Apple's WWDC: New MacBooks already seen as becoming a hit
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If Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) was looking to stoke enthusiasm among its developer community, it delivered a little something for just about everyone at the kickoff of its its annual Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday.
Chief Executive Tim Cook kicked off the hybrid WWDC--developers and analysts attended the event at the company's Apple Park headquarters, in Cupertino, Calif., and Apple (AAPL) used its Apple TV+ platform to stream almost two-hours-worth of executives and officials showing off dozens of new features and services--by saying that Apple (AAPL) intends "to empower all developers with tools and technologies to change the world."
Whether or not Cook's pronouncement comes to pass will be up to how consumers respond to the new pages in Apple's (AAPL) playbook. But, it goes without saying that that playbook will offer plenty of options aimed at appealing to new and future Apple (AAPL) customers, as well as developers.
"The biggest takeaway was how they do what no other company can do," said Gene Munster, managing director of Loup Ventures. "Bringing software and hardware together seamlessly. Easy to say and hard to do."
The most-tangible items that Apple (AAPL) showed off were new models of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops, which will be powered by Apple's (AAPL) new M2 processor. The M2 is the latest of Apple's (AAPL) Apple Silicon chipsets which it is rolling into all of its desktop and laptops Macs. Apple (AAPL) touted the performance of the M2, which is had been developed to run twice as fast, but at the same power level as the comparable PC chips.
Tech industry analyst Tim Bajarin, of Creative Strategies, called the M2 the "biggest news" that Apple (AAPL) announced. Bajarin said that with M2 under the hood, the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro will immediately become "two of the most-powerful laptops on the market."
For its part, Apple (AAPL) said the MacBook Air with the M2chip will start at $1,199, and the MacBook Pro will come with an initial price target of $1,299. Qualified educators will be able to get a $100 discount on their MacBook orders when the new laptops become available next month.
Munster didn't waste any time speculating on the impact of the upgraded MacBooks on Apple's (AAPL) business.
"The new MacBook Air is going to be a hit," Munster said. "And it comes with a 20% price increase that will more than cover the increase in component pricing."
Apple also showed off updates to the iPhone's iOS operating system, which includes a way to more-personalize the phone's lock screen, live texting capabilities within video and new payment options and features for Apple Wallet.
The next version of iPadOS includes Freeform, and feature to improve collaboration projects across iPads, and watchOS, which powers the Apple Watch, will come with more health-related functions to provide better tracking of running and other fitness actitivies.
One thing that didn't get mentioned was anything Apple (AAPL) might have in the works regarding augmented reality--headsets, or related technology--which Apple (AAPL) has reportedly on working on for several years. Munster said he believes Apple (AAPL) has something in the works and that "they are holding off on making announcements in AR for a big announcement, probably involving wearables sometime next year."
Last week, Disney (DIS) nabbed one of Apple's (AAPL) former gaming executives to head up its metaverse efforts.