
Apple Accidentally reveals iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 - sc90
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id917481145?mt=11
======
walru
At first I thought this was an 'accidental' leak. As in, a response to steal
Google's thunder.

Then it hit me, and it will become immediately clear to anyone who's ever
pushed an app to the App Store, this highlights their broken process for
pushing apps to the store. Who ever was in charge of submitting this
particular app probably didn't click the right button and just had it set to
release upon approval.

Hilarious.

~~~
bdcravens
_a response to steal Google 's thunder_

Probably not, as I believe it was the other way around.

~~~
Kiro
What do you mean? It has been known for days that the new Nexus units would be
announced today.

~~~
pdabbadabba
Perhaps that Google's Nexus release itself was timed to steal Apple's thunder
(the date of which has also been known well in advance)? I'm sure something
like this is the case, though we can, of course, speculate all day long about
who is trying to steal whose thunder.

The real explanation probably is simply that both have devices that they want
to release in time for the holiday shopping season, and it does not do either
of them any good to have a new, competing product on the market, dominating
the media coverage. If their competitor's product is out there being talked
about, they want to make sure their own product is mentioned in the same
breath. Who is stealing whose "thunder" is just a subjective spin that we put
on the events as observers.

~~~
rabbyte
Ha! The jokes on them! I'm able to pay attention to both of them at the same
time. Suckers.

------
lambdasquirrel
Does it strike anyone else that Apple's product line is starting to sound
complicated?

~~~
bdcravens
Yes, and recall that this was one of the key problems that Jobs fixed when he
came back.

Bigger iPad=Air, but smaller Macbook=Air. Bigger Macbook=Pro, but bigger
iPhone=Plus.

When the iWatch comes out, it'll get worse.

~~~
SomeCollegeBro
Actually, it's just called the Watch.

(Case and point)

~~~
tricolon
To be even more pedantic: ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜ

~~~
yebyen
He's right, in all the branding in all the promotional materials that I've
seen, they use 0xF8FF.

I looked it up, 0xF8FF () is the Apple symbol. If it renders as a
square/rectangular box on your computer, it's because it's trademarked and a
logo, which means you need an Apple font to render it. (Which I/you don't
have, because Apple fonts only come with Apple computers.)

Just responding because I saw this comment was downvoted.

~~~
novas0x2a
And if you're using some common Linux fonts (I'm pretty sure it's dejavu, in
this case) that character renders as the Klingon Empire logo.

0xF8FF is in the Unicode Private Use range, so any font is allowed to put
whatever they want there :) (If you're curious what your current font has:
[http://www.unicodemap.org/range/78/Private_Use/](http://www.unicodemap.org/range/78/Private_Use/))

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bluthru
The iPad has had such a weird naming convention:

\- iPad

\- iPad 2

\- The new iPad

\- I don't even know what the 4th gen was called.

\- iPad Air

\- iPad Air 2

I was hoping for 4 speakers (one at each corner) for stereo sound in both
orientations.

~~~
glhaynes
4th gen was iPad with Retina Display.

Edit: to everybody responding that the 3rd gen ("The new iPad") had a retina
display, I was pointing out the marketing name for the 4th gen.

~~~
joahg
the 3rd gen got Retina. the 4th gen was only to include the lightening
connector.

~~~
baddox
It was also a significant SoC upgrade, from A5X to A6X. The iPad 4th gen could
handle the Retina display much more smoothly.

~~~
kkarakk
The fact that I need to remember that and tell my friends to watch out for
that pitfall when they order their "new" iPad is just frustrating.

~~~
baddox
What do you mean? There are no pitfalls when buying a new iPad.

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allsystemsgo
I'm not sure that I agree that they have too many products or the names have
gotten confusing. You can still fit all their products on a single desk. A
company of that size, with that kind of revenue, and so few product offerings
is nuts.

Also, this "leak", how is it different from other leaks in the past? There
were leaks all around the iPhone 4. I don't think leaks matter too much to the
average consumer. When Apple does a product announcement, I tell my folks
about it. 9 times out of 10 they had no idea.

Hiccups happened in Jobs' keynotes _all_ the time. More options isn't a bad
thing. The mobile market is maturing. No big deal.

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jordanpg
How little actual information is contained in this "leak".

"The Air 2 and Mini 3 exist. With TouchID. They remain physically unchanged."

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ValentineC
Direct link to the image on one of their CDNs:
[http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Publication3/v4/2c/22/0d/2c220...](http://a4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Publication3/v4/2c/22/0d/2c220d4c-e978-89df-c0d6-d0883e42737d/ipad1.480x480-75.jpg)

~~~
diziet
Direct HD link:
[https://s4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Publication3/v4/2c/22/0d/2c22...](https://s4.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Publication3/v4/2c/22/0d/2c220d4c-e978-89df-c0d6-d0883e42737d/ipad1.960x960-75.jpg)

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icedchai
Big deal. These "specs" are all-but-obvious. Everyone knows the new iPads will
have TouchID.

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Animats
Another black rectangular tablet. Slightly different form factor. What's the
big deal?

------
jakozaur
Steve Jobs Apple era is gone for good:

\- leaks

\- more options, more complicated lineup (iPhone 5C/5S, 6, 6+, iPad too)

\- competing with Android instead of differentiating (larger phones,
customization)

\- hiccups during keynote

Not necessary a bad thing, but something is gone and it's unlikely to return
soon. Probably Apple will benefit in short term, but long term doesn't look so
clear.

~~~
lukevdp
The complicated lineup is probably more related to a maturing market

~~~
pothibo
laptop is a matured market and the lineup under Jobs was very straight forward
(Macbook, macbook pro, macbook air).

EDIT: Since all the reply to my comment seem to complety miss my point, here
it is:

Apple's laptop lineup is very straight forward compared to their competitor in
regards to LAPTOP. Have a look at HP, Dell, Acer, Lenovo's[1] offering. They
have like 30 different laptops.

[1]
[http://shop.lenovo.com/ca/en/laptops](http://shop.lenovo.com/ca/en/laptops)

~~~
majormajor
A straightforward laptop line that had more size options than are available
for either iPhones or iPads. I think they had six sizes at once going for a
while? Two airs, three MBPs, one MB?

~~~
pothibo
How about you compare the laptop lineup with its own industry?

------
ericdykstra
It's doubtful that this was unintentionally released hours after Google makes
new announcements about its Nexus devices. A classic 'steal-the-thunder' move.

I think Google still ends up getting more press, since their releases are more
interesting, but it's not a bad play by Apple.

~~~
dmishe
Well they have an event tomorrow anyway

~~~
ericdykstra
Google made their announcement the day before the Apple event strategically.

Apple 'leaked' this new info to try to steal some of the attention from
Google, and get people talking about what else they will reveal at the event
tomorrow, thus shifting the conversation back to Apple.

None of this happens accidentally. It's all very well-timed and follows the
classic playbook for "crashing" your competitor's news.

~~~
UnfalseDesign
If the Nexus devices were available for pre-order today, I would be inclined
to agree with you. However, since they aren't available for pre-order until
the 17th, the day after the Apple announcement, then I doubt Apple is worried.
Apple knows full well that they will dominate the new tomorrow.

------
felix
Does everyone kvetching about Apple's product line realize that they have many
different product lines? And that there are only 2 iPads (which only people on
HN refer to with a generation number, Apple just calls them the iPad Mini and
iPad Air).

Steve jobs came back and simplified their desktop and laptop lineup from each
having like 10 models to each having 2 or 3 clearly defined models. As they
add phones, tablets and watches should each have only 1 model so that the
absolute number of models in all of Apple's businesses stay constant?

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mladenkovacevic
Is this Apple's attempt to steal the spotlight away from today's Android &
Nexus launches?

~~~
UnfalseDesign
If the new Nexus devices were available for pre-order today: maybe. Since the
Nexus devices are not available for pre-order until the day after the iPad
announcement: unlikely.

~~~
pdabbadabba
I don't see why the preorder date would matter so much. I would think that
this would be much more about manipulating the tech press to divert resources
that would have been used to cover the Nexus announcements to, instead, cover
the leak. If this was intentional, it would be about "mindshare," not about
merely staving off a few preorders. (There are probably also not a lot of
people preordering Nexus devices who would be so easily nudged into buying an
iPad.)

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mars
i thought the ipad mini 3 was called iphone 6 plus

~~~
aldanor
That would be an iPad Mini Air

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Fastidious
The iOS showing is also 8.1.

~~~
mtck
They've already released 8.1 beta 2 to developers. Apple's been waiting to
release it publicly after Yosemite is released.

~~~
dangoor
Based on the rumors that Apple Pay is coming this weekend, I think 8.1 is
likely to be released tomorrow or Friday.

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higherpurpose
An hour after Google announced its stuff. Sure. Just a coincidence.

~~~
mtck
I feel like it's almost never a coincidence with 'leaks' from tech firms.

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robinhoodexe
I honestly don't think Apple ever does something accidentally related to
marketing. Everything is planned and executed to perfection. You can say a lot
about Apple, but they're very good at marketing and "accidentally" stealing
attention (remember that guy "leaving" his unreleased iPhone in a bar?).

~~~
0x0
Like the firmware update (iOS 8.0.1) that completely disabled cellular and the
touchid reader on iPhone 6?

Looks like QA is slipping heavily these days.

~~~
robinhoodexe
Granted, that was not good, but I did mean marketing-related accidents only.

~~~
pilsetnieks
Jobs told on stage that FaceTime was going to be an open standard, and anyone
could connect to it. Granted, WWDC is a developer conference but a WWDC
keynote is still very much a marketing event.

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iancarroll
Confirmed by TC: [http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/15/apple-leaks-the-ipad-
air-2-...](http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/15/apple-leaks-the-ipad-air-2-and-
ipad-mini-3/)

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rubicon33
When are they going to update their laptops? Air?

~~~
bdcravens
They generally update Mac hardware in the spring.

~~~
arrrg
No, that’s not true. Well, spring might be true this time around, but it’s not
typically spring.

They have been in lockstep with Intel ever since the switch to Intel. Look at
Intels roadmap and you will know when there will be new Macs. It’s as simple
as that.

(Of course, this only applies to their best selling Macs, specifically all
their mobile Macs. Others may be a bit more neglected and updated less
frequently or only six months after Intel comes out with their new CPUs.)

~~~
bdcravens
True, I was going more or less on personal recollection, and it when I've
bought new machines. That said, I've had horrible luck, and I tell people that
if they want to know if Apple is about to announce new MacBooks, ask me if
I've bought one in the last couple of weeks :-)

I believe it is rumored that they'll announce new iMacs (and by extension, I'm
hoping for a new Thunderbolt display). According to BGR, supposedly they'll
announce a 12" MacBook Air Retina

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al2o3cr
In a gripping development, an accidental release indicates that the two
devices will look... pretty much identical to the current versions. But
they'll have a HIGHER NUMBER at the end, so this is HOT NOOZE! (facepalm)

