1. The godawful live stream
Uh oh #AppleLive #AppleEvent #TechnicalDifficulties pic.twitter.com/E7SCAcmWbl
— Chris Reynolds (@CHRIS_R3YNOLDS) September 9, 2014
Apple's live stream of the event — which was promoted heavily online both on Apple's homepage and its own dedicated channel on Apple TV — sucked big fat rocks. It started out okay, but just before Tim Cook took the stage, it cut out and changed to a generic "TV Truck Schedule" screen that it was stuck on for a good 10 minutes or so.
That was just the tip of the iceberg. When the signal finally returned, viewers were treated to audio that was a confusing mixture of English and what sounded like Japanese. Apparently the international translator's audio somehow became superimposed over the English-speaking folks on stage. The signal never really got better for most users, though the second language translator did thankfully disappear.
Apple is a global tech leader. For an event this earth-shattering, a technical snafu like this should have been impossible. Heads are rolling in Cupertino as we speak.
2. The cringe-inducing finger touch
The awkwardness felt around the world. #FingerTouch pic.twitter.com/1qhoUwMehm — Bryan Likley (@mostlikley) September 9, 2014
At the end of the event, Tim Cook introduced U2 onto the stage for the oh-so-cool announcement of a brand new album by the Irish rockers, and the best part: it's a freebie. Suh. Weet.
It should have ended there, but instead Cook and Bono then attempted sort of a rock 'n' roll high five thingie that resulted in the weirdest finger touching ever between two adults.
Dear Tim and Bono, just stick to what you're good at. You needn't bridge the tech and music worlds by inventing your own secret handshake.
3. Battery life support
No mention of the Apple Watch's battery life at #AppleLive presentation: https://t.co/udJbqBhpwi pic.twitter.com/tUuLjmPx3w — Forbes (@Forbes) September 9, 2014
If there was one glaring omission during Apple's two-hour-sprint of a presentation, it was the total lack of anything related to the Apple Watch's battery life. Yes the gadget looks crazy cool, and yes of course we want one. And yes, there's no way the majority of human beings on earth will be able to afford one.
But even those who are already cashing in 401ks or selling vital organs are still wondering: How long will the darn thing stay charged when I wear it? Battery life is one of the most important issues about any portable device.
For Apple to fail to mention this detail is unthinkable. And its absence may cause consumers to assume that if Apple isn't talking about it, then it must not be good.
4. That time a former enemy of Steve Jobs helped introduce the Apple Watch
HAHAHAHA @reckless “It's incredible to see Kevin Lynch on an Apple stage after all those years he spent at Adobe trying to get Flash on iOS" — Sam Sheffer (@samsheffer) September 9, 2014
Meet Kevin Lynch, who demoed the Apple Watch on stage at today's event. Unless you follow the tech world closely, you probably have no idea who he is. Mr. Lynch was, in a former life, the Chief Technology Officer at Adobe, where he worked on Flash — that software people like to use on the Internet to create smooth animations and stuff.
Well, when Steve Jobs introduced the first iPad, there was this whole big thing about how Jobs staunchly refused to allow any of Apple's portable devices to support Flash, which left some gaping holes in the Internet for users. Jobs argued that Flash was a memory hog and slowed down entire systems (he wasn't wrong), and was dead set against it. Kevin Lynch replied to Jobs' criticisms with some harsh criticisms of his own — aimed at both Apple and Jobs. Among other things, he declared that leaving Flash out of iOS would cause the death of the platform.
Today, Kevin Lynch is a senior VP at Apple, where he leads the software team working on the Apple Watch. And the software the Apple Watch runs on is — you guessed it — iOS.
