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APPLE HAS CONFIRMED details of a press conference in New York next week – where it is thought that it may unveil the latest edition of its iPad.
Journalists have been told to attend an event at the city’s Guggenheim Museum on January 19 – that’s eight days from today – where Apple will be making an “educational announcement”.
Such themed project launches are unusual for Apple, though the company does usually give cryptic hints about the nature of any products it intends to unveil.
Speculation has risen in recent weeks that the next major Apple product release would be an upgraded version of the iPad – with the current model, the iPad 2, now coming close to the same age that the original iPad was when it was superceded.
A Japanese blog claimed today that Apple’s usual manufacturing partner, Foxconn, had begun production on the third-generation iPad with an apparent shipment date of early March.
It was also reported last week that 2012 could see the launch of two iPads – with an iPad 3 being released in March, before an iPad 4 (coming “with killer applications”) being launched later in the year.
That report, from Digitimes, suggested that the hardware offering of the iPad 3 would not be a major advance – though, if true, it could allow Apple to slash the cost of the iPad 2 so that the tablet is able to resist the growing popularity of Amazon’s Kindle devices.
Given the educational theme of the event, it’s possible that the launch of a new tablet could be combined with a new drive by Apple to gain a foothold in the increasingly lucrative college industry – perhaps with a new iPad-lite for use in a classroom.
Another option is a similarly downmarket version of its iMac desktop computer, which is also due to have its product line revamped soon.
What do you think could be announced at the Apple event? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
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Doesnt matter what apple say, Moses had the greatest tablet announcement ever!
Moses’ commandments are rubbish. Particularly the one about not boiling goats.
It’s always a guessing game with Apple, hence the hype and interest from the media; also known as cheap publicity which increases brand recognition.
Apple & education? Textbooks stored on the iCloud as iBooks and available in iPad friendly versions?
Yeah, textbooks is most likely. Huge money in those and the negotiations have been underway for a while.
There’s huge developments to be made in this area. Imagine a teacher at the top of the classroom with a master pad and 30 students signed in, they flick the page when necessary and are instantly told if a student uses a different app or closes the book.
They could ask a question and have instant results in front of them, knowing who needs help straight away.
The results could instantly be saved and go towards end of year results.
iTeacher??
Huge developments i tells ye!!
Aye, education’s a massive market and it’s a smart move if they could disrupt existing e-education players. I think there’s lots of potential – our kid (6) – has a USB stick&keyboard thingy (provided by the school) that plugs into the TV so he can carry out some maths homework tasks. As an idea it’s fine. In reality it’s a clunky as f*** and he finds it frustrating as hell waiting for stuff to catch up – the UX (user experience) sucks lemons. On the other hand, he can carry out similar or more difficult tasks on an iTouch with no usability issues and a lot more responsive ‘fun’.
khanacademy.org is pretty good.
If Apple were to go the iTextbook/iPad/iCloud route wouldn’t it make sense to provide a crippled version of iPads? Something 6-12 year olds can’t use to access the web/appstore on, something that provides a very restricted user experience in order to protect kids while also cultivating brand market share.
A bit like the methodology behind selling crack to 5yr olds, get them hooked early and they’re yours for life.
As far as i know there are some schools going down the iPad route in education but they are doing it off their own bat without help from DOE (read about one in Wexford last yr). They got assistance from Apple also.
In other countries these programs are already running or close to running.
As seriously? says, get them hooked young and for life. I think if most parents were asked to fork out €700-800 in 1st class for an insured iPad with 6 yrs worth of textbooks on there they would jump at the opportunity.
However I think some sort of iPad lite version would be the wrong way to go as our kids need to be able to experience all the technology available to them, the earlier the better. A sort of Master iPad for the teacher who can control the wireless connection for the class would be a better route.
@dowthebow I don’t know about you but if you have a few children then being asked to “fork out €700-800″ is no laughing matter plus within a few years the hardware is usually out of date. I know several schools have tried the laptop/iPad route and each has its merits and its pitfalls. Despite the name laptops are still somewhat heavy, they are all delicate, especially for an average teenager, and are all desireable for your average thief.
I don’t know whay they don’t just use flash drives. The computers can be used in schools then everything needed loaded onto a flash drive, almost everyone has a computer at home these days and for these purposes it doesn’t have to be the latest i7 processor, in fact an IT class can be devoted to repairing/upgrading and if need be making computers from donated parts. If a flash drive is lost its a small expense to replace it.
Yippee! Another Apple story on The Journal!
“It is called ‘iChalk’. A tapered cylinder of a white biodegradable material (secret formula) is held between the fingers of a user’s hand and used to draw lines, shapes, and even text on a flat black surface made from an organic nonrenewable resource, though Apple are working on a compromise environmentally friendly substitute. As if this wasn’t enough the deposit left by the iChalk can be deleted using an abrasive cloth. Should revolutionise teaching.” Roman Times, 100 ACE.
Something new to jailbreak ..
Id guess an advancement on iTunes U, perhaps a publishing platform dedicated to Third level academic literature. And the extension of the Education Discount to the iPad at last, maybe…
Will it be the same as the last ‘big announcment’ of the iPhone 5? The same phone with a new bit of software that talks to you.
We will have an ipad2s with siri.
There is no iPhone 5
It think L knows that. Its sarcasm.
Thank you Asha, someone on the Internet with a brain. Thejournal on the other hand have three articles tagged iphone 5, including 2 with pictures of it. I was just pointing out all the hype there was over that launch for nothing. This one could be the exact same!
I was the 5th iPhone, so the next one should be the iPhone 6…?
IT!
Allow flash videos to be played
Adobe themselves threw in the towell on that a few months back.
Minor chance of a cheaper laptop suitable for students on a budget? But education books seems the more likely.
If your looking for a cheap mac for students, apple sell them in ireland thru campus.ie/apple..
They are still not cheap though in reality
It’s very unlikely to be the iPad 3, I imagine. Most likely something to do with iTunes U.
Great use of descriptive journalism: “…January 19 – that’s eight days from today –”
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