FILE- In this Dec. 26, 2018, file photo an Apple logo is seen in raindrops on a window outside an Apple Store at the Country Club Plaza shopping district in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
Key details of Apple’s big video-streaming launch next week are still under wraps, but one thing has become clear: Hollywood stars are in at the company — and gadgets are out.
The iPhone maker — which has invited stars like Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell to stage a splashy, March 25 “Show time” event to unveil an online service to compete against Netflix — has meanwhile surprised tech heads this week with a relatively low-key dribbling of product updates.
In an announcement that normally would be reserved for the stage at the Steve Jobs Theater at headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., Apple on Wednesday unveiled its next-generation AirPods, which have an improved battery and a new chip that makes Bluetooth pairing faster.
A day earlier, Apple had revealed new iMacs with beefed-up processors that make them twice as fast as the current models. And on Monday, the company made the surprise announcement that it was updating its iPad Air and reviving the iPad mini.
It looks like Apple — which is increasingly hard-pressed to make its latest iPhones, iPads and MacBooks noticeably thinner and sleeker than the previous ones — is waking up to the fact that its gadget-fests have become boring, experts say.
“These are yawner announcements,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said of the AirPod and iPad updates. “The last thing you need is a Reese Witherspoon or Jennifer Aniston starting to fall asleep in an event as they go through 90 minutes of product announcements.”
Unlike normal Apple events — where nerdy tech journalists pack the house and Apple executives wax poetic on the souped-up specs of new products — Monday’s event is expected to be a star-studded affair, with celebrity guests like “Star Wars” director J.J. Abrams and “Aquaman” star Jason Momoa attending the birth of a video-streaming juggernaut.
By revealing all its product updates beforehand, Ives says Apple is going out of its way “to make sure that hardware announcements and new product offerings don’t overshadow the grand entrance of the streaming video service.”
Ives added: “If they actually did these announcements Monday, in typical Apple form, it would have been a legendary debacle.”
Apple may not yet be done unveiling products, with rumors swirling that the tech giant may also finally put a launch date on its AirPower wireless charger, which was first announced in 2017.
Shares inched up $1.63, to $188.16.
Get a daily look at what’s developing in science and technology throughout the world.