

Apple Planning Major Product Launch For Retail 10th Anniversary?  - rickdale
http://www.bgr.com/2011/05/16/apple-planning-major-product-launch-for-10th-retail-anniversary/
[edit] question mark added to end of title
======
DanI-S
Apple, you are _astonishingly_ good at building up consumer excitement. If I
were ever to go into politics, I'd know where to look for campaign staff...

~~~
bonch
One reason is that they usually don't release something that's not worth the
excitement. If you keep a good track record, people will attach significance
to everything.

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jpk
Not having worked, or knowing anyone who has worked in an Apple store,
inferring the magnitude of the event given the procedure is difficult. Have
they ever done this before? If so, what happened when they did?

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ary
Let's be realistic. New product announcements from Apple happen at planned
press events. The 10th anniversary of their first store will probably just
have fancy new store displays and a give-away.

Edit: Disagreement probably warrants a reply, not a down-vote.

~~~
cageface
Idiots are rampantly downvoting everything on the site lately. It's another
sign that the quality of participants here has declines as the site's
popularity has grown.

At this point I'd be happy to see the whole karma system canned.

~~~
scootklein
if you're going to comment on the quality of participants, i would suggest you
refrain from using words such as "idiots"

~~~
cageface
How else should I describe what is essentially vandalism?

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orofino
Apple typically covers a large product launch with a large product
announcement. I'd expect an announcement at least a couple days before looping
in the stores for two reasons:

1) That many employees will be difficult to keep quite. It is my understanding
that typically retail employees find out about a product launch along with the
general public.

2) Soft launching or just launching via retail stores wastes a significant
opportunity for Apple to garner extended coverage in the press. Why limit
yourself to just one big press hoopla when with an announcement AND a launch
you get two.

All that said, BGR has nailed stuff in the past and Apple likes to keep people
on their toes.

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callmevlad
You forgot the question mark in the title. Not sure if Betteridge's Law of
Headlines applies here, but let's not convert speculation into fact on a whim
:)

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jsz0
Let's say if Apple were to launch a cloud service that required large amounts
of data to be uploaded or downloaded wouldn't Apple Stores be a nice oasis in
the desert for the slow cap stricken broadband connections most people have at
home or on 3G iOS devices? One you get that initial sync done the incremental
updates are manageable.

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huntero
If I had to guess, I'd say this will be the launch of Apple's cloud service.
Coming right on the tails of Google I/O, it should take the spotlight from
Google Music(what little it has). Also, this early announcement will allow
developers to come to WWDC with some background on the service.

Actually, if I was a betting man, I'd say nothing is going to happen at all :)

~~~
spullara
Google Music was such a non-event they should probably delay launching iCloud
till they need to.

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simonista
It seems strange to think that if it were specifically for the anniversary
that it would be happening 2-3 days AFTER said anniversary (Saturday night and
Sunday instead of thursday). Also, Sunday seems like a strange day for a new
product launch.

~~~
ary
Compare the traffic in an American mall on Thursdays to the weekend and you
have your answer.

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jokermatt999
Absolutely nothing about what's planned, just that something is possibly going
to happen. I wish tech news focused much less on rumors, and more on actual
announcements.

~~~
matwood
With Apple rumors are pretty much all you have until a specific product
launches.

------
eps
> _Thanks, Lindsey S.!_

Lindsey S. from Apple's marketing department no doubt.

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yumraj
TV (real TV, not the set top box).

~~~
spydertennis
Why oh why would Apple build an actual tv when they can just build a box that
plugs in to EVERY tv and puts iOS on them??

I don't understand why everyone thinks Apple are going to build a tv, it's a
ridiculous idea.

~~~
ary
Because there is a layer of UI/UX between the screen and "their box" that
Apple traditionally hates. If there is an Apple TV with a screen (and I'm not
saying there will be) then you can be sure the input switching madness, weird
motion interpolation, iron-maiden remotes, and shitty setup experience will
all be gone. If it ever comes to exist, it will exist to close that final gap
between Apple/iTunes and your couch.

~~~
spydertennis
That makes some sense.

However I would then argue that Apple should put all the 'TV stuff' (cable
input, av input, etc) in the Apple TV and have that plug in to the TV. Added
benefit of being way more portable/modular.

EDIT:

Actually I'm not sure that makes sense. It seems like Apple's goal is to get
you consuming content through Apple. How would a TV be any better for that
purpose than the Apple TV? With the growth of streaming video and the decline
of cable it seems dumb to optimize for cable. The user experience would be for
you to leave the input on the Apple TV all the time and do everything there --
tv, movies, iOS games/apps.

~~~
ary
Basically because Apple wants to control the whole experience from turning it
on to turning it off. Not saying that everyone cares about that level of
integration, but if the past is anything to go by then _Apple does_.

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fonosip
for the retail 10th aniversary. I guess a sale is in order

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dr_
A new iPhone? Rumor had it that it hadn't gone into full scale production yet,
but who knows how accurate that is. It seems like camera parts and cases were
already being leaked over the weekend.

Plus if it's really just a minor upgrade, to a 4S, instead of the iPhone 5,
maybe a full scale formal announcement really isn't necessary. It can still
run the current OS, until iOS 5 is formally announced in the next month.

~~~
joezydeco
Yeah, but do you really need to tear up a whole store over a marathon saturday
night for a phone upgrade?

~~~
corprew
yes, if suddenly they added support for t-mobile and sprint. but it could also
be something like upgrading / changing how their point-of-sale systems work to
give an improved customer experience. that would make a lot of sense for a
store anniversary, for example

~~~
joezydeco
Apple spent a lot of time over 10 years optimizing their POS system. Notice
the cashier counters are gone?

It's doubtful they're going to change all of that for a new carrier, and they
certainly didn't do it for Verizon.

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Luyt
Next week, Apple will announce its entry into the console market with the
iGame. That's my guess.

~~~
younata
why do they need to enter the console market? They already dominate the
handheld market, which is a better thing to dominate. It may just be me, but I
play games on my iphone far more often than I play stuff on any of my
consoles.

~~~
astrodust
Apple is very well positioned to take the console market by storm, but they
need a year to spec up the hardware. The iPad is close to 360-level
performance. Another 9x increase would put it potentially beyond.

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martythemaniak
Nothing indicates major product launch (ie, no leaks or rumours like any other
major product launch). Maybe some kind of party and/or fun-time goodies for
people to go and play with?

~~~
gacba
Um, since when do you have to lock your cell phone in a safe, sign an NDA, and
get password-protected training files from Apple for a "fun-time party"?

Not even Apple is that paranoid.

~~~
adriand
Sounds like my kind of fun-time party.

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jodrellblank
Black curtains? Training materials? No central event? New hardware to install
but no manufacturing or shipping or boxed stock rumours to match?

Could be a service offering.

Could it be the official step-down of SJ?

~~~
astrodust
Maybe they're revealing he's actually a replicant created when the real Steve
died six years ago, and now you too can own your very own!

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daimyoyo
The thing that strikes me about this is that while all this is going on,
there's no Stevenote scheduled. It's interesting that no one seems to realize
how odd that is.

------
Kilimanjaro
MacBooks in delectable colors from just $799 and MacMinis in nano size from
$499.

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simplezeal
MacBook Air with Sandy Bridge?

~~~
lambada
Unlikely. Consumers just don't care about processor architectures.

~~~
dkokelley
Not when you call it 'processor architectures'. Apple is a bit smarter than
that when it comes to marketing. It won't be the MacBook Air with Sandy
Bridge. It will be the MacBook Air S with 'more magic' inside.

The 'S' is for Speed. :)

~~~
ShabbyDoo
Marginal improvements like this don't seem worthy of such an announcement. I'm
sure a faster Macbook Air would be nice to have, but it's not profoundly
different than the previous generation in terms of the value it provides to a
consumer.

~~~
LokiSnake
I wouldn't call it a marginal improvement :P, but it would definitely not
require such an elaborate announcement.

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mikecane
iTunes Live?

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lotusleaf1987
It's probably just a Macbook Air refresh. The MBA uses Intel Core 2 Duo and
the Core 2 Duo's have been completely discontinued, with only a few being
manufactured until the end of Q1 2011:[http://www.cpu-
world.com/news_2010/2010060901_Intel_to_disco...](http://www.cpu-
world.com/news_2010/2010060901_Intel_to_disco..).

Apple will have to move to Sandy Bridge at some point in the next year. Some
may argue Apple is special and Intel will continue manufacturing things for
them, but they have to move all their fabs to the 32nm process.

Also, the iMac and Macbook Pro were both refreshed recently getting
Thunderbolt and the Sandry Bridge line.

~~~
Luyt
Does an upgrade of the Macbook Air justify the current secret activity we see
at the Apple stores? Employees not allowed to take vacation? Gigabytes of
training materials distributed? Black curtains and mandatory meeting on next
Sunday?

No, I think it must be something bigger. For example, the iConsole. Apple is
going to compete with the XBox and the PS3.

~~~
ChiperSoft
I'd put my money on an entirely new Mac model. It's already known that the Mac
Pro is being updated with a smaller form-factor, but there's still a space
between it and the iMac that could stand to be filled. Something screen-less,
more expandable than the Mini, but less powerful than the Mac Pro.

~~~
silvestrov
PCI slots are the new floppy drive: lot of people think they can't live
without, they will scream bloody murder when Apple releases a new Mac Peo
without PCI slots, but in reality Thunderbolt has just made internal PCI
obsolete.

There will not be 3 models. A Mac Pro with PCI slots is just a temporary stop-
gap like iPod Classic until all the PCI card vendors have transformed their
products into external Thunderbolt devices.

The future will have a small Mac Mini and a big Mac Mini, the latter with the
required cpu/ram for server purposes.

~~~
dvdhsu
> But in reality Thunderbolt has just made internal PCI obsolete.

The current Thunderbolt implementation transfers up to 10 gigabits/second bi-
directional. [1]

The current PCI-E X16 slots in the Mac Pro transfer up to 64 gigabits/second
bi-directional. The future PCI-E X16 standard (3.0) has 128 gigabits/second
bi-directional. [2]

Over the next decade, Thunderbolt transfer rates will reach 100
gigabits/second bi-directional. [3]

Thunderbolt is nowhere close to replacing PCI-E slots within computers.

\-----------------------------------

1\. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)> 2\.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express> 3\.
<http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-20036033-76.html>

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cafebabe
Apple is foreclosing.

~~~
monochromatic
On what?

~~~
cafebabe
They invested everything in building a few quantum computers in iPhone form
factor. Each store gets one. Now they build an obstacle course that will
eradicate half of mankind trying to buy it first.

