Apple CEO Tim Cook to make announcement in Austin on Friday [u]

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AppleInsiderAppleInsider
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in General Discussion edited August 2017
An unverified tip claims Apple CEO Tim Cook is planning to make an important announcement in the augmented reality/virtual reality space in Austin, Tex., on Friday, and might also reveal the date of an expected September iPhone event, AppleInsider has learned.


Apple CEO Tim Cook visits students at Waukee APEX in Iowa. | Source: Tim Cook via Twitter


According to an anonymous tipster, Cook flew into Austin on Thursday after visiting with lawmakers, students and Apple store employees in Iowa. Cook was in the Hawkeye State to announce a $1.4 billion investment in a new data center facility in Waukee.

Flight information provided to AppleInsider shows a plane co-owned by Apple made the nearly two-hour flight from Des Moines, Iowa, to an airport in Austin, Tex., late Thursday. Whether Cook was on that plane could not be confirmed.

The person said Cook is set to make an AR/VR announcement on Friday, potentially in partnership with a local AR firm. What exactly Cook plans to unveil is unclear, but Apple has invested heavily, and publicly, in AR technology over the past year.

Presaging future products and software, Apple in June announced ARKit, a set of developer tools that will help app makers roll out AR solutions when iOS 11 ships this fall.

"We believe AR has broad mainstream applicability across education, entertainment, interactive gaming, enterprise and categories we probably haven't even thought of," Cook said during an earnings conference call this month. "With hundreds of millions of people actively using iPhone and iPad today, iOS will become the world's biggest augmented reality platform as soon as iOS 11 ships."

The tipster also said Cook might also reveal a date for the company's annual iPhone event, which current rumors peg for early to mid September. This latter tidbit could be erroneous, as news of large Apple events are typically heralded by press invitations.

Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Industry whispers earlier this week suggested Apple would hold the event on Sept. 12. Alongside new iPhone models, including a hotly anticipated "iPhone 8" flagship, the company is expected to debut a revamped Apple Watch with LTE connectivity and a 4K Apple TV.

Update: Austin Mayor Steve Adler in a "tech town hall" meeting on Thursday confirmed Cook will be in town to announce a nation-wide training program. In a video of the Q&A session, spotted by MacRumors, Adler does not make clear whether the program is geared toward developers or consumers.



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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 34
    Roger_Fingasroger_fingas Posts: 148member, editor
    Terrible timing for a flight into Austin, given the hurricane hitting the coast.
    randominternetpersonjony0
     1Like 0Dislikes 1Informative
  • Reply 2 of 34
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Roger_Fingas said:
    Terrible timing for a flight into Austin, given the hurricane hitting the coast.
    Mother nature has her own time table and really doesn't care about Apple's.  

    As for a Texas announcement, it does seem a bit strange but who knows.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 3 of 34
    regurgitatedcoproliteregurgitatedcoprolite Posts: 287member
    Roger_Fingas said:
    Terrible timing for a flight into Austin, given the hurricane hitting the coast.
    Austin’s far enough inland to avoid rough weather from this hurricane / tropical storm. They’ll be fortunate to get decent rain. 
    cornchippscooter63
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 4 of 34
    bluefire1bluefire1 Posts: 1,316member
    Wallet open and ready.
    watto_cobra
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 5 of 34
    sigs21sigs21 Posts: 82member
    Saw Tim Cook at Dinner tonight in Austin- was seated corner both at Eberly . 
    cornchipSoliRayz2016StrangeDayswatto_cobrarandominternetpersonSpamSandwichpscooter63
     4Likes 0Dislikes 4Informatives
  • Reply 6 of 34
    tmaytmay Posts: 6,465member
    So, is Apple going to open an AR R&D facility in Austin, and start hiring UT postgrads?
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 7 of 34
    mattinozmattinoz Posts: 2,605member
    Gaffer Tape?
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 8 of 34
    cornchipcornchip Posts: 1,954member
    Co-owned?
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 9 of 34
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    Roger_Fingas said:
    Terrible timing for a flight into Austin, given the hurricane hitting the coast.
    Omg he has to stay and have BBQ with the locals and he's never going back.
    entropystmay
     2Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 10 of 34
    glowearthglowearth Posts: 11member
    I’m from Texas. Please from now on, editor, just say Austin, TX not Austin, Tex.! I lived there for a while for school at the Texas School for the Deaf and know what this city called. So, use Austin, TX instead! And also I doubt that Apple is call the new iPhone as “iPhone 8” because it’s for September of 2018. The new iPhone anniversary is for 10 years anniversary after the original iPhone release to market for first time in 2007. Just let call this as “iPhone Anniversary” rather than call this “iPhone 8”, it sound STUPID! 
    SpamSandwich
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 11 of 34
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    What if, during the big anticipated gathering to announce the partnership with the AR company in Austin, Tim simply said: "Apple purchases companies from time to time, but generally does not discuss future product plans," drops the mic, and gets back on the Apple-owned jet?
    leavingthebiggStrangeDayswatto_cobraSpamSandwichpscooter63
     5Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 12 of 34
    leavingthebiggleavingthebigg Posts: 1,291member
    Thankfully the title of this article was changed! 👏
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 13 of 34
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    So people are stalking Tim Cook now tracking flight patterns? Good grief.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 14 of 34
    AppleSince1986applesince1986 Posts: 5member
    "What exactly Cook plans to unveil is unclear,"
    AppleInsider staff: Get out of the perpetual bad habit of using the word 'unclear'. Where you have zero information on something, the word to be used is 'unknown', not 'unclear'.     What exactly Cook plans to unveil is unknown.
    StrangeDayslongpathrandominternetpersonSpamSandwichpscooter63
     5Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 15 of 34
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,060member
    So people are stalking Tim Cook now tracking flight patterns? Good grief.
    Based on the complexity of some of the iPhone lock screen bypass methods people have discovered (like hit emergency call, press a bunch of numbers, bring up Siri, press call button 12x, hold the delete key, and attempt 100x until you get the timing right) it seems that some people have too much idle time on their hands. And if anyone thinks I'm kidding, here's an example: http://gizmodo.com/this-weird-trick-apparently-lets-you-bypass-any-iphones-1789134941
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 16 of 34
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,060member
    regurgitatedcoprolite said:
    Roger_Fingas said:
    Terrible timing for a flight into Austin, given the hurricane hitting the coast.
    Austin’s far enough inland to avoid rough weather from this hurricane / tropical storm. They’ll be fortunate to get decent rain. 
    Some forecasts are showing up to 10" of rain for Austin and almost 22" just 60 miles southeast of Austin. The lakes are far above average capacity, aquifers are in good shape, and the ground is already reasonably saturated. 2" of rain would be fine. We are probably going to experience a good deal of flooding.
    welshdog
     1Like 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 17 of 34
    ihatescreennamesihatescreennames Posts: 2,002member
    linkman said:
    regurgitatedcoprolite said:
    Roger_Fingas said:
    Terrible timing for a flight into Austin, given the hurricane hitting the coast.
    Austin’s far enough inland to avoid rough weather from this hurricane / tropical storm. They’ll be fortunate to get decent rain. 
    Some forecasts are showing up to 10" of rain for Austin and almost 22" just 60 miles southeast of Austin. The lakes are far above average capacity, aquifers are in good shape, and the ground is already reasonably saturated. 2" of rain would be fine. We are probably going to experience a good deal of flooding.
    Wait.  Austin, Tex or Austin, TX?  I'm really confused.

    It would be odd for Tim Cook to make any product announcments or reveal the dates for future product announcements, so I'm not expecting any of that.  A training center would be cool, maybe they're going to expand their footprint in the area.
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 18 of 34
    randominternetpersonrandominternetperson Posts: 3,190member
    sigs21 said:
    Saw Tim Cook at Dinner tonight in Austin- was seated corner both at Eberly . 

    Did you ask him to sign your iPhone?
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
  • Reply 19 of 34
    randominternetpersonrandominternetperson Posts: 3,190member
    glowearth said:
    I’m from Texas. Please from now on, editor, just say Austin, TX not Austin, Tex.! I lived there for a while for school at the Texas School for the Deaf and know what this city called. So, use Austin, TX instead! And also I doubt that Apple is call the new iPhone as “iPhone 8” because it’s for September of 2018. The new iPhone anniversary is for 10 years anniversary after the original iPhone release to market for first time in 2007. Just let call this as “iPhone Anniversary” rather than call this “iPhone 8”, it sound STUPID! 


    Sorry, but two major style guides disagree with you.  AP says it should be "Austin, Texas"; Chicago says it should be "Austin, Tex."  Postal abbreviations are to be generally reserved for use in addresses.  Here's a nice summary:  http://apvschicago.com/2011/05/state-abbreviations-use-traditional-or.html

    Also "iPhone Anniversary" sounds like Anniversary is the noun.

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  • Reply 20 of 34
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    randominternetperson said:
    Also "iPhone Anniversary" sounds like Anniversary is the noun.
    It matches “Apple Watch Edition.”
     0Likes 0Dislikes 0Informatives
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