Many tech-related announcements/events is happening on March 19. Coincidence? or a colluded effort to steal someone’s thunder…
So we have…
Apple announcing several updates on its hardwares, from iPad yesterday to today’s iMac.
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- The new iPad mini starts at $399; the 10.5-inch iPad Air starts at $499
- iMac line has up to 8-core Intel 9th-generation processors for the first time and Radeon Pro Vega graphics options (by AMD)
- [Update] and new wireless-charging AirPods at $199; the case can be purchased separately for $79…
And Facebook (Instagram) + PayPal collaboration bringing the next-level integration of social medial + e-commerce. [also mentioned in what’s next in retailing in China] The collaboration won’t be limited to Instagram and will be part of Facebook’s push to payments while Facebook Pay in its messenger app is not doing well enough. And for PayPal, this is a major victory to reinforce its presence in online payments and business collaboration.
And Google unveiled its upcoming gaming-streaming service, Stadia, on the Game Developers Conference today. Originally announced as Project Stream, it will compete directly with Microsoft, Nintendo, Apple and others in the future battleground of gaming: cloud. [Video, Project Stream]
Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos is hosting an exclusive hard-tech party in Palm Spring called MARS, focusing on robots and other cutting-edge engineering demos.
Thank you @FestoAG, but bigger please…. I want to get on! #ThinkBig #MARS2019 pic.twitter.com/uXqvkf623B
— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) March 19, 2019