Apple launches new iPhones, iPad, TV - no word on India (Roundup)

Two iPhones with new touch technology, a 13-inch iPad with a stylus and a physical keyboard and an enhanced Apple TV were among the new launches from the Apple stable late on Wednesday at the Bill Graham Auditorium in San Francisco.

But there was no word from the company as to when these will actually be sold in India.

"Apple has managed to set the bar high with all the new launches -- quite impressive," said Prasanto K. Roy, a noted technology writer and chief editor of Trivone, a media and digital services company.

"Apple always enters a vertical late and then comes out with innovations that makes consumers feel as if they owned it at a point of time," Roy told IANS in New Delhi.

Interestingly, Apple founder Steve Jobs had once said: "If you see a stylus, they blew it". This could only mean that the tech giant is adapting to the future to expand its consumers in markets outside US and China.

An analysis of the launches shows the direction that the tech major wants to walk, as it has always desired being at the forefront of mobile technology and expanding its premium consumer base outside the US, while competing with rivals like Google and Microsoft.

Apple did not give out any price indication of the new products for India but the phones are expected to be a tad pricier than the earlier versions of iPhones - the 6 and the 6 plus.

Currently, the iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus come at a entry level price of Rs.53,500 and Rs.62,500, respectively. In addition, Apple mentioned that the iPhone lineup will now start from the iPhone 5. The iPad Pro, launched at $799, is also expected to come at a much higher price than Air 2.

The new iPhones come with new powerful hardware and a new touch technology called 3D Touch to engage and delight the users in new ways. But it is currently has very few apps. This could be Apple's trump card to beat competition from Android and Windows combined together.

While several analysts and consumers alike have complained about the lesser power of iPhones' system-on-a-chip (SoC) when compared to Android phones, Microsoft has been marketing its devices on specific unique experience with its flagship operating system Windows 10.

Apple's new releases are sure to cut into them.

"With the new 12.9-inch iPad, Apple has done wonders, especially in maintaining the dimensions and the weight of the tablet. It managed to continue working on the styluses and came out with one which has better pressure sensitivity and precision," Roy said.

Apple's new stylus could also cut into sales volume of Samsung which was the first to come out with an Android-based stylus-based phablet. "The 10-hour battery backup on the full retina display is also an example of the company's excellence," Roy added.

Although the Cuppertino-based major took technology to the next level, Indian consumers have to wait a long time before any of these devices are available in India which is no sooner than the end of the year.

"There will be no immediate impact on the Indian consumers as Apple's focus has not been on the price sensitive markets. It has nearly a 30 percent margin on its hardware and always aims its products towards premium markets," Roy said.

"Also, when it comes to adoption of the newly launched devices, India is not going to see much traction due to slow Internet speeds, price-sensitivity and direct sale of the phones."