You don't need to buy a new iPhone.
But you might need to buy a new Watch.
Steve Jobs is dead and gone. He famously told Tim Cook it was his company and to run it his way, as opposed to wondering what Jobs might have done. And this is good advice, Steve gave it after seeing the stagnation of Disney after Walt died. But just like there's been no great leap forward since Walt died, there's been no long ball thrown since Steve died, and it's 8 years already.
The reason we used to watch these keynotes was for...one more thing. We waited to be dazzled, with a new product we just could not wait to get our hands on. Jobs synthesized the extant to push the envelope with something new. But now Apple is all about the incremental.
Actually, there have been no great hardware breakthroughs in tech for years. Now, it's all about software, which is not as sexy. Even though advancements, like the Bionic chips in the Apple phones, have allowed great developments in said software. Some geek somewhere uses the new power to create something heretofore unknown, which you utilize, but it's not physical, it's essentially virtual.
This is a sea change in society. Especially one based on not only consumption, but showing off. How can you show off these days? Soon, no one will own a car. You want an electric. But the younger generations have waited to get licenses, especially in the Uber era, they're not impressed, as a matter of fact they see it as conspicuous consumption, i.e. bad. Oh, you can build a bigger house. Maybe buy a plane. But there's been a leveling of society in so many ways, now it's about the cash to buy experiences, and health care and better food.
And speaking of the younger generation, it was emphasized in today's presentation that recycled aluminum was used in construction. Those who believe the youth will tolerate pollution and global warming and depletion of resources are dead wrong.
So what did we learn?
You can now see the Watch face all the time. This is a HUGE breakthrough. It's why I returned mine. It just did not work for exercise. But now it does.
And now the selling point of the Watch is health. When you see the video of people who were warned of heart attacks by the Watch...you'll want to buy one. In one case, the Watch called 911 itself, saving a man's life. We all want to be safe. If Apple were to air these testimonials as an ad, sales would go up.
And that's the story of today's Apple, it's more like Microsoft. You start with something imperfect and then you polish it. This is a far cry from the Jobs era, when the product was released fully-formed. Sure, price drops and improvements in power came thereafter, but it just worked from the very first time, unlike the Watch.
As for the new iPad... Great price. But as far as all the multitasking and other features, I doubt most people will use them, the learning curve is just too steep, and instructions went by the wayside almost two decades ago.
So the most interesting news was not hardware, not even software, but price. Yes, Apple gave more for less, or the same, with so much of its hardware. But it is launching its new AppleTV+ at $4.99 a month. Furthermore, a year comes free with any Apple device, a savings of $60, if you want it.
And do people want a new HBO service? That's what Apple is offering. Limited, high quality programming. This is why Richard Plepler left, he wasn't down with the increase in production, inherently sacrificing the aforementioned quality of HBO's programs.
But what's even weirder is that this edict was uttered by John Stankey, not only not from the entertainment business, but recently made head of AT&T at large. You're always in trouble when the guy in charge doesn't understand your business. Not only was Andy Lack responsible for the rootkit debacle at Sony, Bob Morgado decimated Warner Music, taking it from first to worst before Richard Parsons sold it at a discount price instead of holding it until it bounced back, which it did. How come these CEOs are never held responsible for their stupidity?
So, Netflix raises its price and loses subscribers, and Disney+ comes out at $6.99 and AppleTV+ at $4.99. Unlike Disney and Apple, Netflix cannot afford to lose money, i.e. the other two can support their services via profits from other divisions, not Netflix. And to turn $4.99 on and off depending on programming is easy, whereas $12.99 is a high barrier that you just might balk at signing up for to begin with. And, Apple's $4.99 is inherently a family plan, potentially impacting music streaming services. Should Spotify be able to charge more for a family plan? Can they?
Oh, there was the introduction of Arcade, which I thought was overpriced at $4.99 a month, then again if the titles unique to Apple gain traction... Then again, will they in a multiplayer world, with most of the globe on Android?
Oh, the Apple devices have faster proprietary chips, and those three cameras, if you're willing to pay for them. But how much is good enough? I mean how many people need the iPhone 11 Pro? For most the regular iPhone 11 will be just fine, just like the iPhone XR was the company's best-selling phone last year.
Next year you'll need a new iPhone, when it's 5G. Today, just hold, unless you're an avid photographer, really a pro, or your old device is worn out. Otherwise, it's good enough. As long as it can handle iOS13.
And when are they gonna can these numbers? I mean can you imagine iPhone 21? Even McDonald's switched to "Billions and Billions Served" after counting them along the way. At first it was impressive how many burgers they'd sold, you'd watch the sign change from 2 to 3 to 4, but after a while you got it.
The presenters were a rainbow of colors and sexes. But the most impressive was the South Asian engineer describing the new A13 Bionic chip. You could see the brain cells working, you were impressed, but he was mainly speaking to geeks. That's right, these keynotes are now for geeks, the public at large has tuned out, they hear from the street, which means they're uninformed, just like with politics.
It was good to see Phil Schiller. Stars are important, you have a relationship with them. As for everybody else...who? But having women speak was interesting, as in car dealerships hiring women sales people, men never think of how a woman wants to be spoken to, what floats her boat.
But really, the only thing blowing our minds today is the political situation. No one's pushing the envelope in movies, never mind music. News is entertainment. Tech is just another industry. If anything, we're in the era of the individual, each person has power, and most of them are choosing to use it, posting on social media, enhancing their "brand." Then again, this is evidence of the rejection of experts, like the aforementioned engineer, everybody thinks they know and are entitled, when that is patently untrue.
So everybody's got a smartphone. It's about access more than power. Oh, power is important, but only the bleeding edge can afford it.
Some of the technologies revealed today will impact you in the future, but you probably won't realize it. It's the power of a computer in every hand that's the breakthrough here, and it already happened, we're just upping the ante, and you can be an early adopter or be left behind.
But now nobody knows if you're left behind. The devices all look similar. You can hide the fact you're a Luddite.
So, once again, the breakthroughs have gone interior, as in most people don't see them. Especially when the new and different is abhorred by the gatekeepers in entertainment. But change is just around the corner, we're just not sure where it's coming from.
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