Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, speaks on stage during the introduction of the new iPhone 5s. Photo source: Huffington Post
Along with everyone else in the digital marketing industry, we were excited for today’s big Apple event, which was the first event since the Worldwide Developers Conference in June. As an office full of MacBook, iPad and iPhone users, we were eager to tune in. Here’s what we learned.
- Apple unveiled a more affordable model in the iPhone series, the iPhone 5c. Not only is the price tag pretty but it comes in colors too! You can pick from white, blue, green, rose and yellow. The 5c measures 4 inches diagonally (same as the iPhone 5), has an 8-megapixel camera and a casing made of plastic. The 16G iPhone 5c will cost $99 and the 32G will cost $199 with a two year contract.
- In addition to the exciting news of the iPhone 5c, the new “flagship phone” was finally revealed – the iPhone 5s. The iPhone 5s will be the same size as the iPhone 5 with a 4-inch screen and it will come in three colors: gold, silver, and space gray. Its most notable feature will be the built-in fingerprint sensor, Touch ID, which is part of the device’s home button. Touch ID can be used to unlock the iPhone 5s by touching the sensor, and can also be used to authenticate iTunes purchases. The camera is supposed to be an improvement as well. The iPhone 5s lens has a 15% larger active sensor area and the flash has two LEDs which work together to improve photographic color balance. For those concerned with the new phone’s battery life: 10 hours of 3G talk time, 8 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of LTE browsing, 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hours of video playback, 40 hours of music playback and 250 hours of standby time. The phone will be priced based around two-year contracts: $199 for a 16GB model, $299 for a 32GB model, and $399 for a 64GB model. The iPhone 5s will be available to order September 20.
- The iPhone 5c and the iPhone 5s will replace the iPhone 5 in Apple’s lineup. The iPhone 4s will still be offered, with an 8GB model available for free with a two-year contract.
- As rumored, Apple announced its “Pandora killer” – iTunes Radio, a livestreaming music service. Users will be able to create custom music stations based on their music preferences and the ability to purchase a song they’re listening to. The more you listen, the more personalized your stations will become. As the Apple website states, “It’s radio re-imagined.” Almost everyone here at Agency Entourage is a daily Spotify user so we will definitely have to try out iTunes Radio and share our thoughts.
Were you surprised by anything announced today or was it what you expected? Share your thoughts with us on our Facebook page!
