What Will Apple Unveil on 9/9?
Apple rumor season is in full swing. The tech and media worlds are abuzz over what it will announce at its fall press conference, just slated for September 9th. All signs point to an iPhone 6, given its existing product versioning cycle. And everyone is talking about wearables.
Bigger screens are the clear indication (4.7 and 5.5 inches) from people that are usually right about Apple rumors such as John Gruber. Sources include lots of inside information and simply following supply chain hints, such as Apple’s stockpiling of sapphire (new displays)
Interestingly Gruber is hinting at an NFC enabled iPhone which to me doesn’t fit the profile, but we’ll see. When it comes to short range communication — the killer app of which is payments and point of sale interactions — Apple has hinted at a different trajectory.
But perhaps more interesting than the gadgetry are some company rumors we’re hearing. Some of those are spelled out below in an email I got this morning from my colleague Abid Chaudhry quoting something he found on Reddit. The three story “enclosure” is most provoking.
My guess is that this structure is a giant screen, or something similar that will enable a live reenactment of the famous 1884 Superbowl ad. There would be lots of good analogies there (breaking screens and media trends), not to mention the symmetry of the 30 year anniversary.
Check out the Reddit piece below. What do you think Apple will unveil?
It seems like in one day the hype train has jumped from “I can’t wait for the iPhone 6″ to “Apple might be revolutionizing the entire company”. Let’s look at today’s announcements:
1) Apple is returning to the performance art hall where they unveiled the Mac for the first time in 30 years. There might be some symbolism in that, i.e. “We’re making a company changing announcement”
2) Analysts who are close friends with Apple/Tim Cook, such as Jim Dalrymple (the most trusted analyst reporting today) are tweeting things like “holy shit guys, hold onto your hats” and “bring a change of pants”. Everyone in the know is acknowledging that some serious information is going to be dropped at this conference.
3) Apple has built a three story tall enclosure inside of which it has a construction project going on. It’s near the presentation center and is absolutely crawling with security. No one has any idea what they’re building inside.
Something big is going to happen. I don’t know what, I don’t want to get too excited lest I be let down, but I have a gut feeling that this press conference will be one for the history books.
It is interesting to think how Apple’s rollouts will impact us at the local level. I would suggest a few things.
1. Intro of big iPhone 6. This will continue to impact the local media “form factor.” What we’ve seen is that Tablets are well used but really haven’t impacted the landscape much for local media. Remember: Some vendors bet the bank that it would lead to higher paid subscriptions and new types of advertising.
2. Intro of IWatch (and NFC.) It will take a while for iWatch and other wearables to really catch on beyond the early adopters, who do not really impact local outside of San Francisco. And it looks like the iWatch may not even be introduced until 1Q 2015. But their immediate importance is in Apple’s validation of both wearables and NFC. This will be a huge factor in acceptance for local store payments, public transport and other services (and impulse cash less buying.) See how LevelUp is excited about prospect http://localonliner.com/2014/07/22/levelup-banks-on-smart-watch-adoption-for-payments/
Thanks Peter. Good comments. As we discussed in Friday’s roundtable, upping the screen size will be impactful. I agree with your comment about tablets and I think the distinction between smartphone and tablet will be less about screen size and more about use case (out and about versus in-home). So devices with Wi-fi only and couch use will have different implications for local search than the devices used while out shopping. Either way, bigger screen iPhones will also be impactful for continued multimedia sharing (Instagram, vine, etc.) and the growth that area continues to see around SMB marketing. I totally agree re: iWatch