The Apple Store is down ahead of the event, as usual
The Apple Store is down, as usual.
Apple
The Apple Store is down ahead of the iPhone event. This always happens when Apple is set to announce new gadgets. And it’ll return shortly after the presentation ends with information on the new products. The iPhone 16 and Apple Watch seem like a lock. New AirPods could make an appearance, too.
— Todd Haselton
Tim Cook tweets ahead of the event
As usual, Apple CEO posted a tweet on X ahead of the event. “Apple Park is glowing! #AppleEvent,” it says with a picture of a rainbow structure on the company’s campus. The tagline for the event is “It’s Glowtime” which seems to suggest the changes to Siri with Apple Intelligence, which will now glow around the borders of an iPhone’s screen instead of showing the standard Siri bubble at the bottom of the display.
–Todd Haselton
Apple needs to show AI gadgets aren’t a bust
Apple Intelligence was unveiled during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in Cupertino, California, on June 10, 2024.
Source: Apple Inc.
Apple needs to convince people to upgrade to the latest iPhones and prove to Wall Street that an iPhone upgrade cycle is underway. One way it will try that is with Apple Intelligence, which the company announced in June. It is artificial intelligence that customers can use to generate emojis, email messages, notes and more. It will tap into OpenAI’s ChatGPT, too. Some of those features will not launch until the end of the year, though, and AI gadgets have, so far, been a bust.
Apple’s iPhone sales declined 1% year over year to $39.29 billion during the company’s fiscal third quarter, or about 46% of the company’s total sales. “On a constant currency basis, we grew year on year. And so that’s sort of how we look at it from an operational point of view,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC’s Steve Kovach in June, noting that Apple has “redeployed a lot of people to AI that were working on other things,” and that Apple increased spending for AI and Apple Intelligence.
— Todd Haselton and Steve Kovach
Apple analyst Kuo says these are two important things to watch for today
The iPhone 15 Pro is presented during the “Wonderlust” event at Apple’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, on Sept. 12, 2023.
Loren Elliott | Reuters
Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says the two most important things to watch on Monday are iPhone pricing and Apple Intelligence availability. The iPhone Pro has had the same $999 starting price in the U.S. since 2017, but the larger iPhone 15 Pro Max had a $100 price increase over the iPhone 14 Pro Max — at least it came with twice the storage. Apple Intelligence is currently in a preview beta version and some of its best improvements, such as a smarter Siri, are expected later this year or next.
— Todd Haselton
There’s a ‘Free Speech Area’
“Free Speech Area” outside Apple heaqaurters.
KIf Leswing | CNBC
I noticed this “Free Speech Area” sign on my way in. Past Apple events have drawn protests ranging from the company’s China policy to how it handles child sexual abuse material, or CSAM. In June, for example, CSAM demonstrators showed up at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference. Also, protestors staged a hunger strike outside the Apple Park Visitor Center in December 2022 to speak out against changes that limited Apple AirDrop in China.
— Kif Leswing
We’re here heading to Steve Jobs Theater where the iPhone event will take place
Steve Jobs Theater
Kif Leswing | CNBC
We just arrived at Apple’s Cupertino campus and we are walking over to the Steve Jobs Theater. It is where Apple typically announces new iPhones on its campus, in contrast to events such as the Worldwide Developers Conference that is held outside. It is a cloudy day.
Update: It is no longer cloudy. That is California weather for you.
— Kif Leswing
