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Today’s Apple event is a little unusual. For the first time in years, Apple is hosting an event that is not being live streamed. So unless a reporter who is at the event in Chicago decides to live stream from their phone, there will not be an official way to watch a video live stream of the keynote. In fact, the last time Apple didn’t live stream one of its events and keynote speeches was back in 2012, according to MacRumors.
Back in January 2012, Apple hosted its last Education event, and it didn’t live stream that one either. Many people think that Apple isn’t livestreaming this one for purely logistical reasons. The event is being held at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Chicago, so it may just be technically difficult to have a stable live stream available to people across the world when they’re not holding the event on Apple’s campus. Others think that the event isn’t being livestreamed because its focus is on education and products for teachers and students, rather than products for the entire public, so there isn’t a good reason to live stream this one.
The Education event on January 19, 2012 introduced iBooks Author for Mac, iBooks 2, and an iTunes U app for iPad. You can watch the 2012 event below:
Apple’s invitation for today’s event described it as introducing “creative new ideas for teachers and students.” Some people think this means we’ll just be hearing about new software, but other people think that we’ll be seeing some low-cost hardware products that teachers and students would like (such as maybe a low-cost iPad or an education-branded iPhone SE or maybe even a new MacBook.) Today’s event will also feature a follow-up event for teachers at an Apple Store in Chicago. This is leaving some people more hopeful that a new computer or phone will be announced, or maybe a new iPad.
ArsTechnica is predicting that we might see a new low-cost iPad that supports Apple Pencil. They’re also predicting that iOS 11.3 might be introduced since it’s going through beta testing now, and a new ClassKit allow developers to make educational apps might also be in the works. It’s long been rumored that Apple will replace the MacBook Air, so that’s always a possibility. iBooks might also be redesigned with a focus on textbooks, and we might also see new Apple Watch accessories or features designed for students.
If we don’t get an iPhone today, we probably won’t see one until September. Apple has been known to introduce iPhones during March events, but it typically does not introduce iPhones during its June WWDC keynotes. After the June event, the next event typically doesn’t happen until September.