Yesterday’s ‘mini-event’ at Cupertino marked the end of an era. In what was possibly the last event at the historic “Townhall”. Tim Cook unveiled a new 4-inch iPhone SE and a 9.7-inch iPad Pro. That was the main course!
However, there were a lot of other things, minor dishes that added flavour to the event. Here’s a recap:
The event started with a “40 Years in 40 Seconds” video, marking the 40th anniversary of Apple, due on April 1, 2016. Have a look —
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtY0K2fiFOA&w=560&h=315]
Tim Cook came onto the stage and addressed the iPhone-FBI issue, stressing again on the importance of privacy and the fallacy of a digital master key.
Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, then spoke about a “greener Apple”. “93% of Apple’s facilities worldwide run on renewable energy. Goal is 100%,” she said.
Jeff Williams, COO of Apple, came onto stage and spoke about ResearchKit. It’s an open source software framework that makes it easy for researchers and developers to create apps that could “revolutionise medical studies, potentially transforming medicine forever”.
Apple took ResearchKit a step further with CareKit. It’s a personalised app-ecosystem that helps you better manage your medical condition and recovery processes.
WIRED magazine called it the “best argument yet for strong encryption”. Maybe that’s why Tim Cook opened the event by mentioning FBI. Well played, Mr Cook.
We then moved on to Apple Watch – the “Number one smartwatch in the world”, to quote Mr. Cook. Apple announced new bands for the Watch, including a particularly brightly colored woven nylon one.
We’re not really sure about the style quotient of that one, but still, each man to his own, right?
The event then moved on to Apple TV, and the new tvOS 2.2.
Then the iPhone SE was announced followed by the iPad Pro. The audience was also told that the iPad Air 2 would continue to be in the market with a reduced priced of $399. In India, that’s going to be around 30K.
The event came to a close with Tim Cook reminiscing about all the great product launches that had taken place in that Town Hall. He showed us a picture of the new Apple headquarters being constructed.
And then, with a simple wave of the hand, the leader of the world’s largest company left the stage.
His departure was a bit abrupt, leaving us all wondering if we could turn off our laptops or whether there was more coming our way. Sadly enough, there was nothing else, but the event – short and sweet – was good while it lasted. And we’ve got so many shiny gadgets to look forward to. That’s going to keep us happily occupied for a while!