Summary of The March 2015 Apple Event and Impact on FileMaker

March 9, 2015 was a pretty incredible announcement day for Apple’s Spring Forward event. Our people at Cimbura.com got together for a pizza lunch and watched the technology unfold on the big screen with immediate commentary by our tech team…almost like being there. Seriously, if you saw it you might ask the question “Who says that Apple doesn’t innovate anymore?” The naysayers look kind of ridiculous. To summarize, there were a ton of announcements by Tim Cook and the gang at Apple… many a surprise.

Following record sales of iPhones and Macs in the previous quarter and a Market Cap that makes it the largest company in the world (double that of the second-most valuable US traded company Exxon Mobil), this is all just great news for those that stuck with Apple…a company that was on the brink of bankruptcy a decade ago.

Here’s a quick summary of the event and important statistics:

Apple Stores:
There’s a beautiful new China store and they are expanding to 40 stores soon in China.
There were 120 million Apple store visits last quarter.

Apple TV:
The Apple TV is a category leader with 25 million units sold at $99. Now lowering the price to $69 and adding HBO NOW standalone streaming service $14.99/month.

iPhone:
Over 700 million iPhones sold. Year over year, the iPhone grew 49% or double the industry making it the #1 selling smartphone in the world. It also has a customer satisfaction score of 99% for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. FileMaker Go runs as a native application on the iPhone opening up rapid application development to every one of those 700 million phones as well as the iPads.

Apple Pay:
Now in 2,500 banks, 700,000 retail locations accept it, and 40,000 vending machines.

CarPlay:
Apple’s dashboard solution for driving is now supported by all major car brands.

HomeKit:
Available to enable us to control devices at home.

Health/Medical:
There are over 900 apps to help manage and track health and fitness on the iPhone.

ResearchKit is a new software framework provided by Apple as open source to make it possible to easily create apps for medical research. It solves the problem of limited participants, subjective data, infrequent data, and one-way communication in medical research studies. You decide what research to participate in, how the data is shared, Apple does not see it…but it helps.

This is a very interesting development for FileMaker (a subsidiary of Apple). A native iPhone app with ResearchKit can collect the required information, but FileMaker’s rapid application development environment can be used to build a cost effective solution for analyzing and creating useful reports for these studies. Apple featured apps that are being used for research around Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and breast cancer.

Cimbura.com developed TrackUS, an iPhone application that helps doctors track ultrasound (or other) procedures and research information in a medical educational environment so that doctors can be better prepared to provide excellent treatment in many areas. Developed in conjunction with Abbott Northwestern hospital, it is a stellar example of how the iPhone (and FileMaker) is changing lives as well as transforming medical research.

MacBook Laptop:
The Mac in general has outgrown the industry in the last 10 years every year. The industry shrank 2% and Mac grew +20%. Apple set out to reinvent the notebook and produced the all new MacBook:

• 2 lbs, 24% thinner than last model
• New full-size keyboard with amazingly thin keys that still have precise action
• 12” display edge to edge retina display 2304×1440 that takes 30% less energy and is an even brighter display
• Pressure sensitive force touch trackpad…click anywhere no longer hinged. Force click like a right click in the user interface.
• Unibody architecture is rigid but light
• It is the first fanless MacBook
• The logic board is 67% smaller than last
• Using terraced contoured cells, get an amazing all day battery life…9-10 hours
• Extreme portability
• No wires necessary using AirPlay, AirDrop
• One connector single port USB-C for power, video, etc.
• Available in Gold, Silver, or Space Gray
• Shipping April 10

Apple Watch:
The most personal device ever created by Apple. It’s something you wear on you. It is the most advanced timepiece ever created, a revolutionary way to connect with others and a health and fitness companion…like having a coach on your wrist. The time keeping is accurate within 50 ms of UTC. Glances lets you check things quickly like weather, calendar, music, heart rate. You can receive a call, utilize digital touch, get reminders or a weekly summary of your activity. You can also Pay, view Photos, listen to Music, talk to Siri with voice, or receive quick Notifications without pulling out your iPhone.

WatchKit enables thousands of new apps like checking in for flights, opening the door in your hotel room, or unlocking your garage door at home from anywhere in the world.
Options: Apple Watch Sport, $349 and $399, Apple Watch, $549-$1049, Watch Editions, $10,000 and up
Pre-orders and preview April 10 in Apple Stores with April 24 availability.

I’m currently wearing an “Apple Watch”…an iPod Nano in a nice watch band…amazing how it looks a lot like the new one (with a bit less functionality of course.)

We would guess that you won’t run FileMaker Go directly on the Apple Watch, but there will likely be ways that FileMaker data could drive push notifications to the watch using other mechanisms.

Overall, the event reinforced the fact that Apple builds the best products that empower people and enrich lives.