WATCH: A Drone’s View of Apple’s Secret Event Building
Apple is planning something big for its event Sept. 9 at Cupertino’s Flint Center for the Performing Arts. In case that wasn’t obvious from the churning rumor mill, a newly constructed three-story windowless building houses something mysterious.
We took our best sleuthing skills, and a drone, to go get a look and see if we could corroborate any of the recent rumors coming out about Apple’s announcements.
The edifice
Apple has constructed a series of white windowless 40-foot high cubes that are clearly housing something related to the announcements. Construction and activity around the site this week were immense. More impressive, though, was the security. I counted 50 or so security guards stationed 25 yards apart around the perimeter, or patrolling on foot, and in various rooms around the center. Hence, we scuttled up to the top floor of the parking lot to shoot our story and launch our drone.
Apple has hosted three events here at the Flint Center, including the launch of the original Mac, but it hasn’t used this much larger facility since 1999. So the need for more seats and the ability to build a large windowless set of boxes indicates that this is probably a big deal. At least it’s a big deal to Apple.
What’s in the box?
While the structure looks like one single cube from the perimeter, our raw aerial footage clearly shows three distinct boxy structures.
It could be a large set of rooms that act as what I’ve always referred to as “Magic Rooms” places where reporters and analysts can play with the newly announced devices. It’s also been speculated that it could be a replica home for Apple to demo its new HomeKit. I doubt this one. It could also be a replica Apple Store; the shape is right for that. Or it could be a massive iWatch under glass that will be revealed Sept. 9.
What watch?
Up until late August, the anticipation was that the next Apple event would showcase the iPhone 6 in two sizes. A tougher glass for the screen and all the usual upgrades were assumed. Plus possibly NFC or wave-to-pay technology. But the iWatch rumor had come and gone so many times that there was no reason to believe that Apple would unveil it alongside its flagship product, the iPhone.
But then the rumor mill kicked into high gear late in August with a post from John Paczkowski at Re/code. The iWatch was back on the table. Most interesting is the rumor that along with the phone’s ability to collect biometric health and fitness data, its extension of the iPhone talk and text functions, and running iOS apps, the watch will pack the NFC wave-to-pay technology. While many Android phones offer NFC, Apple has to date basically said what’s the difference between pulling out your phone or pulling out your credit card to pay? But then you think about paying with the wave of your watch, and things start to get interesting.
For more speculation on the iWatch, read:
The iWatch: What the Heck Is It, and Why Is Apple Making It?
Want to know more about what Apple might be announcing?
Prepare yourself: Read all the Apple news and rumors so far
And on Tuesday: Watch our liveblog
