We covered Apple’s event live from the Flint Center for the Performing Arts at DeAnza College in Cupertino, just a few miles from Apple’s headquarters, on Tuesday.
This was a big one: sure, there were new iPhones, but the real interest was in Apple’s approach to wearable computing, which we’ll finally get a sense of with the demonstration of the Apple Watch. Apple used the site of two very important events in company history — the original Macintosh launch in 1984 and the iMac launch in 1998 — for the event.
Here are our stories from the event, and you can also find them by clicking on the image below.
- It’s finally here: Apple’s first foray into wearable technology is called the Apple Watch
- Apple Pay delivers a double whammy, bridging in-store and online mobile payments
- Apple’s live stream stumbles, fails amid huge demand
- Apple intros A8 chip because bigger iPhones need more horsepower
- Apple announces two bigger and faster phones: the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus
Thanks for hanging out with us everybody! We’re going to go check out the products, hopefully we’ll be able to get our hands on the Apple Watch. More to come later today on Gigaom.
It looks like we’re done here. That structure is a hands-on demo, so we’re headed there now. Thanks for following our live blog – more to follow with some impressions later today!
Tim is wrapping now, thanking his troops at Apple, which are taking up about half the room.
I already can’t get it out of my head.
You’re going to hear this U2 song 20,392 more times over the next month. Shake it off, Bono!
Now we’re getting to see the accompanying ad made by U2 in conjunction with Apple.
The album is exclusive to iTunes until October 13.
Tim says that with 500 million iTunes users, that’s the largest album release of all time.
And that LP is free. For all. Wow.
Songs of Innocence, the LP, is going out to iTunes now.
How much do we think U2 is getting paid for this?
They have a new LP and Bono is asking Tim how to get it to as many people as possible.
“OH ZEN MASTER OF HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE TIM COOK!” Bono is being Bono.
Bono is speaking now, talking about how it’s been a while since they’ve put out a new album.
We just got the one song but it was darn good and loud.
As they play, it reminds me how many leaks there were before this event, from U2 playing to the watch, to the 2 larger iPhones with NFC. Not many surprises, which is interesting.
Pardon me while I stop to listen for a few. They sound great.
And here they are, performing live!
I told you all I wasn’t the musical guest. ;)
U2!!!!
There are some activities behind Tim. Musical instruments are coming out to the stage.
One more thing to discuss, says Tim. “Our love of music.”
“Apple Watch will redefine what people expect from a watch.”
Obviously, who knows if the Apple Watch actually works. But this is the new product category people have been clamoring for for years, and it looks pretty good.
Apple Pay will work with Apple Watch. I figured that since only the new iPhones will have NFC.
Tim is summarizing now, so no other specs on the Apple Watch.
Even though Apple will miss the holiday season for delivery, I don’t think it will hurt that much. This looks like the smartwatch people would want to buy and wear. Assuming they have an iPhone that is.
Available in early 2015.
Starts at $349
Battery looks simple to charge “at night” suggesting daily charging.
The watch will work both new iPhones but also the iPhone 5, 5c and 5s.
Tim says that there are tons of other features – control your Apple TV for example.
Out of the box, the native health / fitness features seem better than Android Wear.
My wife will love the health aspects of this — she’s going for Yoga training certification now. I suspect I know what to buy her for her birthday.
The data can be accessed by third party apps though so I don’t see this as the end of those.
The Workout app supports running, walking, and cycling. This just took the place of many 3rd party apps that are similar.
Throughout the day, you’ll be able to see your progress towards a 30 minute daily exercise goal.
These apps are for casual exercisers and athletes as well. It looks like the heart rate is a continuous measure which is outstanding and a stand-out differentiator in my opinion.
Video time, which I expect will show how this ties in to the Health app.
There are native Fitness and Workout apps on the watch.
The Apple Watch will motivate people to move more, says Tim. He just said that to a thousand people that have sat still for the last 1.5 hours. #Irony
Tim is talking about health and fitness with the watch now.
So, does this work with Apple Pay like I suspected? No word yet.
The BMW app will track where you parked your BMW. Nice. Nike, Lutron and others have apps. More to come, of course.
I’m flying American tomorrow…. hmmm…….
American Airlines has an app for check-ins. Starwood Hotels app lets you open your hotel room door. Sounds like NFC to me!
Apple Watch apps now. Facebook is there, complete with notifications, as is Twitter. WatchKit is the new tool for devs to make watch apps.
There are a lot of details remaining here. But there is no doubt this is an impressive demo.
I might use that on Valentine’s Day with my wife, I guess.
You can even share your heart beat with a friend: They will feel it via their watch. Odd but interesting.
One touch access to your friends for calls or messages. Plus there’s that more direct one to one connection if you both have an Apple Watch. You can draw images to share: Kevin drew a fish to represent sushi for lunch.
If you search on Maps to get more info, you can get directions or place a call to businesses. Haptics are unique so that you don’t even have to look at the watch for directions: a certain “feel” will be a left turn vs a right turn. Smart.
You can view photos on the watch. All of the images you fave on your phone will be on the watch. Maps looks pretty nice; love the zoom by digital crown.
Lots of duplicate functionality from the phone. I’m not sure we’ve decided what a smartwatch is or should be yet. #RandomThought
Siri is built in. Press the digital crown and ask your question.
Animated emoji too. Oh yeah! :)
Kevin just got an iMessage from Craig. There are quick reply options; contextual based on the message content. Or you can speak your reply a an audio recording or dictated message.
When you get a notification alert, you can raise the watch and it will display the information.
Aside from the time, you get temperature and next event on some watchfaces.
You can store music on the watch itself and control music on your phone or Mac with the watch.
Swipe up to see “glances” which are notifications. Swipe left and right on them for more info. Much like Android Wear in that regard.
Nifty map feature: you can zoom out to the Earth, fly to the moon or travel the solar system in the correct planetary position.
This is a curious demo. They’re not actually showing Kevin manipulating the watch: we’re being asked to take for granted that they are truly screen sharing.
You can choose different watchfaces and even customize their color or functionality.
The clock is the central app though. Makes sense.
You can arrange your apps on the watch however you like and pan around.
iPhone is required with Apple Watch. So it’s not a standalone device.
Kevin Lynch, VP is coming on stage to give us a live demo of the Apple Watch.
Tim is back on stage now, wearing an Apple Watch, of course.
It does look a little thick from the video. Still no measurements provided.
AL-LI-MIN-UUUM!
Two different sizes of the Apple Watch and three collections: Apple Watch, Sport Collection with sweatproof band, Watch Edition is 18k gold. Whoa!
Lots of options here.
Bands are sweatproof and there are magnets in the bands to keep the watch strapped on. There is a clasp on the leather bands. Lots of different bands actually, including stainless steel.
This is the most Jony Ive video ever. He must have been so disappointed they’re not using aluminum.
The more I see here, the more most of the current Android Wear watches look like “version 1.0″ products where this looks like a v. 2 or 3. Just a first impression.
No mention of the size yet.
Of course, there’s a new chip inside as well. The back of the watch can detect pulse rate and there’s definitely a fitness / health aspect here. The watch combines magnetics (mag-safe) and inductive wireless charging.
Not the Star Wars Force…. sorry.
This uses a flexible retina display with sapphire. Edges are rounded like the new iPhones. The display senses touch AND force.
You can ping your friends with the Apple Watch – watch to watch for sharing. Interesting.
These apps look like iOS of course but they’re newly designed for the square screen.
This looks very elegant and premium. More than the Moto 360 I think.
Video time with Jony.
Nice implementing because you don’t cover the screen to zoom.
Pushing the crown returns you to the home screen.
The dial is called “the digital crown,” and it appears to be the key UI feature of the Apple Watch.
“We didn’t shrink down the interface.” The crown is a zoom function of sorts.
“What we didn’t do is take the iPhone interface and shrink it to fit on a watch,” Tim says.
“For every Apple product, a breakthrough in user interface was required.” Tim is going back through the iPod click wheel and the iPhone’s multitouch screen.
Tim’s voice is cracking as he introduces the Apple Watch. It’s both a stylish metal (I think) watch and a “health and fitness device.”
Apple Watch.
Its a watch.
“We’ve been working incredibly hard on a whole new product.”
Tim’s back to claim that Apple Pay “will forever change the way we pay for things.” Bold statement.
OpenTable, MLB, and the Apple Store are also using Apple Pay; just a few of many.
Retailer apps can integrate Apple Pay as well. Target is doing this as is Groupon.
Apple Pay will work with online purchases as well. Take that PayPal!
220,000 contactless payment terminals in the U.S. now but lots of partners adding Apple Pay: Macy’s, McDonald’s, Staples, Walgreens and more.
Apple won’t get transaction data through Apple Pay. Retailers won’t have your credit card number or name either. AMEX, MC and Visa are the partners here.
Device-only account numbers are stored so the iPhone isn’t keeping your payment accounts. You can use Find My iPhone to wipe your credit cards remotely if need be.
If you have a card on file with iTunes, it’s easy to add. Or you can add a new card via the iPhone camera, just like other third-party apps.
The NFC antenna is built across the top of the new iPhones. There’s a secure element to store the payment info. Passbook will be the app for your credit cards.
Here comes Eddy Cue to discuss Apple Pay. Untucked.
It uses NFC and Touch ID, so clearly the new iPhones have an NFC chip.
Can’t believe not iPay.
Didn’t see THAT one coming.
“We’ve created an entirely new payment process. And we call it Apple Pay.”
My thoughts from last week on this topic: https://gigaom.com/2014/09/05/how-apple-can-succeed-in-mobile-payments-with-nfc-ibeacon-the-iphone-6-and-iwallet/
“We’re totally dependent on the exposed numbers, magnetic stripe and security codes.”
Video now showing how complicated our many step payment process is.
My wallet looks exactly like that btw.
Payments is the focus. “It’s a huge business. We spend $12 trillion every day in the U.S. 200 million times a day we scramble for our credit cards.”
“That is iPhone,” says Tim. “Time for an all new category of service and it’s all about the wallet.”
And some guy named Jimmy Fallon from “teevee.”
JT and Jimmy Fallon did the commercials for the new iPhones. It’s their voices used.
OMG JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE IS DOING APPLE ADS OMG
It’s showing how the iOS 8 apps work better on the larger screen with more space for controls and such.
Looks like another app demo; this one is a video.
And now Tim is back on stage.
Crazy that the iPhones are the warm up to the main event.
iOS 8 downloads start with iPhone 4s and up, iPad 2 and up, iPod 5th gen; beginning on Sept. 17.
New phones start shipping on September 19 in the U.S. and 8 other countries. Pre-orders start this Friday. Hope to be in 115 countries by end of this year.
iPhone 5c is now free with contract, iPhone 5s to start at $99 now. Standard pricing.
iPhone 6 Plus costs are $100 more than the smaller models; same storage options.
iPhone 6 cost: $199 with contract and 16 GB. 64 GB model is $299, 128 GB for $399.
New silicone and leather cases for both phones. Same color choices for the phones.
No NFC yet. Hmm…..
Phil’s talking about iOS 8 now, but we’ve seen most of that already.
If Apple keeps the base iPhone price of $650 for the iPhone 6 Plus, that would be huge. It could drop the starting price for the iPhone 6 to $550 and still make gobs of money. Let’s see…..
New FaceTime HD camera of course. f/2.2 aperture, improved face detection for “killer selfies” and a burst mode too. Single shot HDR photos from the front sensor.
Stabilization works on video as well, making things look smoother. Focus pixels can auto focus continuously with video too.
The slow-mo double-dutch video was pretty impressive. Gotta wonder how that was actually shot and (of course) properly lit.
Phil thinks the iPhone is the world’s most popular video camera now. 1080p at 60fps and slo-mo now at 240fps. Whoa!
I’m going to guess the iPhone 6 Plus will cost $100 more than the iPhone 6 due to the differences. No mention yet though.
iPhone 6 Plus has optical image stabilization while the iPhone 6 only has digital stabilization.
I can vouch for that: these look nice.
i don’t know if a picture of a picture comes through, but it looked very nice.
Photo demo time from the iPhone 6. These look nice: crisp, vivid and even some bokeh. Panoramas are now up to 43 megapixel.
Phil is showing us “focus pixels” now for phase detection autofocus. The new iPhones focus 2x as fast now.
Camera time! They’re showing some iPhone photos now, including one for National Geographic. 8 MP sensor with f/2.2 aperture. Larger pixels.
T-Mobile and EE are the first to support this.
That’s likely up to carriers although you can do FaceTime audio over Wi-Fi already.
802.11ac Wi-Fi finally makes it to the iPhone, and Wi-Fi calling is supported as well.
And it will support VoLTE or Voice over LTE. Huzzah!
LTE support up to 150 Mbps in the new iPhones, using carrier aggregation. 20 LTE bands in this model.
Nike will use this as will the Apple Health app in iOS 8.
There’s a new M8 sensor / motion coprocessor as well. It can estimate distance and track elevation such as flights of stairs. It has a barometer sensor.
Battery life time: equal or better than the iPhone 5s. Obviously, the iPhone 6 Plus will get more runtime, even with the larger display as it will have a larger battery. 12 hours of WiFi browsing on it.
Lots of action now; kind of like a World of Warcraft game. It’s darn close to console quality on a handheld.
I also suck at multiplayer battle games, though. Kevin and I are waiting for Madden NFL on iOS.
It’s insane how good mobile gaming has gotten.
1.3 million particles running at 60 fps on this demo. It’s impressive.
This is a multi-player battle game. I suck at multi-player battle games.
Vain Glory is the demo game. Graphics look pretty sweet; lots of detail and texture.
Phil’s talking about Metal now; the graphics tech Apple introduced earlier this year. Lots of developers on the list who plan to use Metal: EA, Gameloft, Disney, Ubisoft and more. Super Evil Megacorp (really!) is coming out on stage for a demo now.
SUPER EVIL MEGACORP!
The chip is 50% more energy efficient than the A7, says Phil. “Delivers great performance for a sustained amount of time.”
Both phones use the new Apple A8 chip; 64-bit with 2 billion transistors – double that of the A7. It’s a 20 nanometer process so a smaller chip but up to 25% faster CPU and 50% faster graphics performance.
Apps can also be updated for the new features such as horizontal view.
1.3 million apps in the App Store, by the way, says Phil. Older apps still “just work” on the new larger iPhones thanks to a “desktop class scaler.”
For one handed use, there’s new a gesture called “reachability”. Double tap the Touch ID button and the app slides down so you can reach it easier. Interesting.
Even the home screen goes horizontal on the Plus. Nice!
Turn the iPhone 6 Plus in landscape and you get a new horizontal view, like an iPad. Not so on the iPhone 6 though.
Higher contrast, deeper blacks and wider viewing angles says Phil.
6.9 mm thin and 7.1 mm thin for the two new iPhones; the larger one is slightly thicker.
185 percent more pixels on the Plus vs. the old 5s.
Sizes: 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch, as expected. 1334 x 750 for the iPhone 6, 1920 x 1080 resolution for the Plus.
These have a thinner backlight and ion-strengthened glass; no mention of sapphire.
“Retina HD Display” says Phil. “New in every way.”
Phil didn’t get the memo on untucked shirts, by the way.
Here comes Phil Schiller to share more details of the new iPhone 6.
Called the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Two sizes: big and bigger!
And here it is in a video, the new iPhone! It looks like the leaks; rounded with small camera protrusion. And the gray bands.
“Today we are launching the biggest advancement in the history of iPhone.”
He’s starting with iPhone, saying last year they announced 2 new iPhones for the first time. “Top selling smartphone in the world.” Sounds like a set-up for a new pair of phones.
Tim says there’s so much to announce, so no updates other than “everything’s great!”
“It is great to be back in the Flint Center, just down the road from Apple’s birthplace.” Tim is discussing the history of Apple here: The Macintosh intro, for example. And the iMac.
And here comes Tim Cook to the stage! Jeans and untucked dress shirt; the crowd is going wild with applause. This is going to be the Tim show.
More of the “think differently” theme.
Bit of a mock as it shows “Where others perceive first is valuable….” it often isn’t. Looks like we’ll see functions that we’ve seen before but done with Apple elegance.
OH! We’re starting! It’s a video to get us going.
While we wait, I’m wondering what, if any, surprises we’ll see. Two iPhones seem a certainty. Updated iPads? I could see it, just to add the Touch ID. Wearable? I’m pretty sure of that as well but I expect it’s more of a sneak peek with availability later. Mobile payments with NFC? Very likely.
Before I forget: I already tweeted it but in case you missed it, the rumors are unfounded. I am *not* the musical guest.
It appears that nearly everyone is inside now, so we could actually start on time.
I see some balcony box seats here which is nice. (We’re not in those – we got the cheap seats). Lots of Apple VIPs and Guests today, so they must get those.
Broadcast media is all in the back, which is nice for us, although we’re a long way from the stage as well. Looks like Media is towards to back, likely for a quick exit to “the dome” which is what I’m calling it. Stay tuned for a fall TV replacement show by Stephen King: “Under the iDome.”
Already we’ve spotted celebrities such as Steve Wozniak and Om Malik.
By the way: I saw a BlackBerry handset in the line. And I’m not using the Surface Pro 3 like I did for the last Apple event. Why tempt fate twice?
And we’re seated! Still lots of folks waiting to get in yet. The stage is small: this venue doesn’t look that much bigger than the small Moscone location.
So we’re not going into the temporary structure for the event; that looks to be later. I suspect that’s a hands on area for new products.
And we’re finally getting herded in like cattle. Moooo!!!
A couple pics as Tom and Kevin wait in a long media line to get into the event.
















































































































































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