Apple held their much-anticipated Spring Forward event this morning from San Francisco where they announced new products. Below is a brief summary of the event:
Introduction
- Introductory video showing off the new West Lake, China Apple Store
- Tim Cook takes the stage
- 21 retail stores in China
Apple TV
- "HBO Now" standalone streaming service available in April
- Apple will be exclusive partner with HBO for this new streaming service
- HBO Now does not required a TV
- HBO Now will be available for $14.99/month
- More than $25 million Apple TVs sold to date
- Starting today, Apple TV will sell for $69!
iPhone
- iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are widely considered to be the best smartphone on the market
- More than 700 million iPhones sold to date
- 99% customer satisfaction rate for iPhone
- More than 2,500 banks support Apple Pay
- Every major car brand has committed to delivering CarPlay
- More than 900 iOS apps available to help you track your health and fitness
- Medical research is a huge potential market for Apple
- ResearchKit - a software framework designed for medical research
- Huge efforts in combating Parkinson's Disease, Diabetes, Asthma, Breast Cancer and more
- ResearchKit is blanketed with privacy and Apple will have no access to the information
- ResearchKit will be available to everyone via Open Source
- ResearchKit Apps will be available starting today
MacBook
- Every year for the last decade, the Mac has outgrown the industry average
- "We challenged ourselves to reinvent the laptop"
- New 12" MacBook is the thinnest ever, now available in silver, gold and Space Grey
- Now features a Retina display
- Weighs just 2 pounds, 13.1 mm thin (24% thinner)
- In order to achieve a thinner laptop, Apple had to invent a new keyboard mechanism
- Display consumes 30% less energy but is brighter because of new technology
- All-new TrackPad includes a tactic engine for feedback and ForceClick
- This will be the first fan-less MacBook
- Logic Board is 67% smaller than previous models
- New battery technology means an "all-day battery life" (up to 10 hours)
- Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11ac included
- One port for power, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, USB, etc... uses USB-C connector
- New MacBook will be available April 10
- Prices will start at $1,299
- MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptop also updated with spec bumps
Apple Watch
- "The Apple Watch is the most advanced timepiece ever created"
- Accurate within 50 milliseconds of UTC
- Warch faces are customizable
- Swipe up from the bottom of the watch to reveal additional information (Glances)
- The built-in speaker and microphone allows you to take calls from the watch
- "Digital Touch" is a new form of watch-to-watch communication
- "You're going to have a blast with these new Digital Touch features"
- Apple Watch is great for fitness, photos, social networking, notifications... And you can even use Siri
- Siri can be activated by using the "Hey Siri" feature
- Apple Watch is designed to work in conjunction with iPhone
- New Apple Watch app for iPhone will be bundled with iOS 8.2, available today
- Apple Watch battery designed for "all-day use" (~18 hours)
- Apple Watch Sport - $349 (38mm) and $399 (42mm)
- Apple Watch - prices range from $549 - $1,099
- Apple Watch Edition - prices start at $10,000 at select locations
- Apple Watch will be available for pre-order on April 10
- Apple Watch will be available on April 24
The event was broadcast live via Apple TV and the web. If you happened to miss the live stream, you can watch it here.
