The secretive Silicon Valley company confirmed the launch of a new lightweight laptop, the $1799 Macbook Air, which measures just three quarters of an inch deep – thin enough to fit inside an envelope.

Also in his speech at Macworld in San Francisco, chief executive Steve Jobs said Apple would push to take control of the video industry with movie rentals and launch a revamped Apple TV product to stream films direct to television screens.

“On iTunes we’ve sold 125 million TV shows, and we’ve sold 7 million movies – it’s more than everyone else put together, but it didn’t meet our expectations,” said Jobs. “I think we’ve got it right this time.”

“Significant shift” in the film industry

Until now iTunes customers have only been able to buy movies outright, a business that has not been as successful as Apple’s entry into music. Apple TV, which allows video to be streamed from a computer to a television screen, has struggled to make an impact – but Jobs predicted that a relaunch of the device would mark a significant shift in the film industry.

“We’ve all tried to figure out how to get movies over the internet and onto the TV – but we’ve all missed, no one has succeeded yet,” he said.

“We tried with Apple TV, but it’s not what people wanted. So we’re back with Apple TV take two – no computer is required. You can rent movies directly on your widescreen TV and you can rent them at DVD quality or you can rent then at high-definition quality.”

Advertisement

Costing $229, the system links into the company’s plans to offer films to rent over the internet through its iTunes store, also confirmed today. Rumours of the plans had been widely reported in the past week, and the company said it would join with film studios including 20th Century Fox and Sony to allow iTunes users to stream movies live, direct to their computer or TV, for a one-off payment of between $3 and $5.

A thousand new titles

The system will launch with support from every major Hollywood studio, with a thousand new titles and back-catalogue films available by the end of February. The service will be launched immediately in the US, and is set to arrive around the world latest this year. “We’re dying to get this international as well,” he added.

It is similar in concept to the TV download services offered by British broadcasters, including the BBC’s iPlayer and Channel 4’s on-demand service, but using Apple’s systems will make downloads watchable on TV, iPods and iPhones.

The excitement surrounding the secretive Silicon Valley company reached a high watermark last year as Jobs unveiled the iPhone, Apple’s entry into the lucrative high-end mobile phone market. Since it launched in the US and Europe, the touchscreen handset has spawned a minor industry of competitors and copycats.

Jobs said that the iPhone had sold 4 million units already, meaning that it was well on course to hit its target of selling 10 million units by the end of 2008 and had already captured 20% of the US smartphone market.

Fevered anticipation

The excitement surrounding the iPhone had further increased expectations about today’s announcements, with some Apple fans queuing up overnight to get a place at the event.

Since the success of its trendy iMac and iPod, conceived as fashion items by British designer Jonathan Ive, Apple has been resurgent. The company’s share price broke through the $200 barrier for the first time this week as speculation cranked up ahead of the announcements, and this week’s Macworld show in San Francisco is expected to draw its largest ever number of visitors.

Smartphones and tablets are central to this, with a glut of apps exploring new ways to aggregate, personalise and deliver news, whether we’re browsing one-handed on a crowded train, or sat on the sofa flipping through stories on a tablet.
Here are 10 of the apps hoping to capitalise on our evolving news habits in 2014 and the years to come:

1. Inside.com – Breaking News
   This started life as a curated newsletter about technology industry news, set up by entrepreneur Jason Calacanis. Its app promises more than 1,000 stories a day, summarised (by humans) into 300-character stories, linking to the original sources. You decide what topics you want to read about, with a simple thumbs-up / thumbs-down system to tune its recommendations according to your preferences.
   iPhone / BlackBerry
2. Yahoo News Digest
   Yahoo paid a rumoured £18m for British teenager Nick D’Aloisio’s app startup Summly, then shut it down and recycled its technology for the company’s own Yahoo News Digest app, which recently expanded from the US to the UK. It’s a twice-daily summary of “need-to-know news” drawing on several sources for text, images, charts and background information, but unlike Inside.com, the summaries here are being created by algorithms.
   iPhone
3. Newsbeat
   Inventive news apps aren’t just the province of fresh-faced startups. Newsbeat, which launched this month, is the work of US media company Tribune – or to be specific, its Tribune Digital Ventures division. Pitched as “personal news radio”, it gets you to choose your favourite (text) news sources, then pulls in stories every day from them, summarising them and using text-to-voice technology to create the equivalent of a personalised news podcast – complete with weather and traffic reports for its US users (although it’s also available in the UK).
   Android / iPhone
4. Paper – Stories from Facebook
   For now, Facebook’s news app is only available on iPhone in the US, where its success may decide how soon (or even whether) it rolls out to Android and other countries. Although based on your standard Facebook friends, it puts more of an emphasis on shared news stories around your favourite topics, rather than baby photos or quizzes. Armed with a slick, uncluttered design, it focuses on categories including technology, popular culture, memes, but also equality, environmentalism and health.
   iPhone
5. Circa News
   The nearest equivalent to Inside on this list, in that Circa News also has a staff of editors and the promise that it “boils down stories to just the facts”. Categories include US, world and technology news – there is a strong US spin to the non-US categories for now, but that may change in the future – with one of its selling points the ability to “follow” certain stories. The app then push-notifies you when there’s been a development added into its summary. Offline reading features also make it useful for below-ground commuting.
   Android / iPhone
6. Flipboard
   Flipboard is the most established of the apps in this roundup, and also one of the most well-resourced – it recentlygobbled up one of its rivals, Zite, which had been owned by CNN. Although its ambition remains to be “your personal magazine” across tablets and smartphones, Flipboard has steadily added features from its original incarnation as a magazine-like way to browse social media updates and RSS feeds. Now, it works with traditional news providers to gussy up their articles for smart devices, while also encouraging people to curate and share their own mini-magazines within Flipboard, drawing in stories on whatever topic they like.
   Android / iPhone/iPad / BlackBerry / Windows 8
7. Feedly Reader
   When Google shut down its Google Reader RSS service in July 2013, Feedly was one of the main beneficiaries, as users sought a new way to keep track of stories on their favourite news sites. It remains a slick, easy-to-use RSS reader, working neatly across smartphones and tablets alike, with quick sharing features and the ability to add articles to read-it-later services like Pocket and Instapaper. Its developer clearly has some interesting ideas about how to develop Feedly, though: seen at the moment in small-but-useful features like its ability to spotlight the most popular articles in individual feeds, and beefed-up search within your archives.
   Android / iPhone/iPad
8. Interesting for iPhone
   On one level, this is another news aggregation app, sucking in stories from lots of websites, then sorting them into categories including technology, politics and sports. It’s neat and quick to use, but one of its standout features is the way it integrates Reddit – an important source of news for a growing and increasingly mainstream group of people. It’s also good for designers, who get their own news category, as well as integration of Dribbble, the “show and tell” website for the design industry.
   iPhone
9. News360
   Another veteran in the world of news aggregation apps, this has been going for years, with a strong focus on learning what kind of stories you’re interested in, then adapting the articles it pulls in accordingly – while still throwing in regular curveballs that you may not know you’re interested in until you read them. Images and video are included, with an impressively-varied selection of sources: from mainstream news sites to super-niche-but-respected outlets. Recently, it introduced local editions for the UK, Canada and Australia, as well as its original US incarnation.
   Android / iPhone/iPad / Windows Phone / Windows 8
10. Newsy: Video News
    The name makes it clear what the angle is here: Newsy aims for “snack-sized video news”, with notifications on topics you’re particularly interested in, and a range of sources. This – and other apps like it – aren’t a threat to the big news shows (or stations) on TV yet. But with devices like Google’s Chromecast and Apple TV taking us further along the road towards using smartphones and tablets to control what we watch on our televisions, it’s interesting to think about whether video news-aggregation apps might be more disruptive in the future. That said, this role may well fall to YouTube – what price Google launching the video equivalent of Paper for TVs in the nearish future?
    Android / iPhone/iPad / Windows Phone / Windows 8

That’s 10 news apps showing different ways forward, but obviously there are thousands of others available. What apps do you use to get your news, and how would you like to see them evolve in the next year or two? Give your views in the comments section.

Big banking is in trouble

Delivering a keynote address, BBVA chairman, Francisco González mentioned Apple Pay several times to a frantically scribbling and snapping audience as he painted a somewhat turbulent picture ahead for his company and other big financial institutions. Why? Everyone is coming for his lunch. Crowdfunding platforms, fintech startups, blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, social commerce, Facebook messenger payments, peer-to-peer lending sites – banks are under pressure.

A fascinating slide that was quickly rushed through showed the problem that many businesses and media agencies need to know more about – a changing world of payments. Around 29% of consumers are willing to bank with Apple(pdf) – that’s right, Apple.

Stefan Thomas, chief technology officer of Ripple Labs rightly pointed out we are seeing a massive period of disruption within the financial sector and one that is only really beginning to show how things will shake out: “Long term, Apple might decide to disintermediate the card networks or even the banks themselves. According to the 2015 annual trust barometer by Edelman, technology companies are the most trusted sector (78%) while banks the second-least trusted (53%), so combined with better user experience and lower cost Apple has a huge opportunity for disruption.”

Agencies are understandably somewhat behind – after all it’s a “it’s not our thing” scenario – a fair point traditionally, but in a changing world it pays to understand how your client gets paid. Fintech is certainly an area I’m increasingly being asked about and it’s an area that will become more important as attention turns to mobile technology in pockets, on wrists or even under the skin.

Here are five things you can do to make sure Apple Pay is for you – now or down the line:

1. Businesses have a big opportunity and a big problem
   Jonathan Vaux, Visa Europe’s executive director for new digital payments and strategy, believes that “the advanced, secure, easy to use and convenient Apple Pay service is going to help normalise mobile payments.” The picture certainly looks bright, as Visa’s research shows there is significant interest in contactless payments, with around one in two interested in paying in this way. The issue is that number means the same amount aren’t – that has implications for training and future marketing in-store. It’s important to keep this in mind and focus as much on your existing payment paths as new ones emerge, especially with an ageing population who are cautious about online payments in general.
2. Agencies need to walk the talk
   Sometimes there can be a chasm between agencies talking about emerging technologies and actually experiencing it, for various reasons such as cost, availability and necessity. But with Apple Pay technology can be implemented pretty simply in canteens and such. Smart agencies will invite clients in to discuss the technology and show the limitations and opportunities. Retail and the underground are very different experiences with different rules, regulations and potentials that clients aren’t aware of yet. A further step might be to create a new “champion” position for payments and finance. Will this be the next must-have job title?
3. Apple Pay isn’t just for the big boys
   Due in the autumn, Square has created a readerthat will accept contactless payments specifically with Apple Pay in mind. If you represent or indeed run a small business, now is the time to plan your strategy and begin to ask your customers if this is something they are interested in – as with most business, there are subtle (and not so subtle) differences between verticals so ask before investing resources into Apple Pay and additional tech needed – some businesses simply won’t have payments that are £30 or less so the technology is somewhat redundant. However, with 44.8% of all UK online payments already being made with a mobile device, I predict this maximum limit to be raised sooner rather than later.
4. Know thyself and your target before the technology
   While on the surface this is a relatively simple technology, contactless payment still has a variety of elements that are important to focus on if success is to happen and resources maximised. Finding out who your customers bank with is your primary focus – if the majority of your customers bank with Barclays you may be better off focusing your efforts on their bPay system. Focus on the tribe and don’t forget the other players, though. Adyen’s chief commercial officer Roelant Prins argues: “Brands that identify themselves as premium, tech-driven, or user friendly should see it as a particularly interesting payment method to offer. Assuming that Android Pay delivers a comparable user-friendly experience, it is likely that the rising tide of Apple Pay will have a similarly positive effect for other mobile payment methods.”
5. Focus remains on good customer service
   Hindsight is a beautiful thing and right now Brits are in prime position to learn from the mistakes our friends across the pond made when Apple Pay first launched. The biggest one is that people assumed because it was Apple it would work out of the box. It didn’t and repeat purchase rates were low – 47% were disappointed when they visited a retailer that offered the payment method but only to have issues at the point of purchase. Focus on getting the first interaction right; train staff early and train them well; get them to sign up to Apple Pay; empower them to help customers feel smart rather than blame the technology if there are issues. Make sure there is a “champion” on every shift for the foreseeable future.

Or yesterday’s announcement of the Apple Watch from company chief executive Tim Cook. #ICYMI (in case you missed it), the most valuable company in the world announced the specs and models of its timepiece – and a new MacBook – at a ceremony that included a lot of whoops and clapping from middle-aged white men, and a video of supermodel Christy Turlington Burns training for a half marathon in Africa.

So is the Apple Watch worth a purchase in any of its guises? Here’s why I’m not too impressed, and why you shouldn’t be either.

1. ‘If you’re an email junkie, you can read full emails’
   Said Cook, excitedly, as though the idea of us being able to access phishing scams, PR requests, political party propaganda and long-ago subscribed-to newsletters 24/7 was a good thing.
   One of the rudest things a person can do is check their phone over dinner. Soon to be usurped by checking one’s Apple Watch over dinner.
2. Embracing a two-tier health system
   There is no doubt that the Health angle of the Apple Watch is very impressive. The company has worked with the likes of the University of Oxford to create health monitoring apps, including for breast cancer, cardiovascular disease and Parkinson’s disease.
   This means that as the Tories privatise the NHS and Obamacare faces an uncertain future and we all crumble into dust, those of us able to afford the Apple Watch and newer model iPhones will be kicking back with a resting heart rate of 50, while spamming social media with our 10k run PBs. Sorry about the rest of you.
3. Apple Pay = flash spendthrifts
   We envision a future in which Apple Pay becomes the new American Express Black. All of us currently feel a little James Bond about our contactless debit cards (right?), but imagine a world in which Apple Pay allows for limitless transactions; a sea of Christian Greys flashing their wrists at waiters and pointing it at bell-boys.
4. $17,000 (£13,500) for a gold watch is absurd
   I’m just gonna throw this out there: anybody who is considering purchasing a $17,000 (or £13,500 in the UK) solid gold watch – don’t. First of all, spending what could be the deposit on a flat, or a whole car, on a timepiece is ridiculous. But if you must, at least go for a brand with a little class and heritage.
   Or, I dunno, just go to Frieze and buy an original artwork. Culture, innit.
5. The Internet of Things is turning us into robots
   Pretty soon, every single thing in our lives will be connected – this concept is known as the Internet of Things, which is annoying in itself.
   But with the forward march of Apple Watch and other products – and their integration with literally everything – we’ll soon be living in a world in which going back to someone’s flat at the end of an evening will result in them discussing how they control their underfloor heating with just the swipe of a watch face. Great.
6. There is a Mickey Mouse edition watch face
   I used to have a Lion King watch when I was at school. I was seven. Any adult who orders a Mickey Mouse Apple Watch is a tool. Worse, anybody who buys a $350 (£230) watch for their child, is also a tool.
   Kids are muddy and messy and roll around and spill things and break things and lose things. No point to this Mickey Mouse watch face, then.
7. Shazam integration
   Now the type of people who can’t sit through a movie without providing a running commentary, or listen to a song without either Googling it or Shazam-ing it can run wild without even reaching for their pocket.
   Shazam is a service that allows users to instantly call up the title and details of a song by recording a snippet of it on a phone. With a special app for the Apple Watch, the use of Shazam will become a lot of more frequent. Imagine a sporadically romantic moment ruined as your new bae calls up his watch to identify Mazzy Star’s Fade Into You playing in the restaurant. Aw.
8. Probably contributing to dodgy economics
   Apple Watch is the company’s most environmentally friendly product. But there are still some concerns over the conditions of the factories where Apple’s products are made, and the lack of benefit to the American economy. Do you really wanna be another cog in the great evil capitalist machine? Are we all just abandoning our morals for shiny things? (Yes.)
9. All the other things you could be buying
   Just, for example, things that would make you look much cooler than having the cheapest model Apple Watch: a sharp Aquascutum suit, this cute J Crew dress, afirst edition Bill Clinton, Wimbledon tickets … I mean, pretty much anything.