Thoughts on Apple’s March Event

A little something for everyone

Apple’s March event came and went last week, but really started the week before with all the hardware being announced the week before. They cleared the decks and made room for all the services and content on Monday. It ended up being an interesting, if not weird presentation near the end. Here are a few of my quick thoughts after thinking about things for a few days.

Apple News +

I was tentatively excited bout this service because I use Apple News a lot and so far I’m enjoying the service with the 1x month trial. I was a little skeptical about it since I have not read a magazine in years, but I have come to appreciate the recommendation engine for new articles across magazines. I did spend some time on Saturday reading a few magazines from cover to cover, but I did find that throughout the week I would rely on the recommendation engine like I do with the rest of Apple News. Navigation is definitely a little wonky. Favoriting a magazine is confusing, as is managing notifications and getting to the Saved items. I think its a solid 1.0, but definitely has room for improvement. I hope that somebody at Apple figures out a way to promote local news more. Google News does this well and while my local newspaper is in Apple News, that is not the case with my hometown and I had to search it out myself. Also, an Apple News, but for video would be great, especially AppleTV.

Apple Music

I do like the new Browse tab and the new artwork on the playlists. I’m still hoping for Apple Music Support for Google Assistant devices, but my hope is fading. I’m still crossing my fingers for a HomePod Mini so I can put them throughout my apartment. I want a HomePod, but $350/room is really, really expensive and I’m not an audiophile. Ideally, I would like to have one big one in my living room and smaller units in my bedroom and office, but most of the time I’m listening to podcasts or audiobooks. I have been happy with Apple Music recommendations and evolution as a service. I hope that the rest of Apple’s services like Apple News + gets the same treatment.

AppleTV +

This…was confusing. AppleTV+ is the premium service, but also the name of the TV app and also the name of the hardware that runs the TV app. I hope they figure out the branding one day. I found the second half of the keynote to be boring with all the celebrities and weird with no trailers for the actual show, but then again I’m not an expert on television so that may be normal since they did strut a lot of stars out on the stage. Apple TV channels feel like they should be the future with pay-as-you-will channels, but it does not look like there were any big biters beyond HBO and Starz. I like the idea of the new AppleTV app and hope that it becomes the home screen of the AppleTV, but not having Netflix is a big miss for me. I hope that they could figure out a way to do a carousel like the new AndroidTV does for 3rd party services like Netflix and Youtube. I WANT to live in the TV app for everything and not have to jump around as much to get to content, it’s a far-fling from the TV simplicity of the 1990s when you just pressed up and down on the remote to see what’s available. I guess we’ll see what the shows are like in the fall and I do like that they are bringing the Apple TV app and service to 3rd party TVs and streaming sticks like they did with Apple Music. I guess we’ll see more this fall. I hope that we do see a cheaper AppleTV device, its still mighty expensive and I’m not sure it justifies its cost just for the Apple Arcade games

Apple Arcade

Apple Arcade was a nice surprise and I’m kinda excited about this service. I feel like there are a lot of great games in the App Store and the iPhone/iPad can be a great gaming platform, but in-app purchases have degraded gaming on the iPhone to be a free-to-play and often play-to-win hell. I enjoy Pokemon Go as much as the next geek, but I feel like a lot of the top-grossing games are virtual casinos and prey on people and children who lack a lot of self-control. A lot of the games just feel icky and I like the idea of paying a monthly fee for a selection of ad-free and in-app-purchase-free games that work offline. I like the idea of supporting indie developers because the iPhone and iPad are a great platform for those experiences and more powerful than a lot of consoles were when I grew up. I feel like the platform has so much more potential and this race to the bottom has diminished the impact of the iPhone and iPad as a gaming platform when compared to the Nintendo 3DS or Switch. For me, the toping on the cake was the AppleTV support and Mac support. It will be interesting to see this service evolve because, unlike the TV service, we did get to see some of the games and they look promising.

Apple Credit Card

I liked this one a lot, especially the transparency with how you are spending your money and the options to see how interest will effect how much you’re paying for something. The interest rates are not really what I think of as “Low” at 13–24%, but I like how they don’t have late fees and their cash back program is both daily and very easy to understand. If anything, I hope that they bring these features to 3rd party credit cards in the Wallet app and raise the bar for credit card companies to focus more on their customers and less on the bottom line. The titanium credit card part did make me laugh, but in a good way because its very Apple. Depending on the final terms this summer I pay pick one up and replace my Discover card that I’m not entirely thrilled with at this point.

Conclusion

Overall, I think the last week of Apple news (despite Airpower) was positive for the company. They presented a lot of products and services to a wide variety of users. If you’re into hardware, music, TV, games, etc. Apple has something for you. While I do not think a lot of people will go 100% Apple, it is good to see Apple’s take on these industries and you add and subtract things as they interest you instead of being locked into a contract. I think the competition is good for all involved. I’m looking forward to seeing how these things evolve and change with time.