Apple Event Highlights

So Apple introduced some new products this week. Some of these we expected, and some were complete surprises. We pretty much knew we would be seeing the iPad Mini, the 13" retina MacBook Pro, and the updated Mac Mini. However, Apple really threw a curve ball by also announcing the new iMac, and the 4th generation iPad (the latter being the biggest shock considering the 3rd generation model has only been around since April.

The new Macbook Pro, iMac, and Mac Mini are all fine and dandy if you are a designer/graphicsy type person, but I'll be honest and say they don't excite me as much as the two new iOS devices, so unsurprisingly I'm going to focus on the latter devices instead.

Let's start with the 4th generation iPad. How is it different? Well, it's got the new A6X chip which doubles the speed, improved WI-FI, a FaceTime HD camera, and it now has the Lightening Connector of course. That's about it really so it's a minor update in my opinion. The fact that Apple have broken their usual refresh cycle for the iPad though makes me wonder if we will see the 5th generation of their hugely popular tablet next March/April as usual.

For me, I have to say that I would have preferred if they had stuck to their usual cycle and added a few more changes next year - such as finding a way to make it as thin as the iPad 2 again, and getting the iSight camera up to 8 megapixels. Oh well!

So finally, we can talk about the iPad mini. This device looks very nice indeed. I'm a little surprised at the price, and the basic model will set you back £269.00 in the UK. This is £69.00 more than the Google Nexus 7, but quite frankly I don't think this price difference is going to matter. As ever with new Apple products, I think demand for this device is going to be huge, and I predict that competitive Android tablet sales will really suffer as a result.

I have the Google Nexus 7, and it's a good device. It's not a great device however, and this is why I am currently trying to sell it. I've not got many takers so far sadly, and I think that's because people just love Apple a whole lot more than they do Android, and I understand this - because personally I find Android to be limited, and boring.

Google claim that Android is the most popular Mobile Operating System, and Samsung claim that they are the worlds largest smartphone manufacturer. However, on my recent business trip to the United States, I played a bit of device spotting in hotels, restaurants, and airports. Overwhelmingly, I saw people using iPhones, and iPads. 2 people spoilt my glee by using Galaxy S3s however at Heathrow aiport on the way home. I swear these were the only Android devices I saw on my trip though. Each to their own I suppose.

In summary, as you can probably guess, I have my eye on an iPad mini already. It's an appealing, exciting device, and as Gollum would say "I wants it". The Nexus on the other hand, was OK for a while, but it only succeeded in proving that Android is not for me!