World of Apple

The new iPad with Retina display | Image courtesy of Apple

Apple today announced a new iPad finally putting an end to the chorus of iPad 3 rumours that have been circulating for many months. The new iPad, which is simply named iPad, is very much in line with the rumours. Also announced today, in line with expectation, was a new Apple TV.

Apple’s new Apple TV offers 1080p output and a new user interface which very much looks like Apple is positioning the device for more apps in the near future. Apple TV users can choose from over 15,000 movies and over 90,000 TV episodes on the iTunes Store, now available in 1080p. Apple TV also continues to offer content from Netflix’s streaming catalogue, live sports from MLB, NBA and NHL as well as Internet content from Vimeo, YouTube and Flickr.

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Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco decorated ahead of Apple's iPad 3 Event | Image courtesy of kiel

In a little under two hours Apple CEO Tim Cook will take to the stage alongside his other senior executives and show the world the new iPad. In addition to the new iPad Apple is expected to announce a new Apple TV too. Rumours about both of these products have been circulating for many months, catch up on the iPad 3 rumours here and the Apple TV roundup here.

World of Apple will not offer a live blog of today’s event but I will be tweeting key announcements on the World of Apple Twitter account. The following sites are my favourites for following these kind of events:

• The Verge
• The Loop
• Macworld
• Ars Technica

World of Apple will provide full coverage of the announcements from the event and detailed analysis. The event begins at the following times:

• 10:00AM – Pacific
• 11:00AM – Mountain
• 12:00PM – Central
• 01:00PM – Eastern
• 06:00PM – London
• 07:00PM – Paris
• 09:00PM – Moscow
• 02:00AM – Tokyo (Thursday 8th)
• 04:00AM – Sydney (Thursday 8th)

Siri on the iPhone 4S

With less than 24 hours to go before Apple unveils the new iPad, speculation has risen to a deafening roar about what will appear on the new tablet. Last month I set out most of what was assumed about the iPad 3, up until this point very little of that has changed.

Here are the known knowns:

• Retina display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536, most likely an IPS panel with dual backlights
• Slightly thicker exterior case
• A6 or A5x System-on-Chip with a PowerVR G6200/6400 GPU
• Upgraded cameras on both sides, rear-camera likely to mirror that of the 4S in terms of video

Then comes what Donald Rumsfeld would refer to as the known unknowns, the things that are likely to happen eventually but not necessarily on this refresh.

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March 7, 2012 iPad 3 Event Invite

It’s official. Apple has sent out invites this week to an event being held in San Francisco next Wednesday March the 7th. The event which is certainly going to be focused on the iPad 3 has been in the offing for a number of months, but in addition to the announcement of the iPad 3 it looks like the Apple TV will get a similar treatment but it’s not what you think.

Rumours of the iPad 3 gaining a retina display have been floating around since before the second iPad even existed. The likeliness of the iPad 3 popping up next week without a high-resolution display are hugely improbable. But the jump from a 1024 x 68 pixel display to one with a whopping 2048 x 1536 pixels creates all kinds of headaches. Beyond making the UI of apps look smooth and icons the correct resolution there are also issues with content. The maximum resolution of content on Apple’s own iTunes Store is 720p, that sure won’t look impressive on that super-high resolution display.

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