Today's
"Spring Forward" event in San Francisco lived up to the hype, generally, with strong performances from the Apple executive team, richer
demonstrations of the Apple Watch and more importantly, the diversity of apps that will be available for it, and a somewhat-surprising
return of the MacBook consumer notebook, which is likely to displace the MacBook Air in time. Apple also brought out the unexpected
ResearchKit, and cut the price of
the Apple TV. We asked some of our staff for their thoughts.
Apple TV
Starting with the Apple TV, the company has cut the price to just $69, but has failed to update the device to the rumored 4K-compatible revamp. Is this going to be a rocket that puts the Apple TV out front ahead of rival set-top boxes, or is it just clearing inventory for a future, more sophisticated model?
Mike Wuerthele, managing editor: This is an inventory blowout, plain and simple. No gimmicks, no free anything, just unloading the 1080p version before the fall. That said, I have been committed to the Apple TV before there was one, with a Mac mini connected to a television. At $69, the rest of the TVs in the house that don't have one connected are about to get one.
Sanjiv Sathiah, staff writer: It is a great move by Apple to lower the price of the Apple TV, but I think it could have actually gone a little further with the price cut. The technology in it has been around for a while now, without being updated. The addition of HBO Now is a real unit shifter for many people, especially with the new
Game of Thrones season coinciding with the exclusive launch of HBO Now on the Apple TV.
Charles Martin, MacNN editor: I think this will kick a lot of people out of complacency -- starting with me! I had an Apple TV back in the early days when it had internal storage. Once it stopped getting updated, I sold it to a family so they could store kids movies and never got around to a replacement. At $69, and likely $59 for a refurb, I'm back in.
Mike: I would have liked to have seen 4K, but I'm not making the jump anytime soon.
Sanjiv: As for why no 4K, I think the answer is simple. Although scuttlebutt around the Apple TV set has died down in recent times, the lack of a hardware update for Apple TV screams that Apple is close to launching a TV set. The surprisingly affordable 5K Retina iMac, coupled with the ongoing no-show of an equivalent 4 or 5K equivalent monitor reinforces this, in my view. Apple will release the monitor when it is ready to release an Apple TV set that can do double duty as a 4/5K monitor and 4/5K TV.
Charles: I think you're on the right track, Sanjiv, in thinking that the "Apple HDTV set" that certain analysts have been pining for for many years now may be, in fact, a 5K monitor with all that Apple TV functionality built right into it -- and hopefully that revised TV interface Steve Jobs talked about before his death.
While 100-inch monster screens may be neat for sportsball events, I personally find myself watching less TV than ever before. A high-quality but not ginormous monitor would be of more interest to me than a mediocre set that takes up half my living room. The 5K iMac has set the stage for this. In any event, Apple is going to shift a ton of these now, as we're not all going 4K anytime soon -- and more importantly, I'm not ready to re-buy my 1080p media in 4K (yet again).
The new MacBook
Apple on Monday introduced a radically re-thought notebook/ultrabook, and then went and gave it a retro name: MacBook. It's now a super-thin, super-light consumer-level device with a dual-core Intel Core M processor, Intel HD 5300 graphics, 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD standard, and comes in iPhone colors. More importantly, it comes with only two ports: an all-purpose USB-C plug that handles charging, video out, and data transfer; and a headphone port that doubles as mic port and optical audio I/O. Did Apple move to far, too fast with the new port?
Charles: I applauded Apple the last time they did this -- getting rid of a ton of legacy ports with USB, but in that case they offered two of them. I appreciate that the one USB-C port can do it all (and is significantly faster than even USB 3.0), but I think I would have told them to put two of those ports on the MacBook as a transition, or a MagSafe and a USB-C if it could be done within the design.
As it is now, the unit only comes with a USB 3.1 Type C power cord, which means that if you want to do anything externally (wired) with it beyond USB (or more than one thing at the same time), you have to buy adapters -- either the $80 multi-purpose adapter, or the $30 individual adapters. To me, that raises the true cost for some people, though I acknowledge that AirPlay, Bluetooth 4.0 and other wireless connectivity has made this less vital than it used to be.
Mike: Would it have killed them to have
two USB-C ports, or a Thunderbolt port? Apple's got a solid lock on the MagSafe connector, and I really,
really hope that a transformer for the power adapter will have some of the ports that I need for day-to-day use. I don't use my MacBook without peripherals. I've always got something or other hanging off USB. One port is tragic.
Sanjiv: The new MacBook is a stunning piece of engineering, and typifies Apple's innovation. One port is classic Apple minimalism, and is (again) making a technological step change perhaps before users are there themselves.
Let's face it. The future is wireless everything, so the move to one USB-C port makes perfect sense. For some, having to use dongles at times might be something of a pain in the neck, but overall, most of us use our portable MacBooks without peripherals. The large standard onboard storage options means the lack of SD card slot is not an issue for the most part, except if you are going use your new MacBook for photos. Even then, it's not a big deal to hook up your camera via the single USB port, but leaves the question about how external hard drives with large photo libraries are going to be handled.
Charles: I was originally thinking of my backup drives, and the adapter I frequently use to connect my MacBook Pro to a projector, but yes I could replace both of these items with wireless versions -- the latter could be another reason to pick up an Apple TV! I still say they're weaseling in an additional up-to-$80 in cost for users who have traditional storage, photo import, and backup methods, and don't want to be "forced" to take everything wireless yet.
Mike: Yeah, I hate this.
Sanjiv: For new users, Apple has a lot of the photo and backup needs covered with iCloud and the new Photos app. Overall, there might be some pain points for users, but it is Apple taking us on the journey to the future of how notebooks are going to look and feel now, rather than waiting around for the inevitable. Overall though, the new MacBook is the most desirable Apple notebook since the original MacBook Air was unveiled.
Charles: It's definitely desirable -- I want a Space Gray one very badly, and I have an up-to-date MacBook Pro! It makes no sense at all! The dearth of third-party USB-C 3.1 multi-purpose adapters from anybody but Apple in the near-term may hurt sales, but more importantly I think we're seeing the last MacBook Air. It now looks bulky by comparison with this thing.
Sanjiv: The MacBook Air line will almost certainly be phased out in time, perhaps within the next two years. At the current price points for the new MacBook, Apple will need to keep the older models around for the time being. The MacBook Pro line will still be with us for the foreseeable future, simply because it still provides much more horsepower for users who need their MacBook for more powerful processing tasks. I am looking forward to trying out the updated MacBook Pro with the new Force Touch trackpad as seen on the new ultra thin MacBook. The new MacBook is ideal for users who need a notebook for everyday stuff, Office-style productivity, web surfing, other typical tasks. It's not for hardcore users.
Mike: Yeah, I'm with Sanjiv on this. The 15-inch MacBook Pro will lurch on until a redesign. The 13-inch got updates today, so I'm fairly confident that the whole line survives for a while at least. The same people who hate the new Mac mini with the slower processor will also hate the new MacBook for the same reason, but they are inconsequential to the sales.
This is Apple's new reality. One product line feeds another. It's not coincidental that they pushed "all our experience developing the iPad and iPhone" in the promotional videos -- this will help to drag the 700 million iOS faithful into OS X.
Apple Watch
The Apple Watch was formally introduced, and will range in price from $350 (for the smaller 38mm watch face -- the 42mm will be an extra $50 in all models) to $1,049 for the two "regular" models, and starting at $10,000 for the solid-gold, 18-karat Edition model (this is actually on the low end of the pricing scale for solid-gold watches). The app selection, at least, seems very robust, and the goal -- to keep your iPhone in your pocket or purse most of the time -- appears to be easy to accomplish. Will this be another hit for Apple, past the initial rush?
Mike: The iPhone is my Apple watch. I'm tethered to my computer most of the day -- I use the vibration from the iPhone to tell me, when I'm hunkered down, that there's a new email. For me, the watch is the third animal in that "The Old Lady that Swallowed a Fly" song.
Charles: I'm much more intrigued -- and have been steadily growing more so since I first heard about the Watch. I'm starting to think about it more seriously now that I've seen the incredible diversity and maturity of the apps available for it. I was right there with Tim when he practically jumped up and down over the ability to do a phone conversation (or dicatated text chat) using the Apple Watch -- I also have been waiting my whole life for this. Still waiting for my jet pack, flying car, and teleportation -- but the future I was promised as a child is finally starting to feel real.
Sanjiv: Even if the Apple Watch isn't perfect, it is by some margin, the most advanced smartwatch yet to be made. Just from the perspective of software, Apple Watch blows the competition out of the water. It has far more functionality and overall usefulness than its competitors. Whether that convinces millions of iPhone users to buy one to complement their iPhone is only something that time will reveal. It will, however, almost certainly outsell all Android Wear devices sold to date (only around 700K of these sold in total at last count) within its first couple of days on sale. By that definition, it will also make it the most successful smartwatch released to date.
Mike: The Edition model, though. Starting at Ten. Thousand. Dollars. I was hoping it wouldn't be that high, but I'm not surprised. That said, luxury watches easily push that, so its in the ballpark.v
Sanjiv: I'm with you there Mike. For me, that is just an insane amount of money to pay for a smartwatch. A Rolex at that price will last a lifetime. If Apple upgrades the Apple Watch annually, or even biannually, no one is going to hang on to one of these for any extended period of time as they would with traditional high-end watches. Selling a solid gold iPhone at that price might actually make more sense. But for me, this particular model, while gorgeous, just does not compute.
Charles: In those circles, people have been paying thousands
more than that -- for watches that only tell time! They're not just status symbols -- they are meaningful jewelry pieces for those that wear them, representing class and professionalism, focus, a loved one or a reward, and much more. It's not hard to guess that tech-friendly rich people, like your Richard Bransons, probably already have one on order. The more conservative rich, however, may opt to go for even more traditional designs as kind of a techno-phobe backlash.
Given that every model runs the same apps, I'd say Apple is likely to have a hit on their hands among the more common models. I've held off getting a fitness band to see what Apple came up with -- and I like what I see in that regard. I can certainly get much of the same info cheaper, but Apple have put together a good package, and I like what the ResearchKit APIs promise for the Watch -- and the iPhone -- going forward. Dang it Apple, you're pulling me in!
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