After nerds around the world counted down for weeks in advance and tech sites speculated for months, Apple unveiled its newest products yesterday. But despite the anticipation and suspense, the only real news was that they named their smartwatch Apple Watch instead of iWatch.
The opening video touted that Apple was “seeing things different.”
“Those words mean a great deal to us,” said Tim Cook, Apple CEO, of the phrases in the video. Our editorial board disagrees with Cook and is critical of how “different” the products they introduced really are.
The iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus are impressive. They are bigger, thinner and faster than any predecessor. 84 times faster than the first iPhone at graphics performance to be exact. But they really aren’t different.
That’s like saying McDonald’s came out with a BigMac that was bigger, healthy and cooked faster, but it tasted the exact same. McDonald’s wouldn’t be able to get away with claiming that they are “seeing burgers different.”
The Apple Watch can tell when you’re cycling, walking, running and can even estimate distance, tracking steps and how far you’ve gone. It vibrates on the wrist and shows notifications from the smartphone it’s tethered to. You can talk to Siri, control you music and show pictures of your dog at the flick of a wrist. But even if Apple has made all these features prettier and more user-friendly, they are concepts that many companies have been working on for several years now. They aren’t really jumping out of the box like fans usually expect them to.
Granted, Apple has probably received more public hype over their first attempt at wearable tech than all existing wearable tech devices combined. But the features they presented weren’t revolutionary. And it leaves us with one lingering thought- what would Steve have done?