Apple's livestream initially cut out. A Chinese translator frequently cut in.
And the biggest disappointment: Apple's health care plans got cut from the program.
After months of strategic leaks on the Watch, Apple observers were ready for the company to expand on its HealthKit ambitions, or for CEO Tim Cook to explain how the Apple Watch would kick off the company's long-awaited push into the $9 billion mobile-health monitoring space.
For
Also See: Apple and Mayo Clinic's Partnership Could Be Smart Medicine
But Cook's big iPhone news revolved around Apple's decision to super-size the iPhone 6, rather than Apple's plans to jump into the super-sized health care market.
And while the Apple Watch's long-term health care potential is worth watching, the device's "health and fitness" applications as announced on Tuesday center only around fitness, like tracking a user's pulse or capturing a step count.
Mayo Clinic wasn't even mentioned.
Given that Apple told top FDA officials last year that the company has a "moral obligation" to move into health care; that it's hired a plethora of medical-device engineers; that it's struck or pursued deals with Mayo Clinic, Epic Software, and other prominent health care organizations ... well, it was an odd health care no-show.
"Reports in advance of the [Watch] unveiling predicted greater ambitions for the variety of health metrics the device would be able to track," Modern Healthcare's Darius Tahir dryly noted.
Translation: As expected, the Apple Watch didn't live up to the health care hype.
Why did health care go missing in Apple's speech? Apple isn't talking, but a few theories are circulating.
Hypothesis #1: Apple encountered problems.
In health IT circles, there's been mounting skepticism that Apple's announcements on Tuesday could deliver on the rising anticipation of its big health push.
Meanwhile, Apple's been dealing with scrutiny around its approach to data protection after last week's embarrassing photo hack.
Also See: Apple Wants Your Health Data. But Can HealthKit Protect It?
To put it plainly, this wasn't the week for Apple to prominently ask consumers for their health data, given Apple's own problems hanging on to sensitive data. And coupled with the high expectations, there were strong reasons for the company to hold off until any last-minute concerns were ironed out.
Hypothesis # 2: Apple's waiting on potential breakthroughs.
On the other side of the spectrum, it's possible that Apple is working on a significant, long-germinating health care breakthrough and wanted to save its announcement until that product or technology is closer to market.
In that scenario, Apple essentially waited to give health care its own stage, rather than trying to wedge it onto Tuesday's crowded agenda.
Hypothesis 3: Fear of muddling the message.
That's also linked with a third theory, which isn't mutually exclusive — that the day was already overstuffed.
Remember, Apple had a tall order on Tuesday:
- It needed to introduce its new iPhone;
- Debut a second, larger iPhone; and
- Show off its first wearable device.
To launch into the company's growing focus on health care would've opened up an entirely different conversation.
Especially because Apple's target market on Tuesday wasn't the health care industry, but the millions of potential customers — and the handful of fashion journalists invited to the event — who needed to be convinced that the Apple Watch is a must-buy.
Apple's big health care push is coming — we just don't know when.
It's striking that Apple didn't use its highest-profile event of 2014 to explore one of its biggest business priorities.
But Apple isn't bound to normal business conventions; as the largest company on Earth, Apple tends to make its own gravity.
By simply launching the Apple Watch, Apple will help create a new market for wearable devices, which in turn will fuel faster tech development for wearable devices and health care breakthroughs.
I asked Jim Adams and Ken Kleinberg — two of my colleagues at the
"Given that Apple invited several health care luminaries to attend Tuesday's event, I would expect to see something soon," suggested Adams – maybe timed with the formal rollout of the Apple Watch next year.
"An Apple event is like tech's version of a space shuttle launch," Kleinberg noted. "Someone (or a few folks) must have given a no-go during the countdown."
"But Apple really didn’t have to announce its health solutions and partners in greater detail on Tuesday," Kleinberg added. "Apple is a late entry to the health market and ... not really offering anything substantially new."
"Just the idea that they can do things better."
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