Tag Archives: Apple Keynote

Apple Keynote – Highlights and My Thoughts on Apple’s Blockbuster Sales Pitch

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So Apple held their spring keynote speech yesterday and it was one monster of a sales pitch.

The key points –

– iPhone SE announced – the iPhone 5S with iPhone 6S specs. 16gb starts in UK at £359. 64gb is £439.

– iOS 9.3 launched – Night Shift, Touch ID for Notes, improvements to News, Car Play, Apple Health and other smaller bug fixes and tweaks for various apps

– iPad Pro – this time at 9.7 inches. 32gb, 128gb and 256gb versions.

– Reduction in pricing for Apple Watch and new bands

– Siri search for Apple TV 4th Gen plus tvOS update

– Apple Watch update allows pairing more than one Apple Watch to an iPhone

– Details on environmental policy and progress

– Carekit

On the face of it, the Apple Keynote could have seemed quite boring but actually it was a stroke of genius. Here’s my thoughts why –

– Apple now have a fully featured flagship specced iPhone for sale at £359 in the UK. That is really going to so many other brands. On contract, this phone is likely going to be free. Despite the trend towards larger phones, many will opt for this. Also, Apple now have a new iPhone to buy mid year and prior to the launch of the new iPhone release in September 2016. This will push iPhone sales even higher.

– Price reduction on the Apple Watch just as you allow more than one watch to be paired with an iPhone. Plus new bands. This will create repeat sales and bring people to the table who haven’t got an Apple Watch due to the lower price point.

– iPad Pro 9.7 inch. Apple repeatedly told everyone that the iPad Pro 9.7 inch was the perfect upgrade for you with your 5 years old windows pc and for those with ageing iPads. Apple kept repeating this was the iPad upgrade that was worth upgrading too. In addition, Apple included a 256gb storage option to help rake in the money.

So there you have it. A great sales pitch by the best marketeers in the business!

Apple – My verdict on all the new announcements – iPhone 6S, Apple TV, iPad Pro and new Apple Watch options

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Yesterday, Apple carried out a near perfect 2 hour masterclass keynote speech, announcing a wide range of new products. Here are my initial thoughts on everything.

New iPhone 6S and 6S Plus

The new iPhone has a new 12mp camera that coupled with the new A9 processor and digital image processing chip allows for 4K video recording, live photo capture and a whole lot more. Apple made the point that by increasing the MP they did not sacrifice pixel quality. The tech specs show that the camera sensor has got smaller not larger with the iPhone 6S. Instead of 1.5 microns it is now only 1.22 microns. As a comparison , the LG G4 camera sensor is 2.6 microns in size with a f/1.8 aperture. The iPhone 6S is still only f/2.2. Despite these specs, the proof is in the pudding and time will tell.

3D Touch now comes to the iPhone (or Force Touch). The front camera is now 5mp. With all the other features and tight hardware and software integrations, the iPhone makes for a compelling package, albeit at a high price.

A new pink colour is now available too.

iPad Pro

The iPad Pro is a giant iPad with a 12.9 inch screen. It has the new A9X processor and has bespoke accessories from the new keyboard with speakers and the Apple Pencil. The Apple Pencil is a stylus for the iPad Pro. The iPad Pro looks excellent but at 713g for the WiFi only model and 723g for the WifI plus LTE it is just too heavy. Also, it pricing invades the MacBook Air or Macbook line up. Surely, it is better to buy one of these and run proper desktop apps? Beautiful product if you like that sort of thing.

Apple TV

The new Apple TV with TVos shows promise. A clean user interface, using siri and a new remote control that also adds as a game controller. Proper game controller can be used with the Apple TV too. Current limitations restrict apps to 200mb with the other app components needing to be held in the cloud. So probably more of a casual gaming option. Siri searched other TV streaming platforms which I thought was a neat feature. Overall, I really liked the new Apple TV.

Apple Watch

So just in time for the holiday season, Apple launches a whole range of new straps, watch finishes and special edition straps. This is surely going to be a popular Xmas stocking filler. Watch OS2 was shown off too and looked very promising.

Data Storage Costs

Finally, Apple reduced the size of their cloud data costs, making the service far more reasonable and competitive.

Final Thoughts

Personally, I thought Apple nailed it. Tight integration of engineering, software and hardware shone through. Whilst I remained optimistic, Apple’s share price has dropped 2.16 following the keynote speech.

So what are your thoughts on the Apple product announcements?

It’s all about Apple – 6pm UK Time

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At 6pm UK time today, Apple will be live streaming their Keynote speech.

There are many rumours as to what will be announced a bit later today but here goes my predictions –

– First up the new iPhones, a 4.7 and 5.5 inch screen iPhone

– iOS 8 specific features and special extras that work only with the new iPhones

– OS X integration with all the new hardware and software – potentially the showcase piece with iOS 8

– Announcements on the Home kit and Health Kit along with new partners

– iWatch – this is likely to have a multitude of sensors that integrate with the Health app on iOS 8.

And less likely –

– Announcements on the new iPads

– The reduction/death of the iPod range to be replaced by fashionable wearable tech.

So what’s your view on tonights keynote by Apple?