When you start to think about everything Apple released this year, it seems almost unimaginable for a company that only a decade ago had but one platform and just a handful of products. They launched a new product category with the Apple Watch, relaunched one with the new Apple TV, expanded another with the iPad Pro, turned media into services with Photos and Apple Music, and revamped almost everything else.
Scaling like that would be hard for any company no matter how successful, but for one that prides itself on tight focus and small teams, it's even harder. It wasn't perfect and it didn't come without cost, for Apple, developers, and customers. Yet looking back now, it's also impossible not to be impressed but just how much Apple accomplished in 2015.
We'll start looking forward to 2016 soon enough but, for now, let's take a final look back Here's an overview, including the in-depth year in review podcast series Serenity Caldwell and I recorded, and links to all the major reviews and news.
Spring 2015
The March event returned this year and in a big way. The Apple Watch, previewed last year, got a second, more detailed introduction and a launch. The new MacBook with Retina display and Force Touch trackpad debuted, and Apple surprised and delighted us with new framework for medical research called ResearchKit. Photos for OS X, also previewed last year, launched in the spring as well.
January
- Do people really want smaller screens... or smaller iPhones?
- Tim Cook on Q1 2015
- Apple's ASP and the difference between cost and value
- Why Apple might make a stylus for the iPad
- What 'MacKeeper' is and why you should avoid it
February
- Tim Cook at Goldman Sachs
- What if the iPad ran iPadOS?
- Lenovo reminds everyone why it's better to get a Mac
- Why the iPhone doesn't have a thicker, bigger battery
- Emotional terrorism and censorship
- The Apple Car, 'Titan', CarPlay, and what comes next
- Accessibility is for everyone
March
- Tim Cook on Mad Money
- MacBook review
- ResearchKit
- The iPhone 6c potential
- Siri and the potential for 'Voice ID'
- Overcoming video game addiction in children
- What else can Apple do?
- The future of Apple TV
- On pressure sensitive iPads
April
Summer 2015
June was highlighted, as always, by Apple's World Wide Developers Conference. And WWDC 2015 was the biggest to date. Not only did we get the unveiling of iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan, but of watchOS 2, Swift 2.0, and an all-new streaming and radio service called Apple Music. Then, in July, we got surprised by an updated iPod touch to run all that Apple Music on.
May
- The future of Jony Ive and Apple
- An Apple customer's take on Google I/O
- Streaming is the future of music
June
- The future of Thunderbolt is USB-C, and this is a good thing
- Understanding Apple and privacy
- WWDC 2015: Just breathe
- Phil Schiller on the Talk Show
- iOS 9 review
- watchOS 2 review
- OS X El Capitan review
- Everything you need to know about Apple Music
July
- iPod touch 6 review
- Content blockers, bad ads, and what we're doing about it
- Apple and the user experience business model
- HomeKit and the state of wireless security
- Apple Camp
- Regarding built-in iOS apps being split out into the App Store
- Tim Cook on Q3 2015
August
Fall 2015
Fall brought Apple's annual September event. Because there wasn't going to be an October event this year, the result was the debut of a dizzying array of new products, including the Apple Watch Hermès, new gold and rose gold finishes for Apple Watch Sport, iPad mini 4 and iPad Pro with Smart Keyboard and Apple Pencil, iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, and an all-new Apple TV with its very own App Store.
September
- iPhone 6s review
- iPhone 6s Plus review
- Does Apple need an iPhone 6c?
- Why there's no wireless charging for the iPhone
- iPhone and the advantage of timely security updates
- iPad mini 4 review
- On-demand resources and Apple TV gaming
- Apple Watch Hermès
October
- Apple comments on A9 chipset performance
- Apple announces 21.5-inch iMac with Retina 4K display
- Apple TV 4 review
- Magic Keyboard review
- Magic Trackpad 2 review
- Magic Mouse 2 review
- Tim Cook on Q4 2015
November
- iPad Pro review
- The iPad Pro experiment
- The iPad Pro's chip is a big deal
- Apple Pay launches in Canada and Australia
- 2015: An Apple TV odyssey
December
Your 2015?
Those were the biggest products and announcements from Apple in 2015. Which were your favorites? Which were the hardware, software, services, and news that meant the most to you?