With the morning sun beaming down on the Apple Store in downtown Santa Monica, Calif., the sparse crowd that showed up to get its hands on the freshly unveiled iPhone 8 had no reason to bring sunblock.
No line, no wait, no buzz.
The excitement that typically surrounds the release of a new iPhone was replaced with a collective “meh” on Friday.
“I wasn’t feeling [the iPhone 8],” said Michael, a 25-year-old that scoped out the device, before leaving empty handed. “By the look of it, not many people are feeling it.”
Several of those that did grab the $699 smartphone pointed to necessity, rather than the 8’s features, as their reason for shelling out.
“My phone got stolen, that’s the only reason I got it,” said Katie, a 21-year-old from Santa Monica, to TheWrap. “It’s much harder to get back home, [and] it will cost me $200 more,” said Sergei, a tourist visiting from Russia. “I’m also going to get the ‘X.'”
The Apple Store at the 3rd Street Promenade: no pushing and shoving for the iPhone 8
Ah, the iPhone X. Apple quickly subdued the hype for the iPhone 8 at its product launch last week, showing off the company’s new flagship device only minutes later. The 8 is undoubtedly a step forward in the iPhone’s evolution, but it mirrors the previous iterations of the device; the X, on the other hand, breaks the mold, with its wider screen, removal of the traditional “home button,” and facial-recognition software.
Many leaving the Apple Store said they’ll simply wait for the X to come out before upgrading their iPhones, without concern for its $300 price tag increase compared to the 8. In fact, only one customer said he’d deliberately chosen the 8 over the X. “I just didn’t need all the extra new features,” said Ron, a 62-year-old from Los Angeles. “I’m fine with the 8.”
The Apple Store wasn’t a ghost town, though. The next generation Apple Watch, now cellular-enabled, was clearly a hit. “I can run with it now,” said Vince, a tech worker from Santa Monica, about the untethered Watch. “I don’t need my iPhone anymore.”
Others echoed the same thing — and said they’d rather wait for the next iPhone instead.
“It’s my first Watch ever,” said 24-year-old local Michael, as he strapped on the device and hopped on his bike. “And I’m definitely waiting for the iPhone X.”
6 Tech Giants Shaking Up News, From Jeff Bezos to Laurene Powell Jobs (Photos)
Tech leaders are increasingly intertwined with the news business. While some want to support old properties, one set out to destroy a new one. Here they are.
Jeff Bezos – Washington Post
The Amazon founder purchased the Washington Post in 2013 for $250 million in cash. President Trump has called the paper the “Amazon Washington Post.”
The Facebook co-founder purchased The New Republic in 2012, becoming executive chairman and publisher. However, he sold the venerable political magazine to Win McCormack in 2016, saying he "underestimated the difficulty of transitioning an old and traditional institution into a digital media company in today’s quickly evolving climate."
The eBay founder is a well-known philanthropist who created First Look Media, a journalism venture behind The Intercept. Inspired by Edward Snowden's leaks. Omidyar teamed up with journalists Glenn Greenwald, Jeremy Scahill and Laura Poitras to launch the website “dedicated to the kind of reporting those disclosures required: fearless, adversarial journalism.”
The PayPal co-founder doesn’t own a news organization, but he makes this list because he essentially ended one -- Gawker -- proving once again the power of an angry billionaire. Thiel secretly bankrolled Hulk Hogan’s sex-tape lawsuit against Gawker Media because he was upset that the website once outed him as gay. Hogan won the defamation lawsuit against the site that sent its parent company into bankruptcy, and Gawker.com is no longer operating.
OK, so Facebook isn’t technically a news organization… yet. However, the company is preparing to launch its much-anticipated lineup of original content later this summer, and there are also signs that it's on the verge of becoming an even bigger media platform.
Campbell Brown, Head of News Partnerships at Facebook, confirmed last week it’s developing a subscription service for publishers willing to post articles directly to Facebook Instant Articles, rather than their native websites.
Tech is increasingly intertwined with news, for better or worse
Tech leaders are increasingly intertwined with the news business. While some want to support old properties, one set out to destroy a new one. Here they are.