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For me the most notable parts of the whole event were the software-related announcements. Nothing about any of the hardware was in the least bit surprising. My

For me the most notable parts of the whole event were the software-related announcements. Nothing about any of the hardware was in the least bit surprising. My notes: - The Mac Pro is still not available. I don't believe it's ever been like Apple to pre-announce something this far out. - The iPad update was the first not to make me want the new one. I'm perfectly happy with my iPad 4 and see no reason to update yet. - An iPad Mini with a Retina display is nice, but I've never been attracted to that screen size so it doesn't do much for me. - There was no "One more thing..." or anything more surprising than them making all of their consumer software free. - There were brief mentions of new versions of both Aperture and FCPX, but that was it. I only found out later that the Aperture update is just a small dot update and now requires Mavericks.

lowmagnet 13y ago
My main complaint with the 4 is that it was too thick/heavy, and I'm glad that the iPad air (wtf, we're still going to call it iPad 5) is thinner/lighter. I'm still using a 2, because it's Good Enough.
corresation 13y ago
There was no "One more thing..." or anything more surprising than them making all of their consumer software free. But that was a huge one more thing, yet somehow they managed to deflate giving an enormous quantity of top quality software away for free. I completely agree that in the end it was very ho hum, but I still can't even place why that is. Similarly, the Mini announcement had a real potential of being huge...everyone expected a new screen, but few expected the new processor. To have pinnacle gear in a minuscule, big-pocketable, relatively inexpensive device...killer....or ho hum blah. The MBP updates are fantastic. Maybe expected, but geez that's a killer bit of kit in an amazing form factor at a remarkable price. They really did have amazing things to announce. Somehow the presentation (and perhaps the endless leaks) managed to suck the life out of it. As Marco mentioned the scripted commentary (and complete inability to adlib on a mistake, making it just painful to watch) and the already-seen videos were just really bad decisions. This could have been a soft web release. And they've played the Mac Pro for too long already. They've spent too much time on it. And really, of all of Apple's recent products that one is by far the most dubious of them all. The value proposition isn't there, and the potential base is tiny compared to the other products.
- roc 13y ago
  Apple customers are a self-selected bunch who, almost by definition, are more interested in "new stuff to do" than "$100 cheaper". So whereas the pricing may have been big news, the audience that watched that presentation is nearly orthogonal to one that would care about it.
  - corresation 13y ago
    Apple is one of the largest consumer electronics company in the world. iPads and Macs and iPhones and iPods are owned by every strata of the consumer ecosystem, from McDonalds employees to CEOs. The old "Apple customers are like BMW owners" (you didn't say this, but that is the general idea of such sentiments) theory does not correspond with reality. People "self-select" as Apple customers because they like the product, not because they are foolish about money. And, it should be mentioned, the news was cared about by just about everyone (Mavericks being free was #1 here on HN). It just didn't have any magic to it.
    - jmduke 13y ago
      I think the more apt comparison is that Apple customers are like Honda owners. Apple is one of the largest consumer electronics company in the world. iPads and Macs and iPhones and iPods are owned by every strata of the consumer ecosystem, from McDonalds employees to CEOs. From what I understand (and I don't have any of the data handy), this is only true for the American consumer ecosystem.
      - grecy 13y ago
        It's true for the entire developed world.
    - roc 13y ago
      I was specifically talking about the crowd who watches those events and that 'magic' reaction. I probably should have been more clear. I didn't mean to suggest that they wouldn't care at all, just that they wouldn't react to a price cut and updated internals like they would, say, 4k displays, an app store on the apple tv, a watch, etc.
loumf 13y ago
They pre-announce things that have no chance of cannabalizing things they care about. The Mac Pro announcement is probably meant to slow sales of Wintel pro boxes. The current Mac Pro line is already way out of date.
rayiner 13y ago
Maybe I'm just a consumer whore, but this update hit it out of the park for me: - I was waiting for the rMBP Haswell update. - I love my mini, but the shitty screen is the worst thing about it. - My wife loves the 10" form factor of her iPad, but it's heavy and the half pound weight reduction is substantial. Also, as a practical matter, I like that Apple realizes what their products' pain points are and appreciate incremental updates like these to address them. This is something you really don't see in PC space where each new product iteration can have totally different flaws. E.g. with the Vaio Pro 13, Sony did a great job with battery life. But then its bigger, heavier Flip PCs have worse battery life! Huh?
- 300bps 13y ago
  I like that Apple realizes what their products' pain points are and appreciate incremental updates Please realize there's a bit of rose colored glasses here. After an iPhone 3g, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s I couldn't stand the wait for a larger screen any longer and was forced into switching away from iPhone. I chose a Lumia 928. A co-worker of mine ended up with a Galaxy S4. The Lumia 928 is the best phone I've ever owned and my co-worker says the same thing about his Galaxy. You really don't realize the pain points you had with an iPhone until you have something else. For example: the fact that the screen is so narrow means that they had to come up with the hack of hiding the address bar unless you're at the very top of Safari. That's a pain. To reduce that pain they came up with the hack of tapping the very tippy top of the screen which whisks you instantly to the top of the page. Not a bad hack - until you're on page 9 or 10 of reading something and accidentally trigger the immediate scroll to top thereby losing your place. There are a ton of things that users have been clamoring for in every Apple product and most of these things, Apple just ignores. The thing I thank Apple for in the smart phone arena is raising the bar so high with the original iPhone that it led to having several decent choices today. It's a shame they've stagnated since then though and the competition has significantly passed them.
  - jquery 13y ago
    > significantly passed them. Look, I'm an Android fan. But your claims of Apple being surpassed are hot air. Name a single Android phone the size of the iPhone 5s that's even close to its capabilities. You can't. Android phones are laptops, while iPhones are Macbook Airs. Android manufacturers still can't touch the iPhone for what it is. Namely, the best damn phone money can buy in its category (ultra-light and compact). Your complaint about Apple is that they should make larger phones for you--a valid argument--but that doesn't mean Apple is falling behind. They're not even in the game, yet. A Galaxy S4 is so much bigger than an iPhone it's practically a separate category of phone.

lowmagnet 13y ago

My main complaint with the 4 is that it was too thick/heavy, and I'm glad that the iPad air (wtf, we're still going to call it iPad 5) is thinner/lighter. I'm still using a 2, because it's Good Enough.

corresation 13y ago

There was no "One more thing..." or anything more surprising than them making all of their consumer software free. But that was a huge one more thing, yet somehow they managed to deflate giving an enormous quantity of top quality software away for free. I completely agree that in the end it was very ho hum, but I still can't even place why that is. Similarly, the Mini announcement had a real potential of being huge...everyone expected a new screen, but few expected the new processor. To have pinnacle gear in a minuscule, big-pocketable, relatively inexpensive device...killer....or ho hum blah. The MBP updates are fantastic. Maybe expected, but geez that's a killer bit of kit in an amazing form factor at a remarkable price. They really did have amazing things to announce. Somehow the presentation (and perhaps the endless leaks) managed to suck the life out of it. As Marco mentioned the scripted commentary (and complete inability to adlib on a mistake, making it just painful to watch) and the already-seen videos were just really bad decisions. This could have been a soft web release. And they've played the Mac Pro for too long already. They've spent too much time on it. And really, of all of Apple's recent products that one is by far the most dubious of them all. The value proposition isn't there, and the potential base is tiny compared to the other products.

roc 13y ago
Apple customers are a self-selected bunch who, almost by definition, are more interested in "new stuff to do" than "$100 cheaper". So whereas the pricing may have been big news, the audience that watched that presentation is nearly orthogonal to one that would care about it.
- corresation 13y ago
  Apple is one of the largest consumer electronics company in the world. iPads and Macs and iPhones and iPods are owned by every strata of the consumer ecosystem, from McDonalds employees to CEOs. The old "Apple customers are like BMW owners" (you didn't say this, but that is the general idea of such sentiments) theory does not correspond with reality. People "self-select" as Apple customers because they like the product, not because they are foolish about money. And, it should be mentioned, the news was cared about by just about everyone (Mavericks being free was #1 here on HN). It just didn't have any magic to it.
  - jmduke 13y ago
    I think the more apt comparison is that Apple customers are like Honda owners. Apple is one of the largest consumer electronics company in the world. iPads and Macs and iPhones and iPods are owned by every strata of the consumer ecosystem, from McDonalds employees to CEOs. From what I understand (and I don't have any of the data handy), this is only true for the American consumer ecosystem.
    - grecy 13y ago
      It's true for the entire developed world.
  - roc 13y ago
    I was specifically talking about the crowd who watches those events and that 'magic' reaction. I probably should have been more clear. I didn't mean to suggest that they wouldn't care at all, just that they wouldn't react to a price cut and updated internals like they would, say, 4k displays, an app store on the apple tv, a watch, etc.

loumf 13y ago

They pre-announce things that have no chance of cannabalizing things they care about. The Mac Pro announcement is probably meant to slow sales of Wintel pro boxes. The current Mac Pro line is already way out of date.

rayiner 13y ago

Maybe I'm just a consumer whore, but this update hit it out of the park for me: - I was waiting for the rMBP Haswell update. - I love my mini, but the shitty screen is the worst thing about it. - My wife loves the 10" form factor of her iPad, but it's heavy and the half pound weight reduction is substantial. Also, as a practical matter, I like that Apple realizes what their products' pain points are and appreciate incremental updates like these to address them. This is something you really don't see in PC space where each new product iteration can have totally different flaws. E.g. with the Vaio Pro 13, Sony did a great job with battery life. But then its bigger, heavier Flip PCs have worse battery life! Huh?

300bps 13y ago
I like that Apple realizes what their products' pain points are and appreciate incremental updates Please realize there's a bit of rose colored glasses here. After an iPhone 3g, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s I couldn't stand the wait for a larger screen any longer and was forced into switching away from iPhone. I chose a Lumia 928. A co-worker of mine ended up with a Galaxy S4. The Lumia 928 is the best phone I've ever owned and my co-worker says the same thing about his Galaxy. You really don't realize the pain points you had with an iPhone until you have something else. For example: the fact that the screen is so narrow means that they had to come up with the hack of hiding the address bar unless you're at the very top of Safari. That's a pain. To reduce that pain they came up with the hack of tapping the very tippy top of the screen which whisks you instantly to the top of the page. Not a bad hack - until you're on page 9 or 10 of reading something and accidentally trigger the immediate scroll to top thereby losing your place. There are a ton of things that users have been clamoring for in every Apple product and most of these things, Apple just ignores. The thing I thank Apple for in the smart phone arena is raising the bar so high with the original iPhone that it led to having several decent choices today. It's a shame they've stagnated since then though and the competition has significantly passed them.
- jquery 13y ago
  > significantly passed them. Look, I'm an Android fan. But your claims of Apple being surpassed are hot air. Name a single Android phone the size of the iPhone 5s that's even close to its capabilities. You can't. Android phones are laptops, while iPhones are Macbook Airs. Android manufacturers still can't touch the iPhone for what it is. Namely, the best damn phone money can buy in its category (ultra-light and compact). Your complaint about Apple is that they should make larger phones for you--a valid argument--but that doesn't mean Apple is falling behind. They're not even in the game, yet. A Galaxy S4 is so much bigger than an iPhone it's practically a separate category of phone.