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 The new 6S and 6S Plus versions of the iPhone, Apple's biggest
money maker, are the same size as the previous versions but come
with a better camera, faster chips, new colors and the
force-sensitive "3D Touch".
Speaking before thousands of analysts, journalists and frequently
cheering Apple employees, Chief Executive Tim Cook also brought on
stage an executive from onetime archrival Microsoft Corp to
illustrate the business-friendly credentials of a big new iPad, the
Pro.
Apple shares fell 1.9 percent to $110.15 by the close, replicating
the recent history of such rollouts but also reflecting the lack of
any transformative products that could jumpstart the company's sales
ahead of the crucial holiday season.
Apple shares have lost an average of 0.4 percent on the day of
iPhone announcements over the past three years, according to BTIG
Research data.
"People love to hate Apple announcements because the expectations
are so high and they can never clear that bar," said Kevin Landis,
portfolio manager of the $111 million Firsthand Technology
Opportunities fund, which has Apple as its second-largest position.
 Twitter users seemed most impressed by the revamped Apple TV. The
product, which the company long called a 'hobby' gets its own app
store and will work with Siri, Apple's digital assistant.
Fewer celebrated the iPad, which some saw as too big and similar to
Microsoft's Surface tablet, and new iPhones, which are outwardly
identical to the enlarged smartphones which made their debut about a
year ago.
“3D Touch not good enough reason to upgrade so far,” Ikechukwu
Nwanze wrote of the new phones, which start at $199 with a two-year
contract.
Apple TV demonstrations showed tricks to make viewing easier:
digital assistant Siri, which is behind the voice control, can
rewind a video for 15 seconds and turn on subtitles, when a viewer
asks something like "What did she say"?
"We've been working really hard, and really long," on TV, Cook said,
emphasizing the word 'long' in a nod to the time it has taken the
company to produce an ambitious TV product.
The new set-top box will include an app store and let developers
create new software for Apple TV, including video games.
“I’m all about this new #AppleTV. Shut up and take my money,” wrote
Twitter user Ethan Anderton. Others joked that they would have to
buy a TV for the first time to use the Siri remote and app store.
Absent from the new TV interface was any agreement for new content
despite Apple's efforts to negotiate deals with a wider array of TV
networks to provide live or on-demand content.
A STYLUS?
Many of Apple's new features are based on technology that has been
around for some time, but never caught on. Apple has a long history
of creating successes where others could not.
Years ago a Blackberry featured force-sensing touch. The new iPad
has an optional $99 stylus, called the "Pencil", which amused many
on social media: in 2007 Apple then-CEO Steve Jobs told a tech
conference, "Yech, nobody wants a stylus."
Apple is coming from behind in the streaming media market. Nearly 20
percent of U.S. broadband households already own at least one media
player that streams content from the Internet, according to research
firm Parks Associates.
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Roku accounts for more than a third of all streaming devices sold in
the United States in 2014, followed by Google Inc's Chromecast and
Amazon.com Inc's Fire TV, Parks said. The Apple TV box came in
fourth. Landis said that while he liked the updated TV product
“the numbers are so small that they won’t move the needle because
the iPhone is such a big business now.”
FACEBOOK MESSENGER COMING TO THE WATCH
Cook began the morning by talking up the Apple Watch, saying
customer satisfaction for the recently launched product was 97
percent and that a new version of its operating system would be
ready by mid-September. Apple is working with French luxury goods
maker Hermes on a new watch collection, and Facebook Messenger is
coming to the device, he added.
He then rolled out the "iPad Pro" with a 12.9 inch screen and said
it had performance similar to a desktop computer. Apple showed off a
"smart" keyboard as well as the "Pencil".
Dave Meier, who works on several portfolios at Motley Fool Funds,
said that the addition of a stylus and keyboard to the iPad Pro,
which starts at $799, could lead to a “refresh cycle” that would
lift incremental sales.
He was “impressed with the gumption” to bring Microsoft executives
to demonstrate Office products on the new iPad, he said. “This says
that the Surface might be dead and Microsoft understands that they
are very good at productivity but not at hardware,” he said.
 The new phones come a year after Apple rolled out iPhones with
larger screens, touching off a frenzy of sales that saw revenue in
the most recent quarter increase 32.5 percent from the same quarter
a year ago. "It's getting harder and harder for Apple to compete against
itself," said analyst Bob O'Donnell of TECHnalysis Research. Apple
shares are up about 12 percent over the last year, although they are
down about 14 percent in the last three months.
Fortunately for Apple, most consumers buy smartphones under a
two-year upgrade cycle, meaning the company will still likely scoop
up a lot of sales, said analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights &
Strategy.
"The key point of reference is not how the new phone compares to the
iPhone 6, it's how it compares to the iPhone 5s," he said.
(Additional reporting by Lisa Richwine, Yasmeen Abutaleb, David
Randall and Noel Randewich; writing by Peter Henderson; Editing by
Christian Plumb and Stephen R. Trousdale)
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