Apple Event Recap: ‘Spring Forward’
New Macs. Gold. ResearchKit. Gold. HBO Now. More Gold. Apple Watch. And, oh yeah, some more gold.
Earlier today, Apple offered QUITE a bit of information. Let’s recap:
- HBO Now: Apple CEO Tim Cook started the event by inviting HBO CEO, Richard Plepler on stage to share “some exciting news about HBO.” Plepler announced that HBO Now, HBO’s stand-alone streaming service, would be launching with Apple as their exclusive launch partner. Great news for all the cable-cutters out there. Oh, and for all you Game of Thrones fans out there, Plepler also aired a brand new trailer for the upcoming season.
- AppleTV Price Drop: Previously sold for $99, Apple cut the price of AppleTVs to $69. No hardware changes, but a 30% price drop has to be appealing for all those itching to sign up for a device to stream HBO Now…
- iPhone: Cook shared a few tidbits on the success of the iPhone, highlighting that more than 700 million have sold since its launch.
- Pay: When it was first introduced, Apple Pay had its share of skeptics on how quickly retailers, consumers and financial institutions would adopt to the payment method. Our buddy Tim Cook squashed these concerns, explaining that more than 700,000 locations now accept Apple Pay – including vending machines.
- ResearchKit: This is cool. Really cool. Explaining that medical research is often hampered by limited participants and inconsistent sample sizes, Apple has teamed with health institutions to develop software that allows you to join medical research studies right from the iPhone. Walk in a line, tap circles on the screen or say “ah” into the phone. Simple tests like these are developed to share medical data with research teams. Concerned about security? You decide how data is shared and used by researchers, and Apple never actually sees the data. Parkinson’s, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma and breast cancer were highlighted as studies that will be available for participating in today, with others soon likely to follow as the software was announced to be open source. Like we said, this is really cool stuff. Read more here.
- MacBook: The new MacBook has quite a bit of hardware changes – particularly in terms of its size (weighs two pounds, 24% thinner than previous models, logic board is 1/3 size of previous models) and battery life (all day!). There were also some interesting upgrades to the keyboard (new butterfly mechanism for more efficient typing) and trackpad. Goodbye right-click and may the “force touch” be with you all. They also introduced a new, universal cable: the USB-C. Bring on the adapters! New MacBooks are shipping April 10th, starting at $1,299 and available in three colors: silver, space grey and…wait for it…gold.
- Apple Watch: Lots of Apple Watch info today. The event showcased quite a few applications and how they are used from the Apple Watch – touching on everything from Uber to Instagram. The battery life ranges from 18 hours to all day – depending on how the watch is used, of course. Emails, texts, phone calls, FaceTime, event reminders, etc. – they’re all doable from the Apple Watch. You can even chat with Siri , send sketches and share your heart beat with others if you feel the urge to do so. There’s also quite a bit of health tie-ins, with workout software and activity reminders available. Prices range from $349 to $10,000 (yes, that is an accurately typed number) depending on the model and style chosen.
That about covers it. If you’re interested in seeing the event for yourself, Apple’s made a recording available on their website. That being said, who’s ready to go shopping?