Of course they're not going to base an event around watch bands. But if they're having an event, and some new stuff is ready to go (spring, summer colors, etc.), then they might get a bit of play.
As for the iPad, everyone's got their own usage/needs. One man's MacBook Air is another's iPad (and vice versa). But I do find the thought of ~$1,000 iPads with "Pro" in their name a bit odd (and unasked for). Unless you're an artist of some sort, maybe using that pencil and truly wanting/needing a mobile, but freeform/hand-drawn platform, I can't think of any other reason for it to truly exist. Is the hand drawing, on-the-go artist market that large? Because the other "pros" I can think of - animation, video, 3D, music, imaging/retouching, etc. - are
probably going to opt for a full on Mac of some sort.
Everyone else - surfing, texting, FaceTime, music-listening, reading, etc. - are more than served by the other three, lower/smaller iPads, aren't they? My honest, initial gut reaction to the iPod Pro was "who is this for, other than the traveling artist?"
People seem to want everything to be all things. They want a touch-screen Mac, they want an iPad that runs/works like a Mac, they want a phone that's as big as a tablet, they want a watch they can make Dick Tracy phone calls from, etc. It just seems, to this old school guy, that the farther we drift from each main product's original, true purpose/use, the muddier and
more complex it's all getting. It's not really solving anything, and it sure as shit isn't simplifying stuff. The iPad, now, isn't intuitive. It takes
learning (all that window stuff, etc.). The originals didn't. They were indeed a big iPhone, minus the phone part. And a lot of people had zero problem with that.
Like iPadOS...that spelled the "okay, fun time is over" thing for me. Congrats, you went and made the iPad something it probably didn't need to be, and, by all accounts, it still isn't as capable or robust as MacOS, so...why bother?
Apple seems to have developed, in recent years, a severe case of Allthingstoallpeopleitis. And I bet this thing in one hour does nothing to cure/address that. I hear the 12.9" iPod Pro is going up in price by a "modest" amount (Apple's definition of "modest" almost certainly differs from that of the entire planet), so by the time you get one of those, add one of those keyboard things and a Pencil, you're well into MacBook Air/Pro territory, cost-wise.
Again, unless you're an on-the-go artist type who absolutely has to sit in the garden, bus or park to express yourself, who is the iPod Pro for? What does it do, processor aside (which is easily addressed by throwing a better one in the Air, lower end model and the mini) that the others don't?
I always thought the iPad would be this sub-$700 thing that bridged the gap, size/performance-wise, between an iPhone and a full-tilt Mac. I was happy with it being primarily a consumption device. But somewhere along the way they figured it had to go head-to-head with the Mac. The MacBooks, in particular.
No, it doesn't. It really doesn't. The Mac already exists, and people, for the most part, are probably smart enough to figure out what they truly need for the things they want to do. I don't think iOS (and I'm including iPad here, the way it used to be) and MacOS ever need to "converge" or be more like the other. Adobe pulled this stunt with Illustrator and Photoshop over the years, making both so bloated and silly (Illustrator doing raster stuff, Photoshop doing vector stuff) that it's just a big cumbersome mud puddle. Last I checked, these applications nicely "see" each other, and import/export to one another just fine. Returning each more to their original roots, in terms of their overall function/reason to exist, sounds like a great idea to me.
Apple too.
But I know I'm pissing up a rope on that, and I'm about to be shown how much in another 90 minutes or so.
PS - I see the store is down, so
something, hardware-wise, is getting released today. iPads, Pencils, AirPods, keychain tracker thingies, watchbands, product red HomePod mini, iPad socks (really big), Oprah iPhone cases, etc. Oh, and maybe iMacs (but I'm now firmly in the "nah...that's a WWDC thing" camp, as of last night).
And while it's not a live, in-front-of-an-audience event, I'm still trying to think of the musical guest they've tapped to warble a tune or two. I gotta go with Demi Lovato.