The HomePod is in direct competition to Amazon Echo and Google Assistant, along with wireless speakers. It was given a tease and a mere 10 minutes of slides. Absolutely no real demonstration and a soft launch date. Apple priced this device at $349, when they made the argument they could charge between $400-700. Apple is gearing for this to be a holiday hit, without a little more press it’s more or less forgotten by all except those that follow Apple.
As for the iMac Pro, it was also given a soft launch date with an base config price. Although it won’t be under everyone’s trees this December, they’ll want to show off there new flagship workhorse.
Accessories for the iPhone 8 and X have already been revealed with a “coming 2018” most of these will be available early in 2018 and Apple will be able to give a soft launch window for many of these products, even through “coming February/March”. Apple doesn’t want to cede too much to third parties, admittedly many will have multiple charging pads at home and work, but with accessories being purchased either as a gift or compliment a gift over the next three months Apple can stem the loss with “get them a gift card, so they can get the charging pad they really want in a few weeks/months”. As for bands and cases, I would imagine only adding a few colors to the mix, or a slightly different variant of existing ones, this wont be a full overhaul.
As for stats, they will likely be pre-order numbers only, with “demand has been unprecedented and we are working top get iPhone X’s to our customers as fast as possible, (even though they will probably quickly have lead times past December).
In the end this is all speculation based on what Apple has done in the past, there have been 4 October events during Tim’s time at the helm, last year with the MacBook Pro touch Bar and Apple TV app, like
@CWallace stated, as well as in 2014, where iPads were updated retina iMac, and 13’” retina MacBook Pro, 2012 where iPads, iMacs, and iBooks 3.
Here are the Events if you need to see more:
October 20, 2016 “hello again”
October 8, 2014 “It’s been way too long”
October 23, 2013 “We still have a lot to cover”
October 16, 2012 “We’ve got a little more to show you”
October 13, 2010 “Back to the Mac”
October 9, 2008 “The spotlight turns to notebooks”
October 14, 2005 “We unveil Apple’s latest pro innovations”
October 9, 2003 “This year the biggest music story is about to get bigger”
October 15, 2001 “Hint: It’s not a Mac”
So historically, it’s never been a guarantee, that there is an October event, but I think they have a lot ridding on this holiday quarter and iPhone launch.
In the end its almost a 50-50 shot.
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And you see people using the words "love" and "lust" for Mac Pros (and other Macs), but do you really think that the MP7,1 is "hung"?
My sincerest apologies, I meant huge, but autocorrect didn’t like it.
I think it will be telling on whether or not the 7,1 is teased or not. I think if it is, it will be to market sooner, if it isn’t mentioned we may be looking at 2019. There have been a few here saying that they would try an iMac Pro to get them through, I think there are still those who will hold out, granted the idea of PCI-slots is probably dead either way and we are looking at thunderbolt breakout boxes either way. Without any other word than “were working on something” its hard to make a good decision between waiting or just getting the iMac Pro. Again everyone has their own unique circumstances so please don’t think I speak/think for anyone else. I am sure for some the iMac Pro will be the greatest thing since sliced bread, for others it’s at least as good or better than the tcMP, but still not the device we are looking for.