Five things the Watch and new iPhones tell us about Apple’s future

Apple Watch, which drops the traditional lower case “i” naming convention, is instantly the most impressive smartwatch out there. “The most personal device we ever made, we set out to make the best watch in the world,” says CEO Tim Cook. Time will tell on that, but the device shows off Apple’s investment in advanced materials as well as its constant innovation of user interface control schemes. It features a durable sapphire screen with a new more detailed touch sensor, as well as three watch body types (one in stainless steel, one in aluminum, and one with a gold finish) in two sizes (38 mm and 42 mm) with multiple strap and buckle options. It revamps a familiar watch feature, the nob for winding or setting time, into a physical controller that lets you scroll and zoom without touching the screen. Its new method for displaying apps, with round icons, that arranges them in a zoomable “universe” with segmented “neighbourhoods” is a compelling method for finding software on such a small screen. They call their notification system the “Taptic Engine” which provides cues that notifications are coming in, and gestures for reading them. And it has no ports, it charges using a modified version of the MagSafe technology it uses on its MacBook charging cables. The on-board fitness sensors will be tested by reviewers and users, but they promise to match most of the more advanced straps out there. The Watch comes out sometime in early 2015, with a starting price of $349.

By our count, Apple’s design chief Jony Ive only used the word “wearable” once, and it was to reference that this is just the beginning of the company's journey with the technology.

Perhaps the most significant announcement Apple made in Tuesday's press event was a new service called Apple Pay. Essentially, the service lets users store credit card information on their phones and then use the devices to pay for goods by simply holding the phone near a payment terminal at a cash register. At launch in the U.S., Apple Pay will work with American Express, Visa and Mastercard, and will work in the 220,000 U.S. merchant locations that currently accept other forms of contact-less payments. In addition, Apple is partnering with numerous big-name retailers, such as Bloomingdales, Staples and McDonald's. Also, you can pay by waving the new Watch at a point of sale. (But not in Canada, initially Pay will only work in the United States.)

There’s almost nothing truly innovative about their new phones. Faster chip, thinner package, more storage, brighter and bigger screen, all of it is stuff we have seen before from other phone makers. Is the iPhone still top dog? Perhaps in most areas, and it will likely continue to earn a king’s ransom for the company, but as we have noted for several years, whatever advantages Apple holds on its competitors in the smartphone hardware market are rarely exclusive or long-lasting any more. The good news for iPhone? You need one if you want that fancy new Watch, creating another reason to stay in its ecosystem of computers, mobile devices and services.

The massiveness of this press conference shouldn't be underestimated; in the past, 20 million people watched live video streams of software announcements at Apple’s WWDC. That said, the crashing and stuttering of the video feed was the hottest of hot messes. That many computers trying to log in to one website creates the same conditions hacktivists like to use, something called a distributed denial of service attack. Today’s event, touted to be about new tech (which came true) was obviously going to be widely viewed. So ask yourself, how does one of the most valuable companies in the world not throw enough money at bandwidth to keep their stream up? Next time maybe they should put it on Twitch, or Netflix, two services that have no trouble letting people watch as much online video as they want.

Almost all the details of today’s launches were pre-leaked. Weeks ago sites around the world had reported with words, pictures and videos images and specs of the new iPhones. The shape of the Watch was known, and the new payments details were out too. There was a time when you really had no clear idea what Apple was announcing, but not any more. And that’s without referencing their issues with iCloud and privacy. Even U2’s guest appearance was leaked – though nobody knew the band would release a new album on iTunes live on stage (it’s called Songs of Innocence, and is free to iTunes subscribers). Call that the silver lining.