Still the Apple of many eyes, and the mother of all launch events
The loss of Steve Jobs has not prevented the company from calling the tune on smartphones
Just as the introduction of the original iPhone informed the look and feel of virtually all the smartphones that followed, Apple Keynotes (the company ’ s pet name for its annual and semiregular presentations of new devices) have shaped consumer technology launches. The format is for huge screen displays in blacked-out rooms to make the most of the painstakingly compiled design reveals, followed by a (walking) talking head to take us through the specifications. Lecterns have long since been abandoned.
Last week ’ s 2019 “fall event ” (to apply its bit of Amerocentricity) was as slick and production-managed as ever. Besides rare exceptions — such as the connectivity fail years ago that prompted Steve Jobs, in midpresentation, to ask everyone in attendance to get off theWi-Fi — Apple events are the unicorn of tech events: live technology demos that don ’ t glitch out.
So you have these (almost) seamless, stylish, emotive and frankly aspirational launch events, anticipated by tech media and tech consumers. Think I ’ m overstating? This latest event was Apple ’ s first to be live-streamed on YouTube, and at one point had something in the region of 1.8-million concurrent viewers. Yes, almost 2million people who took time out of their day or evening on September 10 to tune into what
— when boiled right down — amounts to a device manufacturer ’ s pimped-out presentation of additions to its product range.
At the time of writing, less than a week after the event, the YouTube video has been viewed more than 4-million times.
So, adjudicators, I ’ m prepared to rest my case on the importance, and level of interest, that Apple events enjoy. It underlines the company ’ s iconic status, something I believe is indisputable even if commentators love to push back when they don ’ t think the new products have reached a suitable level of innovation.
Yes, I will admit I am an Apple fan. I get a surprising amount of flak for this enthusiasm. Android acolytes offer several excellent rebuttal points: Android is a more open operating system (OS), whereas Apple is often called the “walled garden ”. Android gives much greater granular control, allowing you to drill deep into settings and curate your user experience more precisely. Apple, on the other hand, trades on its reputation for (relative) security and having an incredibly intuitive operating system.
Want to move from your Xiaomi device to an LG, a Sony, a Samsung? The integrated nature of your Google account within the Android operating system makes changing an utter doddle, especially if you are already a regular Chrome user.
Swapping from Apple to Android is, however, a whole other story. As a tech reviewer, I do this all the time, and it is getting old. Like every critic, I daydream of the day Apple finally embraces the USB-C port (we had such high hopes for this in September). The running joke is that Apple is the contrarian who when the smartphone world says, “We ’ re doing X ”— has its fingers in its ears, yelling “Lalalalalala, can ’ t hear you ”.
After last week ’ s Apple presentation, critics were quick to tell us the iPhone 11 is more like an upgrade of the previous XR model. They picked apart the naming conventions. They wailed (wholly justifiably) about the persistence of the “lightning cable ”.
I concede all of that, yet I remain an Apple fan and — shock, horror — I don ’ t think this is mutually exclusive with Android fandom. Innovation in the smartphone sphere is arguably evening out. Huawei regularly comes up with competition-devastating phone cameras. Samsung ’ s top-tier phone displays are getting brighter and eye-wateringly sharp, without compromising on battery life.
Comparing competing brands is getting harder and harder, and upgrades within brands tend to focus on shifting out the specs rather than the “groundbreaking ” changes and leaps we got used to seeing in the early days of smartphones.
Does this mean Apple is done; that, as some like to say, it never recovered from the loss of Jobs? Nope. It is still setting the tone in many ways, and Apple ’ s design chops are still so utterly refined that a mere shift of logo placement (as we saw last week) prompted reams of analysis. But, honestly, Apple, we are ready for a USB-C charger.
I probably should mention that the company announced a new-model Apple Watch, iPad and three new iPhone devices (iPhone 11, 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max). And the iPhone 11 will cost you less than the XR model. It announced the introduction of Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade subscription services, at a comfortable $4.99 a month each, signalling the rising significance of digital services in a sector where digital product used to be king.
COMPARING BRANDS IS HARDER, AND UPGRADES WITHIN BRANDS TEND TO FOCUS ON SHIFTING OUT THE SPECS
APPLE ’ S DESIGN CHOPS ARE STILL SO REFINED THAT A MERE SHIFT OF LOGO PROMPTED REAMS OF ANALYSIS