While Apple will offer extensive in-store sales and try-on experiences in Apple Stores, the company will also allow customers to virtually try on an Apple Watch or Apple Watch Edition and receive setup support, according to sources. Prior to purchasing either of two higher-end Apple Watches, customers will be able to video chat with an Apple Online Store representative who will personally try-on and model Apple Watch collections and band combinations. Additionally, as we noted in our prior article about Apple Watch Edition sales perks, Edition customers will be able to have a “personalized pre-sales experience” either over phone or online chat…
I’m a self-confessed smartwatch skeptic. Early attempts like the original Pebble just seemed to me an extremely ugly solution in search of a problem. Some of the later models, like the Moto 360 and LG G Watch R (as well as the rather familiar-looking latest Pebble), overcame the ‘ugly’ part, but I still couldn’t see a reason to want one. I haven’t worn a watch for more than a decade, and smartwatches weren’t showing me any reason to change that.
Then along came the Apple Watch. It’s far and away the best smartwatch I’ve seen to date, and for someone deeply embedded into the Apple ecosystem, it would also be the most logical smartwatch to go for if I were to go for one at all. Yet I’m still not seeing a compelling user case–and as Benjamin observed in his own recent opinion piece, Apple doesn’t appear to be doing much to help me.
However, I’m not ready to join the ranks of those dismissing it, and there’s one very good reason for that … Expand Expanding Close
Happy Hour is back and this week we’re discussing all of Apple’s latest announcements. The Spring Forward event brought along a few new Apple Watch details, slight MacBook Pro/Air updates, and the anticipated 12-inch MacBook with Retina Display. In this episode, we’re breaking down the announcements and serving up all of the need-to-know information about Apple’s latest and greatest for 2015. The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed…
Although many people expected that Apple’s Spring Forward event would mostly focus on the Apple Watch, more than half of the event — notably, the first part — covered other topics. Collectively, there were so many interesting developments that their individual significance was somewhat lost, particularly given that long-awaited Watch pricing news wrapped up the event.
That’s why I wanted to reconsider what Spring Forward revealed about some of Apple’s non-Watch products. Some of the announcements signal that big changes are ahead for Apple’s Mac, iPad, and Apple TV product lines, as well as Apple itself. Read on for my thoughts, and add yours to the comments section below…
From Apple’s ‘Spring Forward’ Apple Watch event today, we’ve rounded up the notable numbers and other updates shared by CEO Tim Cook and other execs throughout the presentation. Among them: Apple recently sold it’s 700 millionth iPhone. Cook also noted that iPhone is growing at a rate of growth double the industry (as pictured in the slide above).
Apple also shared some numbers on Apple Pay, retail stores, growth in China, and CarPlay.
Head below for more stats and company updates announced today: Expand Expanding Close
If you’re planning to watch the livestream of today’s Spring Forward event, be careful you don’t get caught out by daylight savings time! You may think you know what time 10am California time is in your country, but the time difference changed yesterday, hence Apple’s name for the event.
The USA put its clocks forward one hour as it started daylight savings time over the weekend, but the UK and the rest of Europe haven’t yet made the switch, meaning the difference between local time and Cupertino time has changed by an hour.
So, if you’re watching from the UK or Europe, here’s the time the event starts:
UK: 5pm (7 hrs ahead of CA)
Central European Time (most European countries): 6pm (8 hrs ahead of CA)
Eastern European Time (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Crete): 7pm (9 hrs ahead of CA)
Russia: 8pm (10 hours ahead of CA)
If you’re based elsewhere, use an online timezone site to double-check you know what time 10am PT is in your country, or ask Siri what time it is in Cupertino.
You can check out what we’re expecting to see, and we’ll of course be bringing you full coverage of all the news.
Apple’s “Spring Forward” event is scheduled for Monday, March 9th and we’re already getting prepared to bring you live coverage and last minute leaks leading up to the event. What can you expect at the event? Below we’ve put together our list of likely announcements including some unannounced Apple Watch features and possible surprises…
Apple has asked developers who attended secretive Apple Watch app development workshops in Cupertino across January and February to hold off on announcing their applications, according to multiple high-profile developers. These people say that Apple has asked developers to not provide in-depth details, revealing screenshots and videos, or launch information about their applications until after the event at the very least. In some cases, Apple has even asked developers to wait until late March or early April to announce their applications…
While suppliers are gearing up to ship the new 12-inch MacBook Air in large quantities in the second quarter, Apple’s launch schedule remains unclear, the people said.
WWDC traditionally has been the end of Q2, so unless Apple plans another event specifically for the new model (not impossible but I’d think not), the most likely time to announce it would be during Monday’s Spring Forward event, expected to major on the Apple Watch. Since this is a new product, not an upgrade of a current product, Apple could use some ramping time between the announcement and the actual launch.
We’d caution however that supply chain sources, which is apparently the kind the WSJ is using, often guess early when it comes to shipping times.
We exclusively revealed details of the radical new MacBook back in January. Sources described a markedly thinner and lighter machine squeezing a 12-inch higher resolution screen into a casing narrower than the current 11-inch MacBook Air. The machine is also said to take a minimalist approach to ports–likely even just a single USB C port for both power and data–and to be available in iOS device colors as well as plain anodized aluminum. Expand Expanding Close
Episode 004 of Happy Hour is finally here and Apple’s March 9th “Spring Forward” event is right around the corner. It’s safe to say, we’re all pretty excited. What can you expect to be announced on stage at the event? Well, today we’re discussing the entire thing and getting into all of the details along with our expectations and predictions. The Happy Hour podcast is available for download on iTunes and through our dedicated RSS feed…
Image <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/02/26/apple-plans-special-event-on-march-9-likely-for-smartwatch/">via Wall Street Journal</a>
Apple has just invited several media outlets to a ‘Spring forward’ special event on Monday, March 9th. We’re sure to see a whole lot more of the Apple Watch at this event ahead of its April debut. The event will take place at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco.
