Ryan Christoffel at MacStories:
Today Apple released the latest update to iOS, version 11.3, which adds the previously promised iPhone battery health settings, along with four new Animoji, ARKit 1.5, a new Music Videos section in Apple Music, and more.
No sign of Messages in iCloud or AirPlay 2.
Peter Kafka at Recode, recounting a couple of Tim Cook statements to Kara Swisher and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes:
The truth is, we could make a ton of money if we monetized our customer — if our customer was our product. We’ve elected not to do that.
And:
Swisher posed a question for Cook: What would he do if he were Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg? His answer: “I wouldn’t be in this situation.”
Carolina Milanesi at Tech.pinions:
Forty years on from the first device that was ever targeted to education, Apple held an event in Chicago at the largest single building high-school in the country. Apple did this not to just introduce an iPad but to tell their story on education, to show the end-to-end solution they now have to help teachers to really transform their curriculum.
I came into this event hoping to see three things: hardware pricing, an improved productivity and collaboration suite and a bigger focus on managing the classroom. Apple addressed my three points but in true Apple fashion it did so in a way that was not obvious to me.
One of today’s announcements is that Pages can now be used for ebook creation, both on the Mac and on iOS.
The Pages update is out now, and I took the new Mac version for a spin. It’s pretty basic at this point.
It cannot open my iBooks Author file for my book on the iMac G3 and history of Mac OS X. I’m not super surprised by that, but as the future of iBooks Author is unknown, I’d like a way to know I can edit this file using Pages in the future.
If you paid $600 for a space gray Magic Keyboard or Magic Trackpad when the iMac Pros shipped, you’re a chump.1
Of course, each device is $149, as opposed to the $129 for the pedestrian silver models. If they ever make a Space Gray tenkeyless model, call me.
The Space Gray Magic Mouse 2 is $99, $20 more than the regular model. ↩︎
Apple just wrapped up its education event in Chicago. I have some thoughts:
The star of today’s show is the new 9.7-inch iPad. Priced at the same $329 ($299 for schools), this new iPad comes with the A10 Fusion CPU and support for the Apple Pencil, which is still sold separately, even for schools.
This new iPad does not include the Smart Connector, so schools who want to use it with a keyboard are still stuck with Bluetooth.
According to an article in The New York Times by John Koblin, Apple is looking to launch its TV streaming service for the TV app on the Apple TV1 in the spring or summer of 2019:
Producers and entertainment executives who have met recently with Apple executives said the company has been leaning toward programming in keeping with its bright, optimistic brand identity. In other words, it seems possible that Apple will shy away from projects that are gratuitously dark or heavy on social issues.
In Chicago, the world’s most-valuable technology company plans to show off a new version of its cheapest iPad that should appeal to the education market, said people familiar with the matter. The company will also showcase new software for the classroom, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private plans. Apple declined to comment.
And:
A new, cheaper MacBook laptop is in the works and likely destined to replace the MacBook Air at a price less than $1,000, but it probably won’t be ready in time for next week, the people said.
Apple has offered several different Macs sold to the education market in the past. Typically, education-focused (or education-only) Macs come with a set of compromises to hit the low price points most schools require, especially when equipping each student with a notebook via a one-to-one program.
This has taken different forms over the years.
Currently, the 11.6-inch MacBook Air is still for sale to education buyers for as low as $749 for an i5 with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. This price drops to $729 if bought in a 5-pack. The 13.3-inch model that is still for sale in retail stores is available at a slight discount as well.
Apple’s holding an education-focused event at a high school:
Apple is holding an event. In Chicago. At a high school. Interesting. pic.twitter.com/b4rMZCLdTS
— Neil Cybart (@neilcybart) March 16, 2018
My guess is that we’ll new cheap iPads, new Classroom features and maybe a new entry-level Mac notebook. If there’s a new iPhone SE on the way, I don’t think it’ll be at this keynote; this event should be about Apple’s answer to the ever-growing universe of Chromebooks in education.
Remember the recent rumor that said Apple was going to lower the price of the $999 MacBook Air? It seems that another piece of the Mac puzzle is coming into view, thanks to Digitimes:
Apple is preparing to release a new entry-level MacBook at the end of the second quarter with a price tag expected to be about the same level as that of the existing MacBook Air or slightly higher, according to Digitimes Research.