Dear Friends,
Spring Forward! Apple’s event on Monday was streamed live and I watched it on my Apple TV. It was a bit weird sitting in front of the TV in the middle of the day but as Tim Cook took the stage it turned out to be one of the more memorable Apple presentations. Rachel will be talking about some of the details later on but I want to talk about my reactions to the announcements.
The event started out with a recap of Apple’s initiatives, particularly in China, with an expanding retail footprint. While some had expected a significant upgrade to the Apple TV when Tim started talking about Apple TV it was a very significant price drop from $99 to $69 instead. This puts the Apple TV in a more competitive space and in the hands of more folks. The HBO Now announcement was a significant step in what I see as a trend in TV content. Breaking with common practice, HBO has now allowed their content to be available as an broadband-only service. Prior to this announcement you had to subscribe to HBO through your cable or satellite company, but with HBO Now you do not need a contract with those companies, you simply pay the $14.99 a month for HBO. I suspect that many other content providers will see the writing on the wall and start to offer à la carte content. This will make the Apple TV the only TV interface you may need. While I still maintain a cable connection, mostly for local news broadcasts, I find myself using Apple TV for about 80% of the content I now use. This will change the nature of TV.
As Tim talked about iPhone and Apple Pay one of the most fascinating presentations was on Apple’s new ResearchKit which is a tool for medical research. Apple has made this software open source and has already helped to create apps to aid medical research into Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and breast cancer. Apple is doing this work not because they have a profit motive, but rather because it is the right thing to do, which is rewarding in and of itself. Less than 24 hours after Apple announced ReasearchKit, the open source medical framework had received thousands of signups. This will be a huge boon to medical research and we applaud Apple!
Next up, Apple once again demonstrated that they are not finished innovating with the Mac. The Mac market share continues to grow while other platforms shrink and Apple showed off the new MacBook with some new innovations and forward thinking. First off, let me say that I welcome the return on the simple MacBook moniker! This new MacBook is the thinnest and lightest Mac ever and, like other Apple products, will come in three color choices: silver, space gray, and gold. It features the new “Force Touch Trackpad” that is able to sense a click anywhere on its surface and can distinguish just how hard you are pressing to enable a new feature called “Force-Click”.
Most startling was that the new MacBook only has two ports. A headphone jack and the new USB-C port. Apple has consistently led the industry in adopting new technologies and in some cases eliminating others. With this single port (which can handle charging and via adapters can connect to USB 3.0, DisplayPort, HDMI and VGA) Apple is once again setting the new standard. While Apple itself has announced a handful of new USB-C adapters, I would imagine quite a few other companies will have adapters and hubs soon.
Of course, the Watch dominated the rest of the presentation. Apple announced pricing ranging from $349 for the Sport, $549 for the Apple Watch, and $10,000 (!!!) for the Apple Watch Edition. While Small Dog Electronics would love to be authorized by Apple to sell the new Watch, Apple has made the decision to tightly control the distribution channel and will, at least at the start, offer it only at their own retail stores where Apple employees will assist customers in choosing the right watch. I think the Watch will be a huge success and, even though I have not worn a watch since I was 12, I gotta have one!
This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive is a Chill Pill/Chill Box combo. If you buy any Chill Box speaker this week we will give you a Chill Pill speaker for free! I use both of these speakers from time to time. The Chill Pill is so compact that I can toss it into my bag and have it with me when I travel and the big sound from the Bluetooth Chill Box is great when I am hanging out in the garage or on the deck and want to listen to some tunes.