On Monday, March 21, Apple held another event, “Let us loop you in”. In typical style, Tim Cook had some announcements involving the latest news from Apple, which included a few new products.
Now, without a doubt, I will not debate the fact that this event was not as exciting or entertaining for me personally. I know there has been some chatter on some of the lists about this, though I would not at all call it, “disappointing” as some have termed it. I think, as blind people, we often lose our perspective on what Apple is doing if it doesn’t directly impact our own personal worlds.
Obviously, iOS 9.3, Watch OS 2 and the new tvOS updates are things that do have some baring on the blind, and I was particularly interested in those items myself. I think that Apple continues to improve the software for their devices, and this also includes the area of accessibility. As an example of that,
Applevis has information on the improvements in accessibility in iOS 9.3 you can read about here.
Apple also spent time highlighting the new iPhone SE, which is a new 4 inch model of the iPhone, as well as the 9.7 inch iPad Pro, which joins the original 12.7 inch iPad Pro as a second alternative. These devices, which will be available for preorder on March 24 and then will be released March 31, though they might not set the world of blindness on fire, fit specific marketing targets for Apple, and, thus, were actually major announcements for them. I personally don’t need to update my iPad as of yet and I already have an iPhone 6S, but still, I think these are fantastic products, and I know of a few people who are particularly interested in the 4 inch iPhone model.
Some people were expecting a new Apple Watch model, as well as announcements for refreshers to some of the Mac product lines. I wasn’t personally expecting a new watch myself, and the Mac models will undoubtedly come over the passing months. In fact, there are already rumors that there will be new 13 and 15 inch Mac Book Pros coming in April. Additionally, the major news in regard to new iPhones, Mac operating systems and new iOS versions usually comes at WWDC, which is held in June.