 Apple says, "Come see our latest creation."Posted: 2010-01-18 19:26:00 This morning Apple officially announced their January Special Event
themed towards "mobility space" inviting key media representatives to
"come see our latest creation." The event is scheduled for Wednesday,
January 27, 2010, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San
Francisco. The event is scheduled to start at 10:00 AM Pacific Time.
For the last two years there has been speculation on a tablet device
that Apple is working on behind the scenes. It's supposed to change the
way we read digital print and do many other things on the go. While
some see it as a giant iPhone-like device, it is rumored that it will
run iPhoneOS, similar to the iPod Touch, without the phone
capabilities. Apple is expected to make a major product announcement at
the event, which most believe will be its long-rumored tablet device.
Last summer it was first reported that the multi-touch, 10-inch
successor to the Newton would arrive in early 2010. In December, select
iPhoneOS developers were asked to prepare full-screen demos of their
software for a product unveiling. It has been suggested that developers
are working with a new version of the iPhoneOS (version 4.0?) that
allows software to be scaled to multiple screen sizes.
I've notice that Apple has not focused on much advertising lately. No
"Get A Mac" or iPhone commercials. Joe Wilcox explains in his post, "Where have all the iPhone TV commercials gone?,"
that there have been plenty AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, BlackBerry,
Droid, Palm, and "Windows 7 was my idea" advertisements flooding the
scene lately. Apple typically is on a break in their advertising during
this time. Apple could be saving their ad spending for space in the
Winter Olympics, which opens February 12. "Apple
pulled back iPhone advertisements to avoid getting caught in
the mud
slinging marketing battle between AT&T and Verizon over 3G coverage
and 3G reliability," claimed industry analyst Stephen Baker. He also is
claiming the following:
- Apple is in a natural marketing break, preparing to launch a new
iPhone advertising campaign ahead of Mobile World
Congress, which commences February 15 and where will be competitor
announcements.
- Rumors are true that iPhone OS 4.0
release is imminent. Apple is strategically pulling back advertising to
promote the new thing, assuming there are compelling to new features.
- Most
all the rumors are wrong about Apple's "latest creation" -- that it is
as much mass-market telephony device as tablet, or something else --
and it's ready to launch soon.
- Related: Unexpectedly, iPhone 3GS' successor is ready to
announce,
if not release, so Apple temporarily pulled back marketing to later
promote the new smartphone.
Joe follows Baker's comments that "the Jan. 16th-22nd, 2010, of The
Economist features a full-backpage advertisement for
iPhone 3GS and the App Store. Page 28 of yesterday's Sunday The
New York Times
features the identical advertisement. Companies typically
negotiate
deals for ads print months in advance, purchasing them in bulk."
In a brief note,
DigiTimes points to a report [Google
translation] from Taiwan's China Times
claiming that Apple is preparing to launch a 22-inch touchscreen iMac
in the second half of this year. Longtime manufacturing partner Quanta
is among the companies expected to receive orders to build the new iMac.
Lastly, we may see a new release of iLife and iWork for 2010 that will
feature touch functions on the Mac as well as iPhoneOS devices.
2010 will be a big year. I wonder what WWDC will have in store. Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is speculated to be scheduled June 28 - July 2 according to Moscone Center's website. The event was briefly listed as a "Corporate Event" the blocked out Moscone West for the whole week. In the
meantime, enjoy this from Joy Of Tech:
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