The September 10 event will launch iOS7 and the two new iPhones will be shown off, before a September 20 release. The iPhone 5S will come with some minor changes and new features and the iPhone 5C will be Apple’s push into the developing markets.
Concern has been raised about the iPad event and how Apple will pull this off without a strong reveal. The company is expected to reveal a slightly revamped iPad Mini, new thinner iPad 5, new MacBook Pro and perhaps a new iPod line.
The company may also release the Mac Pro at the event and some rumours are saying Apple will show the first teaser of the iWatch, the new consumer wearable product from Apple, set for release in 2014.
This could still work with this new rumour, but the iPhone 6 is expected to be released around this same time next year. If Apple is set to show off the iWatch at the iPad event in mid-October, consumers would have to wait another year before launch.
Wearables are still a questionable market, the Pebble smartwatch has shown consumer interest or just the amount of pre-purchase buzz Kickstarter has surrounding smartwatches, but wearables before Pebble have failed to gain any traction.
We now have the Galaxy Gear, iWatch and a smartwatch from Google apparently coming out sometime next year. Samsung’s smartwatch will be revealed at IFA 2013 on September 6, although no release date is set in stone.
Apple may play the waiting game, especially since this is a new market that may not yield any real income. The company is preparing to compete with both smartwatches and Google Glass, the augmented reality glasses set for release in 2014.
According to recent rumours, the iWatch will have a curved OLED display, something the Samsung Galaxy Gear will not. Apple is currently working on battery life, with iOS built onto the watch and a high-resolution display, it is hard for Apple to keep the watch alive for more than a few hours.
It does sound exciting and this would be the first real new product under Tim Cook, something that is needed to boost morale with Apple’s shareholders, currently keeping the stock stiff at $500. They seem to believe because Cook delegates, instead of being at the forefront of every change at Apple, he has lost the passion in the company.
The problem with this is the notion that Steve Jobs, the previous CEO of Apple, was actually really involved in every innovative product down to the smallest detail. Jobs may have cared a great deal about quality, but as Jony Ive has even said, Jobs regularly said it was “his idea” when in reality a team of incredible engineers and designers thought it up.
Once the shareholders get over this problem, we are sure they will settle with Tim Cook, who has been an extremely good number two for the past decade and has kept profits rising at Apple this year.