AirPods make music for investors at Apple launch
THE only unpredictable outcome of Apple’s iPhone 7 launch event this week was that the market did not punish the company for meeting expectations.
In recent years, Apple phone launches have tended to disappoint investors for the lack of innovation in the phones and the extent to which it has been playing catch-up. With each successive launch, the rumour mill has become more accurate, to the extent that it has become more of a preview than rumour mill.
With each launch, as the rumours were confirmed and Apple failed to surprise or impress the market, investors pushed the share price down. This week, it entered green territory for the first time in many years in the wake of a launch.
The last time it ended launch day positively was during the Steve Jobs era.
The biggest innovation at the iPhone 7 launch was also the most widely expected. For the first time in the smartphone era, a flagship device has been produced without an earphone jack. Instead, Apple introduced a “new” product, the AirPods — wireless earbuds with microphone and remote control.
While the design of the buds may have come as a surprise, their presence front and centre at the launch was not.
The name implies a next-generation iPod, positioning the AirPods as devices for playing and eventually storing music. However, that is hardly revolutionary at a time when Samsung has launched its wireless Gear IconX earbuds and even sports headphone maker Jabra has unveiled Sports Elite wireless earbuds. Both offer step-counting, heart-rate monitoring and built-in fitness coaching.
The new Apple Watch Series 2, also announced this week, takes the smartwatch category a step further, with built-in GPS and a design that is “swimproof” — the new codeword for water-resistant, rather than waterproof. However, it does not necessarily give Apple an edge over fitness bands, except for niches like cyclists and distance runners, for whom GPS could be a killer feature.
The iPhone 7 and 7S, despite losing the earphone jack, have not shifted the design of the iPhone much. The most significant change has been a marketing shift, with the phones no longer having an entry-level 16GB version. That amount of storage has proven woefully inadequate on a high-end smartphone and has been a source of more criticism than any other disliked feature of the phone.
Instead, the phones start with 32GB storage, going up to 256GB — a premium device that will finally meet the storage needs of the most demanding, and wealthiest, user. But competitors such as Samsung, Sony, Huawei and LG will be delighted that Apple doggedly avoids expandable storage in the form of a microSD slot.
The phone is faster and has more battery life — much was made of pumping in another two hours of juice — and a more powerful processor, the A10 Fusion. This offers what Apple calls “console-level” gaming, and provided the opportunity to announce a Super Mario game from Nintendo that will be exclusive to the iPhone. Similarly, the new Apple Watch features exclusive features for playing Pokémon Go.
That this was among the most ex-
The name implies a next-generation iPod, positioning the AirPods as devices for one day storing music
citing news of the day suggests that the phones themselves no longer have the capacity to astonish.
The most telling statement of the launch came from senior vice-president Phil Schiller, who said: “iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus dramatically improve every aspect of the iPhone experience, reaching a new level of innovation and precision to make this the best iPhone we have ever made.”
The truth is that Apple could not only say the same of every previous iPhone on launch day, but would be in big trouble if it did not. It is the very least both the customer and the investor expect.