Apple’s Event Revealed This One Truth About the Company

4 minute read
By Tim Bajarin

Apple’s event last week revealed a basic truth about the company: It wants to own every screen in your life. The one on your desk, the one in your pocket, the one on your wrist and so on. The Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch are all entry points to Apple’s services, like iTunes, iMessages and more. Apple is in the unique position to control a hardware and software ecosystem, and all of these services continue to drive demand for Apple devices.

The new products Apple launched last week (The iPhone 6s, a bigger iPad called the iPad Pro, and a new Apple TV) are meant to expand Apple’s hardware portfolio, enticing people to buy new products that are better than ever at accessing Apple’s services and app ecosystem. Let’s break them down one by one.

Here Are All the Products Apple Unveiled Today

The iPhone 6S’s new 3D multi-touch interfaceApple
iPhone 6s & iPhone 6s PlusApple
iOS 9, available as a free update for iPhone, iPad and iPod touchApple
WatchOS 2 with native apps and new gold and rose gold aluminum Apple Watch sport modelsApple
Apple watch with Hermès bandApple
iPad Pro featuring a 12.9-inch Retina Display and Apple PencilApple
An iPad Pro with a keyboard is seen during an Apple media event in San Francisco, California
Apple’s new Smart KeyboardBeck Diefenbach—Reuters
Siri remote, tvOS, and the App Store running on the new Apple TVApple

Apple TV

The new Apple TV’s combination of Siri and better search break new ground. Just ask Siri to find movies with a particular actress, and there you are. But the real virtue of the new Apple TV is that it’s been opened up to third-party developers, who will bring all types of new apps and games to our televisions via the device.

The Apple TV is clearly no longer just “a hobby” for the company, and it will be a big moneymaker. We estimate the company will sell close to 12-24 Apple TVs in its first 12 months on the market. Expect the device to eventually become a full-on set-top box that can deliver local programming and serve as a smart home hub for products that work with Apple’s HomeKit system.

iPhone 6s and 6s Plus

Apple’s new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus are incremental mid-model refreshes, but they add new features designed to make people want to upgrade. The new 3D Touch, for instance, makes it possible to lightly touch an email subject line to get a quick preview of the whole message. Apple calls this new gesture “Peek and Pop.” Apple also upgraded the iPhone’s hardware, putting a 12-megapixel camera on the back and a 5-megapixel camera on the front.

To date, only about 27% of Apple smartphone owners have upgraded to the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus. But these new iPhone 6s models should be a big hit. Last holiday season, Apple sold 74 million iPhones. We predict Apple will sell closer to 82-85 million this time around. And we foresee strong demand in China in Q1, as Chinese New Year means lost of gift-buying.

iPad Pro

Even the new iPad Pro is designed to drive more people to Apple’s apps and services. But where this 12.9 inch tablet will really shine is among business users. While other companies have had big tablets on the market, Apple differentiates its version with a $99 stylus accessory called the Apple Pencil designed to give users a drawing a design tool that works at the pixel level. Graphics artists, designers and engineers may use the iPad Pro over tools like Wacom tablets. Microsoft also showed off a version of Office for the iPad Pro, software that will give the new tablet an even better chance in the enterprise.

Still, tablet sales worldwide are down for everyone, and it’s hard to tell if the iPad Pro will excite Apple’s base. But we believe it will be in high demand with graphics professionals and business users who want more screen real estate and an official keyboard case.

Together, we believe these products will help keep Apple’s momentum moving along through 2016. In fact, many financial analysts polled after the Apple event have the company rated as a buy or outperform with stock targets anywhere from $139-172 over the next few years.

Tim Bajarin is recognized as one of the leading industry consultants, analysts and futurists, covering the field of personal computers and consumer technology. Mr. Bajarin is the President of Creative Strategies, Inc and has been with the company since 1981 where he has served as a consultant providing analysis to most of the leading hardware and software vendors in the industry.

See Original Models of the Apple I and Other Iconic American Inventions

The style of bed and platen printing press in this patent model inspired Issac Adams’ design of the later Adams Power Press, which was praised by early 19th century printers for its production of quality book work.
Printing Press, 1830: Issac Adams, (Unnumbered Patent) The style of bed and platen printing press in this patent model inspired Issac Adams’ design of the later Adams Power Press, which was praised by early 19th century printers for its production of quality book work. Courtesy Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Samuel F. B. Morse converted an artist’s canvas stretcher into a telegraph receiver that recorded a message as a wavy line on a strip of paper. His telegraph transmitter sent electric pulses representing letter and numbers that activated an electromagnet on the receiver.
Telegraph, 1837: Samuel F. B. Morse, Prototype. Samuel F. B. Morse converted an artist’s canvas stretcher into a telegraph receiver that recorded a message as a wavy line on a strip of paper. His telegraph transmitter sent electric pulses representing letter and numbers that activated an electromagnet on the receiver. Courtesy Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Violin, 1852: William S. Mount, (Patent No. 8981). William S. Mount proposed creating violins with concave or hollow backs. This patent model represented a design innovation that would minimize the strain on the violin soundboard and avoid interference with the “sonorous and vibrating qualities” of the instrument.
Violin, 1852: William S. Mount, (Patent No. 8981). William S. Mount proposed creating violins with concave or hollow backs. This patent model represented a design innovation that would minimize the strain on the violin soundboard and avoid interference with the “sonorous and vibrating qualities” of the instrument. Courtesy Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Typewriter, 1868: C. Latham Sholes, Carlos Glidden & Samuel W. Soule (Patent No. 79265). This patent model was created by the three Milwaukee inventors who made progress towards a viable typewriting machine. Six years later, Remington & Sons produced the first commercially successful machine, bearing the names of Sholes and Glidden. Courtesy Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Sewing Machine, 1873: Helen Blanchard, (Patent No. 141987) This patent model for an improvement in sewing machines introduced the buttonhole stitch. Blanchard received some 28 patents, many having to do with sewing. She is best remembered for another overstitch sewing invention, the “zigzag.”
Sewing Machine, 1873: Helen Blanchard, (Patent No. 141987). This patent model for an improvement in sewing machines introduced the buttonhole stitch. Blanchard received some 28 patents, many having to do with sewing. She is best remembered for another overstitch sewing invention, the “zigzag.” Courtesy Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Camera Shutter, 1879: Eadweard Muybridge, (Patent No. 212865) This “Method and Apparatus for Photographing Objects in Motion” was adapted to photographic equipment. As demonstrated with this patent model, it could produce images of subjects in rapid motion. It was used by Eadweard Muybridge in his celebrated animal locomotion photography.
Camera Shutter, 1879: Eadweard Muybridge, (Patent No. 212865). This “Method and Apparatus for Photographing Objects in Motion” was adapted to photographic equipment. As demonstrated with this patent model, it could produce images of subjects in rapid motion. It was used by Eadweard Muybridge in his celebrated animal locomotion photography. Courtesy Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Incandescent Lamp, 1881: Thomas Edison (Patent No. 239373) Thomas Edison submitted this model to patent a variation on his newly invented light bulb. Although he never put this design into production, this lamp could be disassembled to replace a burned-out filament.
Incandescent Lamp, 1881: Thomas Edison (Patent No. 239373). Thomas Edison submitted this model to patent a variation on his newly invented light bulb. Although he never put this design into production, this lamp could be disassembled to replace a burned-out filament. Courtesy Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Stephanie Kwolek (Patent Nos. 3819587 and RE30352): High-Strength Fiber, 1965 Stephanie Kwolek’s 1965 discovery at DuPont of strong polymer fibers resulted in DuPont Kevlar, best known for its use in bullet-resistant body armor and used in myriad other applications.
High-Strength Fiber, 1965: Stephanie Kwolek (Patent Nos. 3819587 and RE30352). Kwolek’s 1965 discovery at DuPont of strong polymer fibers resulted in DuPont Kevlar, best known for its use in bullet-resistant body armorCourtesy Hagley Museum and Library
Steve Jobs (Patent No. 7166791) & Steve Wozniak (Patent No. 4136359): Apple I Computer, 1976. In 1976 the first form of computer designed by Stephen Wozniak and sold by Wozniak in conjunction with Steve Jobs was sold, and became a leader in personal computing. Originally marketed to hobbyists only primarily as a fully assembled circuit board; purchasers had to add their own case and monitor in order to create a working computer.
Apple I Computer, 1976: Steve Jobs (Patent No. 7166791) & Steve Wozniak (Patent No. 4136359). In 1976 the first form of computer designed by Stephen Wozniak and sold by Wozniak in conjunction with Steve Jobs was sold, and became a leader in personal computing. Originally marketed to hobbyists only primarily as a fully assembled circuit board; purchasers had to add their own case and monitor in order to create a working computer. Courtesy Smithsonian National Museum of American History
Artificial Heart, 1977: Robert Jarvik, M.D., Prototype. This electrohydraulic artificial heart is a prototype for what became the Jarvik-7 Total Artificial Heart, which was first implanted into a human in December 1982 at the University of Utah Medical Center. The two sides of the device are connected with Velcro.
Artificial Heart, 1977: Robert Jarvik, M.D., Prototype. This electrohydraulic artificial heart is a prototype for what became the Jarvik-7 Total Artificial Heart, which was first implanted into a human in December 1982 at the University of Utah Medical Center. The two sides of the device are connected with Velcro. Courtesy Smithsonian National Museum of American History

More Must-Reads From TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com