Over the years, Apple has been accused of many things. Right from the inception of the company – known then as "Apple Computer" – critics have lambasted the executive team, products and vision. Even today, "haters" take to the comment sections of blogs in their droves to take aim at earnings, new products, changes to management and so on.
The death of Steve Jobs, co-founder and the visionary behind what Apple is today, rocked the company to its core leading to speculation that the firm could never return to creating blockbuster, market-leading products.
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Cooking up profits
Tim Cook, Jobs' replacement, has taken a mild mannered approach, by all accounts, preferring a cool, calm and collected attitude over Jobs' often rash and angry behaviour. So far, Cook has taken Apple to places of even more profitability – in fiscal 2013 Apple made $171 billion (around £105 billion, AU$193 billion) in revenue, of which $37 billion (around £23 billion, AU$42 billion) was profit – but he has brought no new products to market, beyond refinements to the existing stable.
At least, that was the case until September. The dust has just settled from the keynote event earlier this month, held in the same location Jobs used to unveil the original Macintosh in 1984, during which Cook revealed two new iPhones in two sizes, the Apple Watch and Apple Pay.
The mainstream press has paid the majority of attention to the new iPhones – now in larger sizes to compete with Samsung – and the Apple Watch, which will be available in "Spring 2015" and costs $349 (around £215, AU$395) upwards. What has been omitted from this coverage is Apple Pay, one of the most exciting projects Apple has ever launched.
Many expected Cook to simply unveil a watch and some new iPhones – both of which are set to sell at record levels, and indeed the iPhones did so, shifting in excess of 10 million units over the first weekend – and not much else. They were wrong.
Analyst concerns
For analysts, only introducing new iPhones and the Apple Watch was worrying: Apple, as a company, needs to diversify its portfolio, they say, before the market for smartphones – especially high-end models – stagnates. The iPhone makes up nearly 60% of Apple's revenues so the concerns are somewhat legitimate.
Expanding into the larger screen space does open Apple up to a large amount of new customers and, most importantly, cannibalises the sales of Samsung's Galaxy Note and other Galaxy devices, which have long since taken sales away from the iPhone. As for the watch, whether Apple can lead the "smartwatch" space and entice people away from their own watches is still up for debate – and that won't be decided until 2015.
Enter Apple Pay. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Tim Cook spoke about how the features and devices released now are going to be used by Apple in different ways over the coming years. While they may look standalone at launch, in the future they will be utilised in different ways and will be integrated with new products. Apple Pay is one such thing.
The premise behind Apple Pay is simple: instead of having cash or a card, you use the NFC chip inside your iPhone (and Apple Watch) to pay for things over the counter. Apple has partnered with all of the major American banks and has signed up hundreds of thousands of retailers.
Apple Pay works because customers will likely buy the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus - and, later, the Apple Watch - unaware of Apple Pay. They will buy the new iPhones because they like Apple products, are due an upgrade or thought the iPhone was the best phone on the market and so on.
