Hardware

To finish first, the old saying goes, one must first finish.

Despite KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo’s usually excellent track record on Apple predictions, he messed up his last prediction that the iPad Air 2 would make its appearance at Apple’s iPhone 6 launch event two weeks ago.

Obviously, that didn’t happen. But if you’re eager for an iPad Air boasting an A8 chip, a new report corroborates a rumor we’ve heard before: it’s coming in October. Don’t wait for an A8 iPad mini though: it’s at least three months away.

Big-screened iPhones are what the people want, and Apple has acquiesced. After months of part leaks and rumors, you can finally buy the newer, bigger, faster iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and it looks like plenty of people are doing so.

Via debuted a rugged fanless low-power Android mini-PC based on Via’s dual-core Cortex-A9 Elite E1000 SoC, and offering mini-PCIe, mSATA, HDMI, and GbE I/O.

With Kindle Freetime, Kindle Freetime Unlimited, and an investment in an ed tech startup, Amazon has long shown an interest in the footie pajama customer base. On Wednesday they targeted those customers with a new kid’s tablet option.

The Kindle Fire HD Kids Edition is not so much a new tablet as it is a customized version of the Kindle Fire HD 6 or HD 7 tablets which launched Wednesday night.

Apple CEO Tim Cook and several other top executives today pulled the wraps off of the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, and showed the company's long-awaited wearable, dubbed the Apple Watch, to a large audience in Cupertino, Calif.

At the same venue where, 30 years ago, co-founder Steve Jobs famously pulled the original 1984 Macintosh personal computer from a tote bag and then later let it speak in a robotic voice, Apple held its largest product rollout since the unveiling of the original iPhone in 2007.

It would be exaggerating to say we got “hands-on” time with the Apple Watch that the company announced this morning. Apple had several tables sprinkled throughout its hands-on booth (the large white building you may have seen in pictures), and you could try on some watches at those tables. But those watches were in a non-interactive demo mode, and the only opportunity we got to see the watches actually working were in carefully guided mini-presentations given by the people at the tables.

Today Apple unveiled a trifecta of new products that are surely sending worrisome ripples down the spines of the company’s competitors.

At a massive media event here at the Flint Center for Performing Arts, Apple announced two new large-screen iPhones, a new mobile payment platform, and an advanced touchscreen wristwatch. Judging by the numerous outbreaks of applause and the occasional standing ovation, the new products were met with great support by the huge audience of press, Apple employees, and VIPs from the entertainment, technology, and fashion industries.

After what seems like an eternity, the most promising Android Wear hardware has finally hit the market. While the LG G Watch and the Samsung Gear Live were first to market, the Moto 360 has always felt like the flagship device for Android Wear.

Apple's launch of the larger screen iPhone 6 and preview of iWatch or a similar wearable will aim to silence critics who contend the company's innovation has peaked, but may also transform the business model.

While Apple's powwow Tuesday will kick off the company's "Fab Fall" series of product launches---4.7-inch and 5.5-inch large screen iPhone 6 devices, a wearable and talk about the company's technology direction going forward. The sequel from Apple will revolve around the iPad and what analysts hope is an iTV.