Tim Cook on Monday kicked off Apple’s long-awaited March media event with his usual introduction. The CEO’s first announcement was that Apple now has 1 billion devices being using around the globe, and then as expected, he took a moment to briefly talk about the company’s ongoing fight with the FBI over encryption.
Cook thanked everyone for their support of Apple in what he believes is one of the biggest privacy battles of our generation. He then brought up Apple’s VP of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, Lisa Jackson, to talk about Apple’s progress in reducing its environmental impact. We have more highlights from the intro below.
- Apple has achieved 100% renewable energy in the US
- It’s currently at 93% of renewable energy worldwide, 100% in 23 countries.
- 99% of packing comes from recycle paper or sustainably managed forrest
- Apple has a robot codenamed Liam that helps it take apart used iPhones and save valuable materials
- Cook brought Jeff Williams up on stage to talk about Health and ResearchKit
- Williams says ResearchKit is off to a great start, with one Parkinson’s study becoming the largest ever after just 24 hours
- Williams unveils CareKit, a symptom and care tracker that measures how treatments and post-operative care are affecting health.
- First CareKit app is for Parkinson’s disease. Doctors are going to use it with patients to help them individualize their treatments—tracking the effectiveness of the drugs/treatment regimen they’re on.
- CareKit will be open source and available in April
- Cook says Apple Watch is best-selling smartwatch in the world, with highest customer satisfaction.
- Apple Watch starting price has been dropped to $299
- Cook says new Apple TV is doing great, there are now 5,000 Apple TV-specific apps
Be sure to stay tuned to iDB for more coverage of today’s event.