Apple tempts with new iPhone7 and Series 2 watches. Will you bite?
What's up with Apple's fall product line introduced Wednesday? At $649 and up, the iPhone 7 boasts a sleeker profile, faster processors, two to three more hours of battery run time a day, water dunking resistance, and a far more sophisticated camera system - with two cameras on the business side of the larger, 5.5-inch "Plus" sized iPhone edition.
What's up with Apple's fall product line introduced Wednesday?
At $649 and up, the iPhone 7 boasts a sleeker profile, faster processors, two to three more hours of battery run time a day, water dunking resistance, and a far more sophisticated camera system - with two cameras on the business side of the larger, 5.5-inch "Plus" sized iPhone edition.
The twin-lens design will enable instant switching between telephoto and wide-angle views and special background image blurring effects previously seen in other makers' smartphones. The cameras capture a wider range of colors, too - ditto Apple's new generation of Retina touch screens - in the vein of the latest ultra high-definition TVs and services.
Purists may bemoan a couple of changes. The iPhone 7's home button is now a pressure-sensitive spot with "taptic" force-feedback.
Also gone (sigh) is ye old analog 3.5mm headphone jack. A (theoretically) higher grade of digital audio can now be extracted through the phone's Lightning port.
Apple's Phil Schiller patted the company on the back for having the "courage" to move on, to take back chassis space needed for other stuff, such as a second speaker. (At least iPhone 7s can sing in stereo!)
On the wearables front, the new Apple Watch Series 2 boasts a doubly bright screen ("1,000 nits") - which could actually make the Watch viewable in sunlight. Processor speed also is doubled for better performance - much needed! The same new dual-core chip will likewise be installed in the renamed, original Watch, now called Series 1. Its price has been cut to $269.
Meanwhile, the Series 2 Apple Watch, $369 and up, aims to be an exerciser's best friend. GPS has been installed to help you climb every mountain. The watch has been water-proofed for swimmers (and those fording every stream). A new green-and-black Nike+ model features runner-friendly software and a special breathable band.
Apple also trotted out Nintendo's chief designer Shigeru Miyamoto to announce that the game giant is finally putting some content on phones - starting with a side scrolling game, Super Mario Run, for Apple phones.
Then John Hanke of Naintic Labs announced that Pokemon Go is coming to the Apple Watch - with serious exercise tracking that parents will appreciate.
Honestly, much of Wednesday's news wasn't really news at all, as Apple's rep for maintaining "State Department-grade secrecy" has become, in recent months, a leaky, Titanic-sized joke, with online fanzines trading shockingly accurate rumors.
The gossip mongers also aptly predicted what Apple wouldn't be pulling off with its new products - such as getting the watch to make calls without a companion phone in your pocket (a trick possible with Samsung's new Gear 3 Bluetooth+LTE Classic).
Another non-event: an upgrade of iPhone screens to OLED display tech. It's now anticipated in next year's really important 10th anniversary edition of the iPhone, reported Korea's etnews.
The headphone jack elimination has proved particularly controversial with the tech community ("It's an eco disaster - old headphones will be clogging the scrap heap!") and cause for gloating by rival smartphone makers pointing to the 3.5 mm audio jack still found on their latest products.
But older headphones can still be plugged in to an iPhone 7, noted Schiller, though you'll need to insert an intermediary (and likely to be lost) Lightning-to-headphone jack adapter supplied with the new phone along with Lightning EarPods. And how about their cool new wireless Apple AirPods ($159) that run for five hours before needing recharging in the companion battery-fitted carry case. The things dangle down from the ears like mini-hair dryers.
But we may come to love the look. "Wireless is the future," proclaimed Apple chief designer Jonny Ive.
The bigger question is whether Apple's announcements are enough to restore some polish to the fruit. A recent study by Quartz found that two out of three current Apple Watch owners have no desire to buy the new model, though a J.D. Powers study cited Wednesday by Apple claimed a high satisfaction level.
And while Apple's impressive 40.4 million iPhone sales last quarter helped the product recently top the "one billion sold" mark, the year-to-year quarterly comparisons show that sales number was actually down from 47.5 million in 2015, with iPhone revenue falling 23 percent in the quarter and demand fading in such emerging markets as China.
The problem is, Apple phones last a long time and continue to perform well with software updates. So when isn't "already great" good enough?
215-854-5960 @JTakiff