UPDATED: iPad Event October 16th (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

What's the rumor for actual for-sale date? I'm wondering if I can get one in time for a trip on Oct 31?

That's a tough one. Personally, like all of you, hoping they go on sale Friday --
which I suppose is very possible.

If not, I think at least Apple will let customers preorder online Friday.

Of course, we should all hope that Apple got its server problems sorted out.

I am reading supplies are very limited on the new iPads.

 

[DaveF]

I am reading supplies are very limited on the new iPads.

Well, that's no good!

It's a 1pm event, so I'll see what the shape of the Apple world is tomorrow after work. Save an iPad for me

 

[Ted Todorov]

That's a tough one. Personally, like all of you, hoping they go on sale Friday --
which I suppose is very possible.

If not, I think at least Apple will let customers preorder online Friday.

Of course, we should all hope that Apple got its server problems sorted out.

I am reading supplies are very limited on the new iPads.

My prediction: they go on sale Friday Oct. 24th.

"Limited supplies" -- doesn't that rumor always surface? iPhone 6/6+ supplies were supposed to be limited, yet they sold 10 million on opening weekend. If it is genuinely true, you'll know it because there won't any iPad pre-orders. That happened once or twice with iPads before.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

My prediction: they go on sale Friday Oct. 24th.

"Limited supplies" -- doesn't that rumor always surface? iPhone 6/6+ supplies were supposed to be limited, yet they sold 10 million on opening weekend. If it is genuinely true, you'll know it because there won't any iPad pre-orders. That happened once or twice with iPads before.

Yes...but....

Many people were locked out of getting their iPhone on opening day.

If you weren't among the first in line at the store or were able to overcome the
online server problems you didn't get that phone on day one.

I had to wait at least a week and I was online the moment phones went on sale.

Many on this forum waited longer than that. To date, there are still people waiting
for stock to replenish at their local store.

So, that is the problem related to limited supply. It may be hard for many to get
an iPad Air 2 the day they go on sale.

 

[Sam Posten]

Yeah but that's on a 12 million device opening weekend item. I don't think an iPad refresh will have anywhere near that volume, there isn't pent up demand and lots of people are questioning their need for tablets given bigger phones (I am not among them).

http://stratechery.com/2014/diminished-ipad/
http://aaplorchard.tumblr.com/post/99959061279/thoughts-on-ipad

Good news! Live streams are GO, in Mandarin!
http://9to5mac.com/2014/10/16/apple-tv-channel-for-todays-ipad-and-imac-event-live-stream-is-now-available/

Just kidding (I hope) about the Mandarin.....

 

[DaveF]

I had an MRI today. I'm claustrophobic and have tinnitus. So that's 22 minutes of hell.

I'll be ready for some Apple Retail Therapy this evening!

 

[Sam Posten]

Just be happy you didn't have to go into the sardine tube like I did back in '88 when a CAT scan discovered my pituitary tumor. We've come a loooooong way since then, Open MRI tech is the best!

 

[DaveF]

Alas, closed MRI. I was going to do open, but the specialist specifically told me to do Closed since they're (apparently) higher resolution.

My googling suggests the Open MRIs are powered by only one Tesla driven by an Elan Musk clone. Whereas closed MRI machines can be powered by as many as four Tesla Roadsters driven by four Musk clones. However, my research might be influenced by residual effects of a Xanax.

 

[Sam Posten]

Depends on where you go. They make open ones with just as good strength and imaging, but they are more expensive (Siemens vs. Hitachi). Having trouble finding good links but here is one:
http://thewomensjournal.com/2014/04/open-mri-can-be-just-as-good-as-closed/

 

[Carlo_M]

Yeah I'm curious about what quality of video we'll get. For a company with over a hundred billion in the bank, and the technology infrastructure that Apple has, they really do have a tough time live streaming their events. I thought by the time the iPhone 6 event was streamed that they'd have it ironed out. Instead I keep getting dropped out of the video, occasionally it would get stuck in a loop, or drop down to like 320x240 resolution, and then of course the everpresent Chinese translator didn't help the experience.

Oh and I was at work (major university) where we have one of the fastest connections on the west coast. So bandwidth wasn't a problem. And I had these issues on both on my wireless connected MBP and a hardwired 2013 desktop PC using all major browsers (Safari, Chrome, Firefox).

Come on Apple, if you can't properly stream your events, what hope is there for live streaming for everyone else?

 

[Sam Posten]

To be fair, the issue was with the 3rd party that they contracted with. Yes, they could have an in house video production crew for these, but realistically doing so for 4-5 events a year is a big nut. They might not have even been able to deviate from the center's contractually mandated crew last time.... Not sure.

 

[DaveF]

I too am baffled why Apple can't "simply" stream their keynotes, while Google runs YouTube and streams everything to everyone always.

But I've one data point and one speculation. The data point is that the iTunes music festival streams fantastically. They've got the chops to setup high quality, large-audience streaming events.

Speculation (from Alex Lindsey on MacBreak Weekly): the iPhone / Apple Watch keynote was huge. By any standard, it was a huge audience. His guess (and he said his pro contacts go silent when the topic comes up) is that Akamai (the CDN) was overloaded on the primary stream and it failed. The service then goes to the backup stream. And a conventional approach is to embed an alternate language in the backup stream -- a cost / bandwidth effective way to handle that need. So when the primary stream failed, the backup went to people -- and they got the Chinese translation. And then when that failed, there was no more stream, until Akamai got things under control partway through the keynote.

I'm ignorant on the matter. But it seems that Apple's audience is too large for one of the primary CDN's in the world.

 

[Sam Posten]

No, it was more complicated than that. Will get more info later but two things were at fault, besides the 3rd party vendor messing up: This was the first time Apple acted as the primary CDN over Akamai, ie they did most of the backhaul, and also they messed up by mixing refreshing links on the main page that drove up video restarts millions of times.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

New iPad Airs will come with SIM card allowing you to switch carriers back
and forth to see who you get the best service from.

 

[DaveF]

No, it was more complicated than that. Will get more info later but two things were at fault, besides the 3rd party vendor messing up: This was the first time Apple acted as the primary CDN over Akamai, ie they did most of the backhaul, and also they messed up by mixing refreshing links on the main page that drove up video restarts millions of times.

Everyone says that explanation is very wrong (the latter portion about their live blog page). Apparently the guy who wrote that much-linked page doesn't know what he's talking about on this topic. It was subsequently roundly rebuked.

 

[DaveF]

What to do, what to do?

I'm liking the iPad Air 2 with 64GB for $599. Same price as my iPad 3 with double the storage. My wife has the iPad 2 with Verizon 3G, and we've used it twice in four years; I don't need an LTE model.

The Mini 3 is out. It wasn't a likely choice, and Sam pointed out elsewhere it's the Mini 2 with TouchID at a $100 premium.

I'm vaguely disappointed. It's not fair. It's a great iPad, faster and better than ever, plus TouchID. But...I'd vaguely hoped for something mind-blowing. Maybe the Pro model would be announced. Or it would have the iPhone 6+ camera with OIP. Or the battery life would double. New tech categories are more exciting when they're new Mature stuff is boring.

For completeness, what laptop should I glare at, before choosing an iPad to buy?

 

[DaveF]

Laptop is out. They start at $900, 50% more than the iPad I'm considering.

 

[DaveF]

Let's take iPad conversations over to the "owners" thread. http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/327453-ipad-air-and-ipad-air-2-buyers-and-owners/