Apple's iPad Pro launch event: the online reaction

Apple usually likes two bites of the cherry when it comes to its Autumn launch events.

But this year it chewed through new iPads, iPhones, Apple TVs and a Watch upgrade in a single sitting.

The biggest news was arguably the introduction of a bigger, more expensive iPad Pro - sales of smaller models have been on the slide and this could give the category a boost.

But one of the demos of the new tablet by Adobe, involving a photo edit of a woman's face, has embroiled both companies in controversy.

Some pundits and members of the public suggested that showing off a new app by altering a woman's smile was not the wisest way to behave at a time when many of Silicon Valley's tech firms are trying to make their workforces less male-dominated.

More on that, and other reactions to the feast of new gadgetry:

iPad Pro

The Verge

What I was surprised by, when I got some hands-on time with the tab today, is just how large it is... This is not a cross between a tablet and a phablet. It doesn't even feel comparable to your standard 10-inch variety. It feels big.

The Wall Street Journal

Prices for the iPad Pro are almost as high as a top-line portable laptop. And more than a lower-end one. Apple's never been about the low end of the market … but will businesses pay?

Geoff Blaber (Twitter)

Most iPad Pro models with accessories will be more than $1,000. Impact on Mac will be fascinating to watch.

Techradar

The iPad Pro has a stylus! It's called Apple Pencil. Really? REALLY? People actually just laughed. Ha, there's a video with Jony Ive now... this feels like a spoof.

Apple plans to charge $99 (£65) for the Apple Pencil

Wired

The $99 Pencil stylus feels like a particular triumph. It is, bar none, the most fluid and lag-free stylus I've ever used.

Najla Bulous (Twitter)

Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to demo an Apple product by having a man Photoshop a woman's smile? I still can't believe that happened.

Business Insider

The problem is that Apple could have Photoshopped anything. Coloured in the stripes on a zebra. Hand-drawn the Apple logo. Changed Tim Cook's frown into a smile as a joke about him being happy. Apple just wasn't aware enough of the connotations - especially in the context and scrutiny surrounding tech and diversity - to sidestep the landmine.

Maya Kosoff (Twitter)

This was a thoughtless and bad move on Apple's part today and I'm glad people are talking about it.

Apple TV

The new Apple TV gets its own app store letting users stream videos, play games and go shopping

Buzzfeed

This Apple TV [is] the first true Apple TV - or Apple's first attempt at one, anyway. Certainly, it's the best demonstration yet of what Apple believes the home entertainment experience should be, and one that attempts to solve the problems that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs detailed years ago when he said the device was a hobby and nothing more.

Financial Times

"App"-ifying the TV always seemed like the most logical way for Apple to go when it approached the living room, and today we have finally seen the full, app-centric approach. Throw in some voice control courtesy of Siri and this is meant to be a whole new way of interacting with TVs. But beneath that, Apple hasn't done anything to change the TV business model: it is still the familiar multi-channel TV, no cord-cutting or original content here.

The new set-top box can be controlled by voice or a remote featuring a touch panel and motion sensors

Bloomberg

While the new Apple TV is clearly more advanced than previous versions of the device, it is actually far less provocative than Silicon Valley's real vision for television: the transformation of live television. Apple had hoped to launch a live TV service this year but delayed the project because it couldn't get the content deals lined up.

Ars Technica

The most intriguing thing about the Apple TV, from a gaming business standpoint, is the extension of the iOS development model to the living room.... [Its] openness means Apple TV's gaming selection will likely be quickly filled with lowest common denominator cruft, [but] it also increases the potential for the next surprising breakout hit to find traction on the platform. Titles like Fruit Ninja, Angry Birds, Crossy Road, and countless others that became viral hits in iOS's open pressure cooker likely wouldn't have even had the chance to be released in the more restrictive environments of current console platforms.

Users can start a game on their iPhone and then move the action over to their Apple TV

NiemanLab

The new Apple TV - and the platform it will enable - is legit exciting. It will get me to watch a lot more news videos. Given the trouble many publishers have had getting eyeballs to their videos, that's good news.... If I ran a major media company, this is an area I'd be directing developer resources.

iPhone 6S and 6S Plus

The new iPhones now come in a pink colour option

Techcrunch

Jony Ive called 3D touch "the next generation of multi-touch". It's hard to describe without seeing it in motion, but it really makes app navigation much smoother.

Engadget

The biggest compliment I can pay 3D Touch right now is that it feels completely natural. [But] it isn't without a learning curve - you'll probably spend a little time trying to remember now much pressure goes into a "peek" - the quick-glance pressure gesture that's about to pop up in all your apps.

Apple showed how 3D Touch could be used to trigger a "selfie" mode

Ian Fogg (Twitter)

3D Touch will make mobile games even more compelling on iPhone 6S and make it harder to port games to Android smartphones #iPhone #lockin

Gizmodo

There's a new thing called 'Live Photos' - basically, still photos that have a couple seconds of video and audio integrated around them. Apple isn't the first company to do this kind of live-photo trickery - along with a whole plethora of apps, HTC's Zoe app and Nokia's Lumia phones were doing the same kind of thing three years ago. As ever, it will be all about third-party developers (and Apple's crazy-huge user base) to make this work.

Shubham Munot (Twitter)

What's the use of including 4K video if you give only 16gig [storage]?

Felicia (Twitter)

Having a hard time dealing with this "can shoot 4K, but can't display 4K, and can barely store 4K" thing.

Apple hosted the event in a bigger venue than it had used in the past

ThePantsParty (Reddit)

You may have thought 64GB [storage] was too much before, but now that the video files are 400% their previous size and photos are 150%, 64GB is probably the minimum you'd actually want if anything.

Wired

Apple making an Android app to help people switch and promoting Android recycling at Apple Stores is both fun taunting and an acknowledgement that there are lots and lots and lots and lots of Android users out there who haven't fallen in line yet.

Apple and Microsoft: Peace at last - read Rory's blog