012. It is possible that Apple would update this line, but it is not likely. This is the old MacBook Pro, and last model, that includes an optical drive built-in. This is legacy way of doing things, and once the sales diminish to a point where Apple does not think this is a viable option, they will kill off this model entirely. It may be this event where this occurs. I do not expect any update to this model.

MacBook Pro with Retina

I do not foresee the MacBook Pros with Retina receiving any update, besides having OS X 10.10 Yosemite installed by default. These just received a minor speed bump and a default memory increase and a price reduction in July. It is not impossible, but it is not likely at all.

MacBook Air

The MacBook Airs last saw an update in April of 2014. That's about 6 Months ago. It is not likely that Apple would introduce a new model of MacBook Air. However, what Apple could do is increased the default memory from 4GB to 8GB. This would provide a minor refresh, but would not warrant a big model refresh.

Mac Mini

The Mac Mini is Apple's entry-point Mac. It is the Mac that has been on the market, in its current configurations, the longest. The Mac Mini was last updated in October of 2012. It is definitely time to refresh the Mac Mini. The updates to the Mac Mini could be the default configuration of RAM at 8GB, 802.11AC wireless, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, and Intel's Haswell or Broadwell M chipsets.

Mac Pro

The top of the line Mac, the Mac Pro, will probably not see an update. The updated Mac Pro was unveiled at Apple's World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) in June of 2013. It was released in late December of 2013. The Mac Pro does not follow any sort of typical pattern. The Mac Pro is a machine that is designed for professionals and a standard upgrade cycle does not apply.

iMac

The iMac received a "new model" in June. This model created a new low-end model. The model is a 21.5" is running the same internals as the MacBook Air. The remaining 21.5" and 27" iMacs were updated in September 2013. The rumors swirling around the iMac is that the new iMac will have a Retina Display. This may be an exclusive option to the 27" models. It is also possible that the Retina iMac is a new line entirely. The existing iMacs may not be updated at all. They already has all of the same updates that we may see in the MacBook Pro with Retina and Mac Minis.

27" Retina Thunderbolt Display

Apple's Thunderbolt Display was released in July of 2011. This has been the last update to it. One could argue that the Thunderbolt Display does not really need an update since it does serve its purpose of being a display. The current resolution of the 27" Thunderbolt Display is 2560 by 1440. If a new Thunderbolt display was to be released, it would like be a 4K Model. Now, this poses some issues given that to push a Full 4K monitor at an aspect ratio of 16:9 and a resolution of 3840 × 2160, you would need more than a Thunderbolt Display can handle with just one cable. Two cables could possibly support it, but none of Apple's products, except the Mac Pro, have two direct Thunderbolt connections.

Final Thoughts

Overall I think the Apple Event will bring a bunch of new hardware and software. I am hoping that the Mac Mini and iPad Air are updated. These are almost guaranteed to occur. It is 100% likely that OS X 10.10 Yosemite will be released very very soon. I would expect to see a new iMac with Retina. If we do see any of these we will know tomorrow.