Jonny Evans has collected a range of analyst opinion and dug out some additional insights for his collection of reactions to Apple’s “Spring Loaded” event on April 20th at which the company launched an M1 iMac, an M1 iPad Pro, AirTag, purple iPhones, a new Apple TV, Podcast subscriptions, and Apple Card Family.
Lynnette Luna, Principal Analyst at GlobalData said:
“The ecosystem message was strong. Nearly every product announcement was about how well each product or service works together. That continues to be a significant weakness of rival Samsung.
“Apple Card was about bringing more family users into the fold to get them into the Apple ecosystem. Apple TV’s enhancements hit on how well the hardware works with the iPhone to balance and check color on any TV. The new iMac, while seeing significant hardware enhancements, also highlighted the ability to hand off capabilities between the iMac and other devices, using the iPhone as an example.
“Apple’s biggest announcement was the new iPad Pro with a new M1 chip and 5G capabilities, which should help carriers in their quest to sell new 5G subscriptions. A new ultra wide camera on the iPad Pro pans automatically to follow users as they move around and widens out if a second person enters the screen. The feature rivals Facebook Portal and Amazon Echo.”
…On AirTag, CCS Insights wrote: “Apple arguably has the largest mesh networks on the planet by virtue of its one billion active iPhone users. This means the probability of finding a lost item that is attached to an AirTag is likely much higher than any other rival Bluetooth-based tracker.”
MacDailyNews Take: Many more analyst reactions to the most recent Apple event are in the full article.
Pretty much everyone, no matter how effusive, is underestimating AirTag. Once AirTag trackers are out and about and easily finding lost items (and pets), there will be considerable word of mouth praise for AirTag, otherwise known as The Perfect Christmas Stocking Stuffer™ for 2021.