Amazing Feature

Apple Does Ordering Right (external link) ∞

Chance Miller, 9to5Mac:

iPhone Duo, Apple’s first foldable iPhone, went up for pre-order today. Within minutes of pre-orders opening, however, estimated delivery dates started slipping all the way to next year.

I know there are a lot of people upset that they weren’t able to secure a launch day iPhone Duo. It seems like a combination of years of pent-up demand for something “all-new” from Apple in the iPhone space and the rumored production issues leading up to launch.

I will say that even though orders have now slipped to late January, I still prefer the way Apple does preorders to most every other tech company. When Nintendo sells out of the Switch 2, for example, they show “Sold Out” text on their website and you can no longer place an order. At some random date in the future, more units will be made available on their website (usually with no notice) and hopefully you happen to be online when it happens and can snatch one up before they sell out again, and they go back to being unavailable.

While I used Nintendo as the example here, most every tech company does the same for high-demand items (See Nvidia and graphic cards for an even more extreme example.)

I like that products are never sold out on Apple’s website. While us early adopters care an inordinate amount about getting new technology on launch day, most people are happy to put their order in and wait to get it on their estimated ship date. Even if they aren’t happy about the length of time they have to wait, I still think it is preferable to monitoring the Apple website for days or weeks to find the magical window of time when they can place an order for an in-stock unit. Apple usually does a great job of forecasting and (at least for me) I have always received my product on (or before) the estimated ship date.

I am sure that it is a little embarrassing for some at Apple to have a ship date over three months out on the website. Would it have been preferable to slap up a “sold out” label on the iPhone Duo after five minutes and stop taking orders? Because that’s what most companies do, at the cost of a cohesive and consistent customer experience.

Most people will order their iPhone Duo, enjoy trick or treating with their kids, Thanksgiving dinner with the in-laws, eat a delicious Christmas goose, ring in 2027 with some champagne, and break their New Year’s resolution… all before receiving the iPhone Duo they ordered today.

And that’s actually a good thing.

A Sweet Solution? (external link) ∞

Juli Clover, MacRumors:

The new Apple HomeView comes preinstalled with a selection of Apple apps, such as Apple Music, Apple Podcasts, Apple News, Calendar, FaceTime, and Messages, but it will also support third-party audio and video apps.
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Apple did not create an App Store for the HomeView, so there is no on-device way to download apps. It instead uses a CarPlay-like system where third-party apps will be displayed when the HomeView is connected to a compatible iPhone or iPad.

The CarPlay (sans car… just Play, I guess) system seems like a kludgy way to get third-party app support on the HomeView, just like web apps were a less-than-ideal solution for getting apps on your iPhone back in the day. Steve Jobs famously did not want third-party apps on the iPhone at all , and only relented when he saw the tremendous enthusiasm within the Apple developer community… and maybe just a little bit of concern when he saw the increasing popularity of jailbroken iPhones.

While I very much doubt people will be jailbreaking their HomeViews, I find it hard to imagine that there won’t be some kind of App Store on the there eventually, as I am sure that both users and developers (especially makers of Home accessories) will demand it.

It's Cute & All... (external link) ∞

This is a very cute video. I like it.

(I also feel like there's a lot of subtle lore if you want to dig deeper into it. Is Vincent the blond kid's biological father? If so, why does he call him by his first name and demand not-so-French toast? It's enough to make one want to get out their cork board and string.)

I also think that this video is a pretty poor way to introduce a brand-new product to the world. This is the kind of product launch that a live (or heck, even pre-recorded) keynote would have been perfect for. Home doesn't normally get much, if any, attention at most Apple Events, because there is so much else going on. But with all three new Apple products (and the new Home collection of accessories) relating perfectly to Home, it seems like a missed opportunity to talk about how all these products fit together into a single, cohesive vision for the future of technology in your home.

Like I said... the video is great. Love it. 10/10... but it needed to be a part of a bigger story. A story that I don't fully understand why Apple didn't want to take the opportunity to tell.

A Tale Of Two Prices (external link) ∞

Apple Newsroom:

Customers can pre-order Apple HomeView in silver, starlight, rose pink, and space gray for $299.

Apple TV 4K (4th generation) is available for $299.

You can tell a lot about a company and its priorities by looking at how it prices its products. Due to RAM-aggedon, Apple has had to implement price hikes pretty much across the board. Apple raised prices on pretty much the entire lineup in June, and even the recently released iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max cost $100 more than their predecessors. This trend continues with the 4th-generation Apple TV 4K, which is now available in a single 128GB configuration for $299. This is only a $50 price increase from the previous 128GB model, but because of the elimination of the 64GB model, it is now $100 more expensive to get into an Apple TV than it was yesterday, and almost $170 more expensive than it was just a few months ago.

Compare that to the new Apple HomeView, which is launching at the same time, and at the exact same price. While Apple is late to the smart home hub game, it clearly wanted to make sure that it was priced aggressively to help drive market share for not only the HomeView itself, but also Home (née HomeKit).

Steve Jobs famously called Apple TV a “hobby.” Despite years of development in hardware, software, and heck, even launching its own streaming service, Apple TV has never been able to break out of that public perception. It's a really nice product and makes the experience of watching TV better... but $300 better?

Apple clearly views HomeView as a key strategic product, and by pricing it aggressively, is hoping to get one into many, many iPhone-owning and -loving households. It would not shock me if Apple sold more HomeViews in the next year than it has sold Apple TVs in the past five... and a lot of that comes down to priorities and pricing.

Put it this way: If you only had $300 to spend on a new Apple product for your home, would you buy a new Apple TV or a HomeView?