Apple unveiled the new Magic Trackpad 2 on October 13th 2015, and it marks a significant upgrade in both design and aesthetics from the 2010 model. It has been completely redesigned and is the kind of upgrade that makes a purchase worthwhile, particularly after waiting over 5 years since the last model.
I have been contemplating the purchase of an iPad Pro, ever since it’s unveiling at Apple’s “Special Event” in September 2015. Featuring a gorgeous 12.9” touch screen retina display, full-sized keyboard and an intuitive stylus, it wad the iPad all techies had been waiting for. To top it off a powerful A9X chip to handle ‘real’ productivity, a feature which has been lacking from iPads of the past. Yes, this all seems very familiar and Microsoft Surface has been on the scene for a few years now, but we all know that no company can provide the same intuitive and seamless experience that Apple can. So launch day has finally arrived (11th November) and I am sitting here writing this blog post on my retina MacBook, and not the iPad Pro. This has been one of the least hyped Apple launches I have seen for a new product category, and I am wondering why. Let’s take a brief analysis.
Like many others, I was super excited when Apple announced the new 12″ MacBook with retina display at a special event in March 2015. I was initially hopeful for Apple to unveil an updated MacBook Air with retina display, but better still, we (the consumers) were pleasantly surprised to receive a whole new category of the Macbook!
I preordered the new MacBook on the day preorders went live, April 10th (the same day preorders went live for the Apple Watch). A large part of my day on the 10th was spent in Brighton, collecting my race pack/mumber for the Brighton marathon, as well as visiting the Apple store to try-on the new Apple Watch. There was also the issue of deciding which specifications I wanted in my new Macbook. But I digress. I finally settled on the 1.2Ghz/512GB model and was quite disappointed that by the time I had preordered, shipping times had slipped to 3-5 weeks. This essentially meant that my delivery window was 15th May – 29th May. Bummer. Fast forward a few (long) weeks, and I finally took delivery of my new MacBook on May 19th!
When Apple announced the Apple Watch in October last year, like many other tech enthusiasts, I was overwhelmed with excitement and anticipation. Finally, in January 2015, we got word of an “official” release date; 24th April. Preorders were due to open on 8th April, 8:01 GMT. Excited as ever, I did some research and decided to preorder (online) a “42mm Space Grey Aluminium Case with Black Sport Band”. Like a child on Christmas morning, as soon as preorders went live, I logged onto the Apple website to confirm my (pre)order. To my disappointment, the website was still being updated! I waited until 8:05am like this, finally reading on a macrumors forum that the app was working fine. I made my selection and proceeded to the checkout, receiving a confirmation order email at 8:08am. I was disappointed to see that the estimated delivery date for my order was shown as 18th of May, almost a month after launch! A simple 8 minute delay in preordering resulted in this.
The same day, I went into Brighton to collect my race pack for the Brighton marathon on Sunday (12th April). I decided to visit an Apple store there to take a look at the watches in person. They were all located behind a secure glass cabinet, so potential customers could look, but not touch! I was fortunate enough to be booked into an appointment at the store shortly after, to try on the watches in person.
RUNNING, CYCLING AND TECH REVIEWS 