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Apple Confirms: Media Event On October 22

As first reported by All Things Digital, Apple has today sent invitations to selected members of the press for a media event on October 22 at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco. The invitation, shared on Twitter by Tim Bradshaw, reads “We still have a lot to cover”.

According to rumors and speculation from recent weeks, Apple will announce updates to the iPad line at the event. In particular, it’s been reported by several rumor sites that Apple will unveil a fifth generation 9.7-inch iPad sporting a case redesign inspired by last year’s iPad mini, and a second generation iPad mini with a higher resolution Retina display. Following the release of the iPhone 5s with Touch ID, A7 processor, and gold color option, Apple has been rumored to be considering these features for the iPad as well, although it’s unclear as to whether Apple could bring them to the iPad or iPad mini. According to 9to5mac’s Mark Gurman, Apple has also been testing a new iPad mini based on the A6 CPU and without a Retina display, which the company could sell as an “entry level” iPad mini.

There are other announcements that Apple is expected to make before the end of the year: the company said earlier this year that it would release the new Mac Pro in the Fall, and announced last month their intention to bring the iPhone 5s to over 100 countries and 270 carriers in 2013. OS X Mavericks, recently released as GM to registered developers, is also expected to get an official release date in the Fall, and it’s possible that Apple will showcase updates to some of its App Store-only apps for iOS 7, such as GarageBand or iWork (the iWork suite was made free last month, but hasn’t been updated for iOS 7).

We’ll be covering Apple’s October 22 announcements with a dedicated hub on MacStories.

Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts to Join Apple as Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores→

Late last night, Apple announced that Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts will join Apple in the spring of 2014 in the newly created position of Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores. The position of SVP of Retail was vacant since John Browett’s departure from the company last year.

I am thrilled that Angela will be joining our team,” said Cook. “She shares our values and our focus on innovation, and she places the same strong emphasis as we do on the customer experience. She has shown herself to be an extraordinary leader throughout her career and has a proven track record.

As noted by Macworld’s Jason Snell, the hire won’t likely come cheap for Apple:

Last year she was the highest paid CEO on the London Stock Exchange’s FTSE 100, with total pay of roughly $27 million. (That included stock options; her current Burberry salary is reportedly just under $11 million.) But Apple’s retail presence is amazingly lucrative and clearly needs to remain a focus for the company.

Below, a video of Ahrendts discussing her past eight years at Burberry with Chairman Sir John Peace and future CEO Christopher Bailey.

And last, a video of Ahrendts discussing “Human Energy” at her TEDxHollywood talk from April 2013.

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Play Games Using The iPhone 5c Case→

Speaking of Australia, how cool is this game by Stuart Hall and Dave McKinney? It is a variation of the classic four-in-a-row game that uses the iPhone 5c’s case as a grid, cleverly taking advantage of the case’s dots to show interface elements and let you tap on the screen.

The game is called Flipcase and it’s free on the App Store. It also uses UIKit Dynamics for some delightful animations and physics effects. Very clever.

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An Interesting iOS App Store Upgrade Example→

Gabe Weatherhead:

In the end, I probably would have paid the full price for the new version even though it’s really only a re-skin of the old version. But I still applaud their cleverness. They’ve given their customers a way to feel good about an upgrade and apparently found a way to do it without relying on typical IAP unlocks to power their business.

My understanding is that the app comes with three separate In-App Purchases: two for a discounted upgrade, and one for people who don’t have previous versions of the app installed. If old versions are recognized by the app on the same device, the discounted upgrade IAP is activated; otherwise, the app only shows the full-price, $9.99 IAP to “unlock” the new app.

It’s not exactly a straightforward process and I’m not sure that Apple is a fan of the idea of having a standalone “Upgrade” app, but it’s clever considering the App Store’s limitations. I’d be curious to know how well this goes for Headlight Software.

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Macminicolo [Sponsor]→

Our thanks to Macminicolo for sponsoring MacStories this week with their Mavericks promo.

The Mac mini gets better and better as a server and Macminicolo has been hosting them since they started this niche market in 2005. They host your Mac mini in a very high end data center where you can use it for all kinds of things. They’re known for their personal service and impeccable uptime.

To celebrate the release of Mavericks, they have a promotion running through the end of October. They’ll host your Mac mini for just $10/mo for nine months. More info here.

If you’ve been hosting a server from your office or home, here is a great chance to enjoy the benefits of a data center.

Federico’s note: I have been using two Mac minis at Macminicolo for the past year, for both personal (media server and automation) and work purposes (MacStories), and I couldn’t be happier. Great service and great support.

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Essence Icon Set for iOS 7→

When we first saw iOS 7 in June, we knew that we wanted to design an icon set for it. We took our time and we carefully crafted Essence, a set that includes 300 icons, ready for iOS 7.

Essence is exactly what you need to save time and get your app design ready for iOS 7. With a total of 300 unique designs, Essence offers high-quality, detailed, attribution-free icons that cover a wide range of categories from productivity and lifestyle to weather and food. Each of the 300 icons includes a filled “selected” version — so you can choose which icon is best for your app.

I helped my girlfriend Silvia launch this icon set for developers creating apps for iOS 7. Here’s the blog post about it.

The set is available here, and it’s on sale at $19.99 for a limited time.

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Unity Adds Support for iOS 7 Game Controllers→

From the Unity blog:

Like most mobile games developers, we’ve been closely following what important additions and changes the recently released iOS 7 update has made. One of the biggest and most exciting of Apple’s initiatives is the standardization of game controllers for iOS-based platforms. So we’re happy to tell you that, in addition to several important bug fixes for Xcode 5 / iOS 7 (Build&Run, WebCamTexture and status bar), Apple Controller support is included with 4.2.2! This blog post aims to answer most common questions this addition will raise and serve as a short tutorial on how to add support for iOS Game Controllers to your game.

With iOS 7 now approaching its first full month of public availability, game companies are starting to show their support for iOS 7’s new Game Controller APIs. Besides Unity, ClamCase announced their first official controller and leaked photos showed one from Logitech.

With an Apple media event reportedly scheduled for October 22, I have to wonder if further game controller announcements will be held back until that date. Apple likes to invite developers on stage, and third-party controllers for iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks would certainly make for an interesting demo, perhaps showing compatibility for both iOS devices (new iPads are rumored to be announced at the event) and Macs.

As I argued in June, there is great potential for game controllers and AirPlay, and I’m curious to see if and how Apple will start promoting this feature more aggressively.

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