As noted by MacRumors, earlier this week, Daring Fireball‘s John Gruber floated Tuesday, October 13 as a potential date for Apple to hand out iPhone Duo review units to selected reviewers in person.
And today Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said Apple will introduce its home hub, next HomePod minis, and a new Apple TV set-top box on that day. So it seems that October 13 will be the day of the next Apple event.
In a separate post, Gruber said there’s “no way” that the tech giant will unveil the home hub through a press release only, given it is an all-new device with an all-new interface. Here’s what he’s expecting on October 13:
- Apple TV hardware: I’d love to say no, but the answer is yes. I could see this coming out as a simple announcement with new specs. I really want to see Apple double-down in this space, reinvigorate it. I think watching TV on Apple TV hardware is by far the best experience out there. Yet its market share is very low. Apple TV is to the living room today what the Mac was to desktop computing in the late ’90s and early ’00s. Everyone sees it as too expensive and they have no idea why they’d actually be happier if they had one. So I hope Apple makes it a big part of a keynote/event, but I wouldn’t bet on it.
- iPad Mini: Yes, could be just a press release.
- HomePod Mini: Yes, could be just a press release.
- HomePod-type thing with a screen (maybe they will just call it “HomePad”?): No way — if this is coming, it has to be unveiled with a keynote video and some sort of media event with hands-on demos. And if they’re going to have some sort of event/show for this, they might as well unveil the above things there too.
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