Zynga, in an obvious attempt to avoid bad press, laid off some 100-odd employees during Apple's iPad mini event today. A total of 5% of their full-time staff are on the way out, and many were given two hours to clear out of the office today according to inside sources. The Boston studio is shutting down completely, while the Austin studio will see significant reductions. The Japan and UK studios are on the chopping block for closure. 13 games will be shut down, with a significant reduction in investment in The Ville due to dwindling performance. Though the vast majority of these games are on Facebook, there is a fair bit of overlap on iOS. Zynga's downward spiral doesn't bode particularly well for the titles it will be maintaining on mobile. 

It seems awfully skeezy to try to bury this news under all of the iPad mini noise, though if Zynga's going through a rough patch already, one could understand why they would want to minimize the publicity. Some of Zynga's more popular iOS titles include Words with Friends, Horn, Draw Something, Poker, Drop7, and FarmVille. How many Zynga games do you play? Would you be heartbroken if they were taken off the App Store? 

Source: Joystiq

Apple has just announced the iPad mini and that means they've fully entered the small tablet space. Priced starting at $329, however, they didn't obliterate it as some (including yours truly) thought they would. There's now plenty of room under Apple's umbrella for competitors to compete on price.

Right off the bat we have the new Amazon Kindle Fire 7 HD, which while more media appliance than tablet, and only available in a handful of countries, is still hugely competitive in that space and in those places.

The Nexus 7, which is transitioning from 8G/16GB to 32GB and likely getting cellular is cheaper, but runs more smartphone apps than tablet apps. Still, if that's all you need or care about, it's the best bigger iPod touch on the market right now.

Microsoft's Surface for Windows RT isn't really a small tablet but since no small Windows 8 tablets have been announced yet, we're including it here as well. Microsoft's messaging is still confusing and poorly articulated, however, so I'm waiting to see how it holds up and makes sense in the real world.

RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook, one of the original 7-inch tablets, is still one of the most interesting. It's reportedly going to be upgraded to BlackBerry 10 next year, and if you look around you can find them for as little as $149. That's a pretty good value proposition if you really don't want an iPad mini.

Apple has already sold over 100,000,00 of the 9.7-inch iPads. No one has really cracked the small tablet market though. Will the iPad mini be the first successful, mass market, small form-factor tablet, or did Apple leave enough of a price gap underneath it for a next-generation Nexus 7 or more widely marketed Amazon Kindle Fire to steal ground?

iBooks Author, Apple book creation app for Mac, has gone 2.0 and is now available in the Mac App Store. It includes the ability to make portrait-only books, embed custom fonts, and more. As the resident math nerd, the most exciting new feature to me is support for creating mathematic expressions with LaTeX and MathML.

• Create new gorgeous portrait-only books
• Embed custom fonts into books for complete control over text appearance
• Add even more interactivity with new Scrolling Sidebar and Pop-Over widgets
• Support for mathematical expressions with new native equation editing using both LaTeX and MathML notation
• Automatic optimization of media for iPad
• Improved support for embedded audio, including the ability to play an audio file by tapping an image
• Improved publishing workflow, including automatic sample book creation and pre-publish checking
• Additional Apple-designed templates
• Version numbering for books
• Enhanced to take advantage of the Retina display on the new MacBook Pro
• Performance improvements
• Usability improvements

Have any of you written a book with iBooks Author, yet? Are you planning to? I started a math study guide a long time ago and never finished partly because of how tedious it was to add equations, but now that iBooks Author supports LaTeX, I just may finish that project soon rather than later!

Free - Download Now

When the cellular iPad mini and 4th-generation iPad launch next month, Sprint will find itself standing next to Verizon and AT&T in offering iPads for use on their LTE network. With the launch of the 3rd-generation iPad in March of this year, Sprint was left out when LTE compatibility was announced. Sprint confirmed iPad mini and fourth-gen availability in a press release today: "Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced that in the coming weeks it will offer iPad mini and fourth generation iPad. Sprint will offer these new iPads with a range of attractive data plans that will allow customers to connect to its 4G LTE network."

Sprint and Verizon will share models of both devices that run on either carrier's CDMA and LTE networks. AT&T will have a separate GSM and LTE model. Both the CDMA and GSM models will support international 3G and LTE bands, meaning that the Sprint and Verizon iPads will still be compatible with cellular networks when traveling abroad. The price for the cellular models of iPad mini start at $459 for the 16GB model, moving up to $559 and $659 for the 32GB and 64GB models, respectively. For the 4th generation iPad, the cellular models start at $629 for the 16GB cellular model, with the 32GB costing $729, and the 64GB priced at $829. The cellular models of both the iPad mini and the 4th-generation iPad will launch mid-November.

Any takers? Which carrier are you siding with?

Source: Sprint

One San Francisco Apple store has extended the return period from 14 days to 30 days for those that are kicking themselves for buying a third-generation iPad so close to Apple's announcement of the iPad 4. Apparently this policy change is on a store-by-store basis however, so don't get your hopes up too high for some Apple-wide policy change for the launch of the new iPad. The Stockton Street Apple Store manager also said that the usual 14-day return stretch would stay in place if there was significant wear and tear, but seriously, how badly could you bang up an iPad 3 in under a month?

I checked in with a few Apple stores in my area. In Ottawa, it didn't sound like they were budging on the two-week return period, while the Toronto store said that they're flexible about this kind of thing at launch time, though they have made any solid changes just yet. If you do end up calling your local Apple Store, leave a comment and let us know what's up. Any third-gen iPad owners in this boat? Would you otherwise go out of your way to upgrade, or are the differences with the last iPad too slight?

Via: CNET

Apple announced the iPad mini at its keynote this afternoon. The 7.9-inch device will come in both Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi with cellular configurations. Here are the complete specs.

iPad mini size and weight

• Height: 7.87 inches (200 mm)
• Width: 5.3 inches (134.7 mm)
• Depth: 0.28 inch (7.2 mm)
• Weight: 0.68 pound (308 g)/Weight: 0.69 pound (312 g) for cellular model

iPad mini storage

• 16GB
• 32GB
• 64GB

iPad mini display

• 7.9-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Multi-Touch display with IPS technology
• 1024-by-768 resolution at 163 pixels per inch (ppi)
• Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating

iPad mini chipset

• Dual-core A5

iPad mini Wireless and cellular radios

• 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi (802.11n 2.4GHz and 5GHz)
• Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
• Wi-Fi + 4G for AT&T LTE GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz) LTE (Bands 4 and 17)
• Wi-Fi + 4G for Verizon CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B (800, 1900, 2100 MHz) GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz) LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5, 13, 25)
• Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology

iPad mini cameras

iSight Camera

• 5MP photos
• Autofocus
• Face detection
• Backside illumination
• Five-element lens
• Hybrid IR filter
• ƒ/2.4 aperture
• Tap to focus video or still images
• Tap to control exposure for video or still images
• Photo and video geotagging
• 1080p HD video recording
• Video stabilization
• Tap to focus while recording

FaceTime HD Camera

• 1.2MP photos
• 720p HD video
• FaceTime video calling over Wi-Fi or cellular4
• Face detection
• Backside illumination
• Tap to control exposure for video or still images
• Photo and video geotagging

iPad mini battery and power

• Built-in 16.3-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery
• Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music
• Up to 9 hours of surfing the web using cellular data network
• Charging via power adapter or USB to computer system

iPad mini ports

• Lightning connector
• 3.5-mm stereo headphone minijack
• Built-in speaker
• Microphone
• Nano-SIM card tray (Cellular only)

iPad mini sensors

• Three-axis gyro
• Accelerometer
• Ambient light sensor

iPad mini location services

• Wi-Fi
• Digital compass
• Assisted GPS and GLONASS (Cellular only)
• Cellular

iPad mini Audio Playback

• Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
• Audio formats supported: AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV
• User-configurable maximum volume limit

iPad mini TV and Video

• AirPlay Mirroring to Apple TV (2nd and 3rd generation) at 720p
• AirPlay video streaming to Apple TV (3rd generation) at up to 1080p and Apple TV (2nd generation) at up to 720p
• Video mirroring and video out support: Up to 720p through Lightning Digital AV Adapter and Lightning to VGA Adapter; video playback up to 1080p (sold separately)
• Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

iPad mini Mail Attachment Support

• Viewable document types: .jpg, .tiff, .gif (images); .doc and .docx (Microsoft Word); .htm and .html (web pages); .key (Keynote); .numbers (Numbers); .pages (Pages); .pdf (Preview and Adobe Acrobat); .ppt and .pptx (Microsoft PowerPoint); .txt (text); .rtf (rich text format); .vcf (contact information); .xls and .xlsx (Microsoft Excel)

iPad mini Languages

• Language support for English (U.S.), English (UK), Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
• Keyboard support for English (U.S.), English (Australian), English (Canadian), English (UK), Chinese - Simplified (Handwriting, Pinyin, Stroke), Chinese - Traditional (Handwriting, Pinyin, Zhuyin, Cangjie, Stroke), French, French (Canadian), French (Switzerland), German (Germany), German (Switzerland), Italian, Japanese (Romaji, Kana), Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Cherokee, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Emoji, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic/Latin), Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Tibetan, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
• Dictionary support (enables predictive text and autocorrect) for English (U.S.), English (Australian), English (Canadian), English (UK), Chinese - Simplified (Handwriting, Pinyin, Stroke), Chinese - Traditional (Handwriting, Pinyin, Zhuyin, Cangjie, Stroke), French, French (Canadian), French (Switzerland), German (Germany), German (Switzerland), Italian, Japanese (Romaji, Kana), Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Cherokee, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Flemish, Greek, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Portugal), Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Serbian (Cyrillic/Latin), Slovak, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
• Siri language support for English (U.S., UK, Canada, Australia), Spanish (U.S., Mexico, Spain), French (France, Canada, Switzerland), German (Germany, Switzerland), Italian (Italy, Switzerland), Japanese, Korean, Mandarin (Mainland China, Taiwan), Cantonese (Hong Kong)

iPad mini Accessibility

• VoiceOver screen reader
• Guided Access
• Support for playback of closed-captioned content
• AssistiveTouch interface for adaptive accessories
• Full-screen zoom magnification
• Large text
• Option to invert colors
• Left/right volume adjustment

iPad mini Environmental Requirements

• Operating ambient temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
• Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)
• Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
• Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)

iPad mini System Requirements

• Apple ID (required for some features)
• Internet access
• Syncing with iTunes on a Mac or PC requires:
  • Mac: OS X v10.6.8 or later
  • PC: Windows 7; Windows Vista; or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later
  • Download iTunes at www.itunes.com/download

iPad mini packaging

• iPad mini
• Lightning to USB Cable
• USB Power Adapter

iPad mini Built-In Apps

• Safari
• Photos
• App Store
• Maps
• Photo Booth
• Reminders
• Camera
• Mail
• FaceTime
• iTunes
• Music
• Clock
• Calendar
• Messages
• Newsstand
• Videos
• Game Center
• Contacts
• Notes

Source: Apple.com

Nestled among all of the announcements today was a newly-designed Smart Cover for the iPad mini. They'll be available for $39 at launch in pink, green, blue, light gray, dark gray and (PRODUCT) RED. The only real difference with the original Smart Cover is that it's ditching the aluminum hinge and has a full wrap-around of the polyurethane fabric instead. 

Here are a few shots from the demo video on Apple's iPad mini site. Any takers? Do you guys use the current Smart Covers, or are there third-party covers or cases that you prefer?

Apple announced an update to the Mac mini. The base model starts at $599 and includes a 2.5GHz dual-core i5 "Ivy Bridge" processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive. Also included is an Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphics processor, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0. The storage is expandable to a 1TB hard drive or a 256GB solid state drive, and memory is expandable to 16GB. This is a minor update over the previous model, which started with a 2.3GHz "Sandy Bridge" processor, 2GB of memory, and an Intel HD Graphics 3000 graphics processor.

So, the iPad mini is a real thing now, and Apple has taken the covers off their brand new site showcasing the tinier tablet. It sure is looking good, isn't it? Just as a quick recap, here are the specs.

• 7.9-inch 1024 x 768 display
• Dual-core A5 processor
• Lightning connector
• 5 megapixel iSight camera with 1.2 megapixel Facetime camera
• Wi-Fi and LTE models available on AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon

Finding anything interesting on the new page? Pumped for the device? Who's getting one? At $329, it's hard to say no, even if you already have the latest and greatest. 

So Apple has announced the iPad mini, along with a next-generation iPad 4, a new Mac mini, and a new iMac. Are you getting any of them? All of them?

Tell us which ones you're going get in the poll up top, and tell us why (or why not) in the comments below. (I have to review them, so my excuses are ready...!)

Apple has announced the 4th generation iPad. Starting at the same $499 price point of the 3rd generation, the 9.7-inch device has an A6X chip which Apple claims gets double the performance of the A5X. Additionally, the Facetime camera has been updated to Facetime HD, LTE support has been expanded, and it includes the new Lightning connector found on the iPhone 5. Lightning-compatible accessories include a USB adapter, and SD card reader, and HDMI and VGA adapters. Pre-orders start this Friday, October 26th, and the devices will ship on Friday, November 2nd.

Keep an eye on our live coverage for more!

The iPad mini will feature a 7.9" screen but will have the same 1024 x 768 resolution of the current iPad which means all apps, games, and content you enjoy will automatically be compatible. Specifications include Apple A5 chip, 5MP iSight camera, front facing FaceTime HD camera, LTE technology, 10 hours of battery life, and more. The iPad mini will weight in at only 7.2 mm thin which makes is 23% thinner than its predecessor. Coming in at only .68 lbs, it makes it 53% lighter than the current generation as well.

Pricing will start at $329 for Wi-Fi only variants. Pre-orders will begin Friday with a launch date of November 2nd.

More to come! Be sure to watch our live coverage! Full press releaese below.

Apple Introduces iPad mini

Unveils New Fourth Generation iPad with Retina Display, Faster A6X Chip, FaceTime HD Camera & Ultrafast Wireless

As a part of the big iMac announcement today, Apple introduced a new kind of storage for their computers called Fusion Drive. It combines both flash and traditional HDD storage into a single logical drive.

The way it works is that your Mac will automatically move over frequently-used applications or you can choose what options you'd like on the flash portion of your hard drive and which files you want on the regular part of your hard drive. This means that applications that are on flash storage will run a lot quicker than those on the traditional portion of the HDD.

Solid state hard drives are still quite pricey and gets iMac users a few more options when it comes to speeding up their computers as well as having mass storage at a much more reasonable cost.

Apple has just announced new 21" and 27" iMacs from their live event that weigh in at only 5mm thing and sheds around 8 pounds over its predecessors as well as updated specs.

The new iMacs will not only have updated specs but feature a new option for a flash storage Fusion Drive of 128GB combined with a 1TB or 3TB HDD attached.

The 27" iMac will feature a 2560 x 1440 display while the 21.5" will have a 1920 x 1080 panel. The 21.5" model will include base specifications of 2.7 GHz quad-core i5, 8GB of RAM, GeForce GT 640M, and a 1TB HDD and will start at $1,299. The 27" model will start at $1,799 and feature 2.9 GHz quad-core i5, 8GB of RAM, GeForce GTX 660M, and a 1TB hardrive.

The 21.5" model will begin to ship in November while the 27" variant will start shipping a month later in December.

After much rumor, at Apple's iPad and Mac event today they've now taken the covers off the 13-Inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display.

Much like the 15-Inch MacBook Pro announced earlier this year, the 13-Inch MacBook Pro drops the optical drive, adds in two Thunderbolt and two USB 3.0 ports along with HDMI and the typicial SD card slot. You'll also find a 3.5mm headphone jack and finally, the new Magsafe 2 adapter are all in place.

To achieve a 20 percent thinner profile that brings the 13-Inch to a 0.75-inch thickness with a weight of only 3.57lbs, Apple had to sacrifice discrete graphics so internally, you'll be making use of the Ivy Bridge processors integrated HD 4000 graphics to power that  2560 x 1600 screen resolution.

The new 13-Inch MacBook Pro with Retina ships today starting at $1699 with the base model coming with a 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM along with a 128GB SSD drive and prices go up from there depending on your configuration which, can reach into over $3200 fully specced out with 2.9GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7 and a 768GB SSD drive.

Full press release below.

Apple Introduces 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display

Apple has announced a new version of iBooks which will be available later today. New features include better integration with iCloud, enhanced sharing options, and continuous scrolling when reading. All of the books that you own will appear on your bookshelf, even if they are not on your device, just like the current iOS music app for iTunes Match users. Additionally, the new version supports over 40 languages, including Korean, Japanese, and Chinese. The update will be available in the App Store soon.

Be sure to keep an eye on our live commentary of the Apple event as it happens for more news!

As usual, Apple kicked off today's event with lots of impressive numbers. We're still waiting to hear about the iPad mini, but here's what Apple's been willing to brag about so far.

• 5 million iPhone 5 units sold on the first weekend
• 100 million iPads sold
• 200 million devices running iOS 
• 700,000 App Store apps
• 275,000 iPad apps
• 35 billion app downloads
• 125 million documents in iCloud
• 300 billion iMessages sent (28,000/second)
• $6.5 billion paid to developers
• 400 million iBook downloads
• 1.4 million iBooks available
• 40 languages supported

Be sure to follow our live commentary while the event is ongoing!

Apple has announced the iPad mini and we know you want to get your hands on one immediately if not soon -- who doesn't? -- so iMore wants to make it as easy as possible for you...

By giving away a free iPad mini to one lucky iMore reader!

That's right! Free. No strings attached. All you have to do is be a registered member of iMore and leave a comment below. You have one week to get your entry in, so get to it! We will announce the lucky winner next week here on the blogs.

And if you haven't already, make sure you also enter to:

• Win a FREE color modified AnoStyle™ iPhone 5 from The Pod Drop!
• Win FREE iPods touch and nano from iMore!

As for the rules: We'll adjust the details (name and model) once Apple's made the announcement. One comment per person. If we find you trying to cheat and enter multiple times, you will be disqualified. The contest is open worldwide, so anyone can enter. And the prize is just the tablet, any contract and accessories are the responsibility of the winner. Now, while we really do appreciate you reading through to the end, GO ENTER! Good luck!

Apple's trailer site has posted the first teaser for Iron Man 3, the third part of the Iron Man movie trilogy and the continuation of the old shell head's story from this summer's blockbuster, the Avengers.

You can see the Mandarin, ring clad and bringing the pain, the Iron Patriot debuting on screen, and some glimpses of Warren Ellis' Extremis storyline continuing Tony Stark's evolution as both man and machine.

Iron Man 3 hits theaters May 3, 2013.

Source: trailers.apple.com

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Apple's iPad and Mac event is scheduled to kick off at 10am PT/1pm ET and iMore will be watching Apple's live stream and proving all our usual context, color, and commentary. It's been a long ride getting to the iPad mini and the new Macs, and we'd love for you to join us now that it's finally here.

We kick off right before Apple. 10am PT, 1pm ET. Be here.

Want to go full screen? Head to iMore.com/live. Want to watch via iPhone or iPad? Grab the Ustream app and search for "mobilenations". Want to subscribe to any or all of our shows? Head on over to our podcast page.

Apple has put up some new artwork for their iPad and Mac event today, so we went ahead and made an updated, though still quick and dirty version for Retina wallpaper. It's 2048x2048 so it'll fit a Retina iPad perfectly. It'll also fit a Retina iPhone or iPod touch, just center it up and crop off the sides.

To use the wallpaper, tap the image below to open it full size, then touch and hold down on the image below, save to Camera Roll, go to Settings, Brightness and Wallpaper, choose Camera Roll, and choose the image.

Enjoy the wallpaper and make sure you join us for our live live event commentary at imore.com/live starting off just before 10am PT/1pm ET.

And here's the previous version:

In addition to Apple TV and it's new events channel, Apple will also be streaming today's iPad and Mac event over the internet, to iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Mac, via Apple.com.

Watch a live video stream of the special event online or via Apple TV starting at 10:00 a.m. PDT.

Here's the important part to note, however:

Live streaming video requires Safari 4 or later on Mac OS X v10.6 or later; Safari on iOS 4.2 or later. Streaming via Apple TV requires second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 5.0.2 or later.

iMore will be providing our usual color, commentary, and context during the event, so make sure you watch along with us

Apple overnight has pushed out a new "Apple Events" channel to the Apple TV. The new channel, which is accessible via an icon on the Apple TV Home screen that looks a lot like today's iPad mini event invitation, allows access to not only previous Apple keynotes, but will also allow Apple TV owners to watch today's iPad and Mac event live.

So far there's no indication Apple will stream the event to other devices, iOS or Mac. If that remains the case, focusing on the Apple TV is interesting. While it might prompt a few mad dashes to the store from people who haven't yet bought the $99 iTunes living room box, it also will greatly constrain the number of people who can potentially watch live. iOS devices have sold in the hundreds of millions. Apple TVs... nowhere nearly as much. Live streaming is expensive and troublesome to scale, and Apple events tend to be among the biggest on the internet, so it would give Apple a much smaller, easier target to serve.

The last time Apple offered a live stream was way back in 2010. We'll keep our eyes open for additional streaming options, but in the meantime, anyone rushing out for an Apple TV?

Update: You can watch via iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and Mac as well as well.

UK network Everything Everywhere has finally revealed its pricing structure for its LTE data service which starts on October 30th. Everything Everywhere has a UK exclusive on LTE for the foreseeable future and to be fair that is reflected in the costs of the plans. EE will launch with three plans to choose from and each will include unlimited telephone calls and text messages, the only difference will be the amount of data allowed in each package.

EE has a total of five different data allowance packages starting from 500MB right up to 8GB. With prices starting at £36 per month right up to £56 per month for the 8GB allowance. They are all subject to a 24 month agreement. 500MB £36, 1GB £41, 3GB £46, 5GB £48, 8GB £56. Each plan includes the use of VoIP and tethering at no extra cost.

According to Pocket-lint, EE will also offer subsidized iPhone 5 pricing when it launches next week; so you could pick up a 16GB model on the cheapest tariff for £179.99. If you decide to go for the 64GB model that figure would rise to a whopping £379.99. There are of course many different offers in between depending on which handset and plan that you choose; all of the details have not been revealed as of yet. If you are in the UK, what do you think of the LTE pricing from Everything Everywhere? Personally I will be sticking with my "All You Can Eat" data from Three UK as it offers true unlimited data at much better prices than Everything Everywhere are offering; I can live without the high speeds for now.

Source: Press Release, Pocket-lint

EE TO LAUNCH SUPERFAST SPEEDS, EXCITING NEW SERVICES, SIMPLE PRICING & EXPERT SUPPORT FOR CONSUMERS & BUSINESSES ON 30th OCTOBER

· Superfast speeds: EE delivers superfast speeds, five times faster than 3G, and typically ten times faster in homes and offices with fibre broadband

· Exciting new services: EE Film provides customers a one-stop shop for film, combining 2-for-1 cinema ticketing, listings, trailers and film downloads or streaming into one place. EE Film also offers 'pause & play' functionality between mobile and PC with the largest catalogue of new releases compared to similar providers. The new Clone Phone insurance service replaces your device and digital content in under 24 hours

· Simple pricing for the digital age: Unlimited calls and texts as standard on your mobile; customers simply select their data allowance, starting from just £36 per month for consumers and £35 (excl VAT) for businesses, with built-in cost control tools

· Expert Support: Fast track service for all customers, plus access to approximately 10,000 experts on the high street, on the phone and online

23rd October 2012. London. EE, the UK's most advanced digital communications company, today unveiled the pricing and plans for its new superfast Fibre Broadband and 4G services, designed for 21st century consumers and businesses alike.

The UK's first 4G mobile service will launch on Tuesday October 30th, offering consumers and businesses a new way to access the people, places and things they want on the move, with speeds typically five times faster than 3G.[1]

EE will also launch its new fixed-line fibre service for the home and offices, with speeds typically ten times faster than today's standard broadband plans.[2]

The delivery of increased speeds and connectivity has inspired the development of EE's first next-generation digital services, such as EE Film and EE's new device and digital content replacement services.

Olaf Swantee, CEO of EE, said: "We're proud to be leading the way and pioneering the roll out of 4G in the UK. With our new brand and unique 4G and fibre services, we will deliver consumers and businesses across the country next-generation services and a superior level of support.

"Our new plans have been developed to offer our customers everything they have been asking for – superfast performance, choice and value – as well as a fresh approach to pricing and customer service that offers accessibility, flexibility and guidance every step of the way."

The launch of the EE brand will be backed by a multi-million pound marketing campaign across TV, print and digital media channels.

Superfast speeds EE will be the first company in the UK to launch a mobile 4G service, along with its new fixed-line fibre broadband service. It will be called 4GEE and will offer speeds five times faster than 3G, and speeds typically ten times faster than currently available in homes and offices.

EE will be available to buy nationwide, with the 4GEE service going live initially across ten cities on 30th October[3]. The company has an aggressive 4G rollout plan in place with six further cities coming online in the run up to Christmas, with further cities and rural locations planned for 2013, and 98% of the population due to be covered by the end of 2014.

Once achieved, this will be the fastest rollout of any UK network in history.

EE's Fibre Broadband service, available to both consumers and businesses, will be available in 11 million premises nationally with plans starting at just £15 per month.

Smart new services The launch of superfast mobile and fixed speeds by EE will inspire the birth of revolutionary and exciting new services for business and consumers.

The first such service is EE Film, the only service in the UK which combines 2-for-1 cinema ticketing, listings, trailers and film downloads or streaming in one place. The Film Store presents the largest catalogue of new releases available in the UK, with more than five times the number of new releases than other similar providers, and more than 700 films available in total.

EE customers will be able to watch a film of their choice on their mobile, on their PC or even on their TV (via their laptop). Pause & Play also allows customers to view the film on one device, such as their smartphone, pause it, then pick it up on another device, such as their laptop.

4GEE customers will able to download or stream a film, each week, on EE, without impacting their data allowance. Further films can be downloaded or streamed with prices starting at 79p, and the cost can be charged to customers' mobile bill, or credit and debit cards.

Simple pricing for the digital consumer 4GEE phone plans will offer customers a wide selection of simple smartphone and mobile broadband plans, putting the customer in control by combining a range of data options with unlimited UK calls and texts. Data allowances start with the light data usage entry plan, offering 500MB (£36/pm) and extending up to 8GB (£56/pm) for the heavier data user.

Data controls will alert customers when they are approaching the data allowance limit, and then when their limit is reached. They can then choose to buy a data add-on, or wait until the next bill period starts.

All customers will be able to tether or use VoIP services as part of their plan – with no need to buy specific data add-ons. BT Wi-fi is also included in all plans at no extra cost, providing on-demand access to millions of wireless hotspots across the UK.

For just £5 more a month, customers will be able to take their unlimited voice and text allowance abroad with them, in Europe and selected countries in the rest of the world[4], as well as access to special data add-ons offering significant value on data use while abroad.

New Fibre Broadband and 4GEE plans for Business Small business customers will have a range of 4GEE phone plans, with data allowances of 1GB including unlimited UK calls and texts starting from £35/pm (excl. VAT). Companies can also reduce costs by choosing the new 4GEE Sharer Plan, which allows sharing of data allowances across all users and devices within their business, plus inclusive calls to colleagues and landlines.

EE also provides medium sized, public sector and corporate customers with a range of dedicated 4GEE plans from an additional £3 a month on top of their existing or new package, as well as added services including security and mobile application development. Data share plans are also available for these companies, with the added benefit of increased spend control through reduced out-of-bundle rates for data, and spending caps ranging from £50-£200.

Olaf Swantee commented: "UK Businesses have shown considerable interest since our 4G launch intentions were announced. We hope that our new 4G plans and services will make us the most exciting digital communications business partner to work with in the UK."

EE Consumer Fibre Broadband plans EE's Fibre Broadband will offer speeds typically up to ten times faster than the UK average. Ideal for households or small businesses with multiple devices, EE Fibre broadband offers maximum download speeds of 76Mbps – allowing customers to stream HDTV, play online games, watch films on demand or quickly upload or download large files. Plans start from £15 per month[5], with off-peak calls and a free BrightBox router included as standard.

4GEE customers save £5 per month when taking EE's Fibre Broadband product for the entire length of their phone plan – offering savings of up to £120[6]. Orange and T-Mobile customers can also benefit, allowing them to enjoy EE Fibre Broadband in the home or office at reduced rates.

Expert service EE customers can expect a superior level of service on the high street, on the phone and online, with a significant new service approach and services designed to give customers peace of mind.

10,000 EE experts have been trained to serve and sell to customers in a new way, designed around specific handset types. If an EE customer wants to speak to an expert at one our customer centres, they can fast-track the automated call system by first connecting, then dialling 33, to get connected directly to an expert.

EE also operates customer services on social networks Twitter and Facebook.

A number of new services, fit for the digital world, have also been developed to provide peace of mind for new EE customers.

Clone Phone: Clone Phone from EE securely backs up data such as contacts, calendar and content (customers' own photos and videos) via an App, which provides an easy way to restore your content if a phone is lost, stolen or broken. It means you don't just get your handset back, but you get your digital life back too.[7]

Repair & Loan Phone: Repair and Loan Phone provide a convenient way to arrange a repair in store[8] and stay in touch in the meantime. All customers will be provided with a replacement phone, and phones will be repaired and returned within 14 days. Small business customers benefit from next day replacement for any faulty phone.[9]

Transforming the high-street From the 30th October, all existing Everything Everywhere, Orange and T-Mobile stores will become newly branded EE stores.

4G Ready EE will be offering a simple process for Orange and T-Mobile customers who've already purchased a 4G ready handset, to swap to 4G, at no additional cost.[10]

For more information on 4G and Fibre plans or the EE brand, please visit www.ee.co.uk.