10月23日凌晨消息，苹果公司今日于旧金山芳草地艺术中心召开新品发布会，正式发布了更轻更薄全尺寸iPad Air、搭载Retina显示屏的iPad mini以及新款MacBook Pro，并宣布最新Mac桌面操作系统Mavericks今起免费升级，Mac Pro工作站年底上市。
Apple Inc. is refreshing its iPad lineup and slashing the price of its Mac computers ahead of the holiday shopping season, as it faces an eroding tablet market share and growing competition from rival gadget makers.
Apple unveiled a new, thinner, lighter tablet called the "iPad Air" along with a slew of new Macs Tuesday at an event in San Francisco. The iPad Air weighs just 1 pound, compared with 1.4 pounds for the previous version. Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller called the tablet a "screaming fast iPad." He said it is eight times faster than the original iPad that came out in 2010.
The iPad Air will go on sale Nov. 1 and start at $499 for a model with 16 gigabytes of memory. Apple plans to phase out its third and fourth generation iPads while the iPad 2, which launched in 2011, continues selling at $399. A new iPad Mini, meanwhile, will be available later in November starting at $399 for a 16-gigabyte model. It has a retina display designed to give it a clearer, sharper picture and the same 64-bit chip that powers the iPad Air.
The iPad's market share has been eroding compared with cheaper rivals running Google Inc.'s Android operating system. Research firm Gartner Inc. estimates that Android tablets will end 2013 with a 50 percent share of the worldwide market versus 49 percent for the iPad. Just two years ago, the iPad commanded a 65 percent market share compared to 30 percent for Android tablets.
Apple sold 14.6 million iPads in the June quarter, down 14 percent from the same time last year. It was the first year-over-year decline in iPad sales. Nonetheless, Apple CEO Tim Cook touted that Apple has sold 170 million iPads since the tablets launched three years ago.
Tim Bajarin, a Creative Strategies analyst who's followed Apple for more than three decades, said the 64-bit chip in the new iPads makes them the most powerful tablets on the market. Keeping the iPad 2 on store shelves also makes sense, according to the analyst.
"That's the one that's a big hit in Asia and emerging markets," Bajarin said. "It's still got a lot of traction."
Apple also refreshed its computer lineup. A new, 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is thinner and lighter, Schiller said, adding that the laptop has up to 9 hours of battery life, enough to watch the entire trilogy of 'The Dark Knight' on one charge. The notebook's new price is lower: $1,299, compared with $1,499 for the previous version.
A larger MacBook Pro, with a 15-inch monitor and 256 gigabytes of storage starts at $1,999, compared with $2,199 for the previous version.
The Mac Pro, a high-end desktop computer aimed at what Apple calls "power users," will be available in December for $2,999.
The company also said that its latest computer operating system, Mavericks, is available free of charge.
"Between the iPad and iPhones, I think they'll have a monster holiday season," Bajarin said.
Apple also gave updated statistics related some of its other products. The company said that nearly two-thirds of its mobile devices are running iOS7, the revised operating system it released in September. Twenty million people have listened to iTunes Radio about a month after its release.
Shares of Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple slid $2.64 to $518.79 in afternoon trading following the event.(ChinaDaily)
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Retina屏iPad mini：
新款iPad mini采用Retina视网膜屏幕，升级为A7处理器，增加128GB版本及深空灰配色，售价399美元起，行货售价2888元起。
Retina屏iPad mini屏幕尺寸仍旧为7.9英寸，但屏幕分辨率由此前的1024*768跃升至2048*1536，像素密度达到326ppi。新款iPad mini机身长和宽与一代保持一致，分别为200毫米、134.7毫米，而厚度略有增加为7.5毫米。
而处理器方面，Retina屏iPad mini升级为与iPhone 5s相同的A7处理器，并引入了M7协处理器用以处理传感器数据，以达到降低功耗的作用。后置500万像素摄像头，支持自动对焦、人脸识别，f/2.4光圈，支持1080p全高清摄录。而前置摄像头120万像素，支持720p高清摄录。
Retina显示屏iPad mini拥有银色和深空灰两种配色，最低售价399美元，32GB版售499美元，64GB版本售599美元，新增加的128GB版本售价699美元。
国内行货16GB售价2888元，32GB售3588元，64GB售4288元，128GB售4988元，将于“11 月稍后发售”。同时，老款iPad mini停售32GB和64GB版本，16GB版本降价至2098元。
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