Complete Apple Fall event discussion, Give us a hint, Siri (iPad Pro, new Apple TV, 6S) (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

This cartoon came out in 2012

 

[Craig S]

Nope. A unified search is nice but it isn't a close replacement for having a unified que/playlist.


If I watch Game of Thrones (HBO), House of Cards (Netflix), and Ray Donovan (Showtime). I want a single que that shows the latest episodes of each available. I want to hit "play" and have it play the latest episode from that que without going into a specific app.


To be fair, this is something the media companies may simply not allow. Apple (and others) may want to do such a thing but can't.


-Keith

No one is doing the unified UI thing, and I think you hit the nail on the head as to why. These companies want to maintain their individual brands, not see them lumped in with everything else. Unified search is about the best we can hope for.

 

[Sam Posten]

128GB = no purchase for me

We need a sad violin emoji for ya Carlo. =)

 

[Craig S]

What's sad is that Apple is continuing to cap their mobile and tablet device memories at 128GBs. This, despite the fact that all the power they're giving developers, along with the higher MP cameras and 4K videos, are going to make 128GBs seem very limited in short order. I was really ready to spend major $$$ for a 256GB iPad Pro. Other tablets are already giving us that amount. So for now, 128GB = no purchase for me, as I have already had to make tough decisions as to what to not include on my iPhone 6.

I agree 100%, along with eliminating the 16GB low end it's past time to break the 128 GB barrier on the top.

 

[Craig S]

This cartoon came out in 2012

Ha! And they're overcharging for it too...

 

[Nelson Au]

I'm all in. The new Apple Pencil is what I've been hoping Apple will do since iPad 1. As you know, I use the iPad for drawing and a design tool. But it's never been a good substitute for the Wacom Cintiq because of the limits of the palm rejection and how the screen technology works. The Wacom Intuos Creative Stylus and Adonit stylus got close. So I'm very excited about the Pencil. At $99.00, the price of that Pencil is no worse then the first Bluetooth styluses from Wacom and Adonit. I'll be in line or preorder that 128 model with the Pencil as as soon as I can. I might even get the Smart Cover keyboard.

 

[Patrick Mason]

I tried using it and I have to agree, they seem to make the whole software experience different just for the sake of being "different" Really, the minimize/close button really needed to be on the left side of every screen? Silly stuff like that is very annoying, expecially when in the real world, most folks us MS Windows daily at work etc.

Well to be fair, they had those buttons on the left side of the screen before Windows even existed.


New iPhones look like typical S upgrades: same design, faster, better camera, 1 big new feature (3D Touch, in this case.)


The iPad Pro looks alright but crazy expensive (and 256GB option?) I like the magnetic accessory connection and keyboard case in particular (thanks for the idea, Surface!) The Pencil is cool if you like to draw on your iPad, but don't think I would ever have any compelling use for it. The weirdest thing to me is that it doesn't seem to have 3D Touch. Just roll the new features into the iPad Air 3, please.


The Apple TV was the thing I was really looking forward to. It looks like a fairly average upgrade, honestly. It took you this long to essentially just put a faster processor in it, and add a microphone and multitouch to the remote? Not sure why they have put this off for so long. But happy to have an App Store on there finally. I love the idea of unified search once more providers are added, but agree that a unified queue is absolutely essential to go along with it. It's ultimately way too underpowered to compete with any consoles, and without any type of streaming TV package and unified queue it basically feels like, well... an Apple TV with more apps.


Don't get me wrong, I will absolutely love to have the new Apple TV as a nice little upgrade to the current one, but it's no revolution yet. It will not really change any core way that I interact with it. Voice search may occasionally come in handy, and it will eventually be nice to access my Vudu titles and such there as well instead of having to fire up a separate device. But essentially it's still a grid of separate video apps, same as it's always been.

 

[DavidJ]

I'd really like to get an iPad Pro, but I have need for it. It would be more of a fun purchase. I agree with the comments regarding storage capacity. 16 GB is pointless in this day and age and having the top capacity at only 128 GB seems strange.


The Apple TV upgrade is nice and I may very well get one, but it is not a must have or game changer for me. I don't really care about the ability to game on it. I've had that on my Fire TV and haven't played one game.


The phone upgrades are solid. I got the 6 plus last year, but if I can somehow convince my wife to move to it from the 5S, I'll get the 6S plus. We are in a spend less mode right now though so it'll be an uphill battle. And there is no reason I can't be patient and wait for the inevitable 7.

 

[DavidJ]

http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-6s-16gb-storage-2015-9

 

[Carlo_M]

One thing they put in as an afterthought, that may pique my interest, is the $33/mo. plan straight from Apple to do an iPhone upgrade program. Now if it's not too cost prohibitive to go up to the highest memory (I'm assuming that $33 is for the 16gb version) I may choose to do that since carriers are starting to phase out the two-year subsidies plan. I've had a grandfathered unlimited AT&T plan (since it was Cingular) and will continue to take advantage of the 2 year renewal as long as they keep allowing me to do it, but once it stops, I may go to the Apple iPhone Upgrade plan.

 

[Craig S]

Full infö on the iPhone Upgrade program has been posted on the site; the $33 is indeed for a 16GB 6s. Prices top out at $44 for a 128 GB 6s+.

 

[DaveF]

There is only one true future of TV and no one will give it to us, likely in our lifetime. Why? Because it's not cost-feasible [read: profitable] to do so.

IMO, the true future of TV is true a la carte channel selection, shows on demand, with no ability of the provider to pull content. That's why I buy blu-rays. Because no one can ever decide that I can't watch that thing I bought (unlike say when Hulu, Netflix, etc. lose rights to movies). And also why, even though I watch maybe 20 channels of the 1000 available to me (and for which I pay an exorbitant sum), I can't ever get rid of cable because my favorite sports teams (UCLA football, L.A. Dodgers baseball) are only available through Time Warner Cable, in their upper pay tiers. No amount of Netflix, Hulu, Vudu, On Demand, iTunes, etc. that I purchase will show those two things.

My "gamechanger" TV service would be:
Let me choose and pay for the channels I want. There'd be like 20. Including the sports teams I follow, and local channels.
Let me on-demand in the highest def possible at the time (1080p now, 4k in the future) any title available for a price, rental and ownership model possible).
DVR, Start Over, etc.
All of this accessible also through my apps/mobile devices.

Again, it's not cost-feasible for companies to do this, so we won't ever get it. All Apple can do is try to work around the Frankenstein TV service world we live in and put as nice a wrapper on it as possible.
Cable companies are fighting back against on-demand, dish and streaming services. That's why Time Warner bought exclusive rights to the Dodgers. That's why major college conferences like the Pac 12 channel are signed to exclusive deals with cable. They know what a lot of Americans want, they know they can't/won't provide it, and neither can dish or online services. So they try to sign as many exclusive deals as possible to trap as many customers as possible. And money talks. When TWC came with the big $$$ to the Dodgers and the P12, they signed on. Ironic since the result is. I think, that more than half of Los Angeles households can't currently watch the Dodgers.

And your cost would increase, without the other 75% of the cable viewers subsidizing your ESPN. Because of the bundling, a la carte may not be the panacea we'd hoped for.

In any case, the future seems to be the opposite: on-demand everything.

 

[DaveF]

Wife is unhappy the only new bands are for rich hipsters. She was hoping more downscale, or brands like Guess or Fossil.

AppleTV is neato. But I'm not much a streamer. I'm that rare bird, a TiVo owner. A little pricey for music and photos, but at $149, a possible holiday whim.

iPad pro: cool. Too big for me. I need 10" for airplanes and couch surfing. Note the demo didn't have a game when it's crying out for crazy fx on the uber 5.1 MP screen. Nope, it's all "pro".
If I had money to burn, I'd buy my nieces the pro plus pencil for their art. They're budding digital artists. But I can't pull out $2500 on a grand techno gesture like that. Parents would kill me, in either case

iPhone 6s. Yeah, baby! It's upgrade year in the DaveF household! Apple Pay! 3D Inappropriate Touch, oh so good. Fancy pants camera that gives me pro pictures with no skill. I can't wait to have an ani-still of my cat Dash as my lock screen. This is all good, and on par for an S update, i think.

Now got to wait to October 20, when my contract is up and I can buy anew.

 

[Carlo_M]

And your cost would increase, without the other 75% of the cable viewers subsidizing your ESPN. Because of the bundling, a la carte may not be the panacea we'd hoped for.

In any case, the future seems to be the opposite: on-demand everything.

I keep reading things like that and honestly, I don't completely buy the argument. It's the 999 other channels of crap that are being subsidized. While not everyone watches ESPN, a significant majority of Americans do (just look at the ratings and money sports...both collegiate and professional...bring in). So I think I'd be fine...my TV tastes don't run different from most Americans. Sports. The Big Four channels. Local news but I can even ditch that.


And re: the future being On-Demand everything, I don't think that can be possible with sports which, whether you watch it not, is something that a large percentage of Americans watch, and the teams/leagues won't ever go that route.

 

[DaveF]

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150909006566/en/Logitech-CREATE-Third-Party-Keyboard-iPad-Pro

 

[DaveF]

I keep reading things like that and honestly, I don't completely buy the argument. It's the 999 other channels of crap that are being subsidized. While not everyone watches ESPN, a significant majority of Americans do (just look at the ratings and money sports...both collegiate and professional...bring in). So I think I'd be fine...my TV tastes don't run different from most Americans. Sports. The Big Four channels. Local news but I can even ditch that.

And re: the future being On-Demand everything, I don't think that can be possible with sports which, whether you watch it not, is something that a large percentage of Americans watch, and the teams/leagues won't ever go that route.

The big boys clout gets him money per subscriber, even if 80% don't watch. Historical oddities of the broadcast networks brought us FX and ABC-Family, which are fu dee to get ABC and Fox. But best guesses I've seen are that ESPN viewers would get screwed by a la carte. I don't know how I'd fall out with major broadcast networks and a few like Sci-fi.


“Today, the typical household pays a little under $40 a month in total subscription fees to all of the networks. So, $30 for standalone-ESPN plus $10 for standalone-AMC is already equal to or more than the total programming costs in your cable bill right now. In simpler English: TV just got more expensive with just two a la carte channels.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/07/how-watching-unbundled-espn-and-amc-could-cost-more-than-your-whole-cable-bill/277916/

 

[DaveF]

USA Today's iPhone section is a fascinating hit piece on all things Apple.

 

[Johnny Angell]

In regards to the new Apple TV, did they open it up to additional streaming services.? I'm thinking specifically of Amazon.

 

[Sam Posten]

Amazon will of course be able to have an App on device, whether or not they get to be in the integrated search is up for grabs but Apple assured the audience that more services would be added soon. The expectation is that Amazon is on the short list of soon to be added ones.


I don't get Apple's favoritism of Bloomberg these days but this article on why 3D touch matters is very flattering in return.

http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-how-apple-built-3d-touch-iphone-6s/

 

[Sam Posten]

Wife is unhappy the only new bands are for rich hipsters. She was hoping more downscale, or brands like Guess or Fossil.

Count on more brands coming. They said this was a first of many.