Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) officially sent out invitations to an event on Oct. 16, and the company has now confirmed that it will live stream the event on its website. The event starts at 10 a.m. Pacific (1 p.m. Eastern).
Apple to unveil new iPads, Macs
Apple is expected to unveil new iPads and Macs at the event, which the company is teasing with the phrase, “It’s been way too long.” The teaser presumably refers to the Mac refresh, as Apple is now overdue for one.
Most expect the iPad Air 2 to sport the Touch ID fingerprint scanner, the new A8 processor and some minor design improvements. Some believe the iPad Air 2 will be Apple’s very first 4K device, but we’ve heard this one before. The new Macs could go up to 5K this year, although that may not be true either.
The iPad Air 2 could also have a split-screen mode, something Apple has been jeered at by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) for lacking for a while. We’ve also heard rumblings about a 12.9-inch iPad, which many call the iPad Pro, although it remains unclear whether Apple will be ready to launch the behemoth.
Other suggestions about the iPad Air 2 include the addition of a gold option.
Apple to repeat iPhone 6 live stream fiasco?
According to 9to5 Mac, right now it appears as if Apple might be planning to use the same video and blog platform it used for the iPhone 6 event last month. Hopefully the company will make some big improvements, however, as it was virtually impossible to tune into the live stream. The platform just couldn’t support the live stream in addition to the tweets, photos and employee posts about the event that also went up on the site.
Developers said later that the employee live blog about the iPhone 6 event was what caused the live stream to keep crashing. The live stream was unwatchable for the first 30 minutes, and those who attempted to view it just got a slate identifying the live stream.
So while the idea was admittedly a cool one, Apple really should have done more testing to make sure that its live stream platform was able to support everything it wanted to put on it, plus all the traffic that was trying to get onto the site. Let’s hope that Apple gets it right this time around.
