The new Apple event was today. It was broadcast live, although I was busy with other things and had to watch the taped broadcast. Here are some of my quick first impressions.

Really excited about Mavericks being free. I was just starting to debate with myself if an upgrade of the OS X would be worth it for me, even with the traditionally low price of $30. Especially considering my aging hardware. The advertised high improvement of the efficiency and battery life, and the awesome FREE price tag make it a no-brainer. I just hope the new OS doesn’t have any tricky features that will “break” my computers.

The upgrade of the MacBook Pro computers, together with the lower price tag, is also great, albeit nothing too revolutionary.

Mac Pro has a few more details revealed, and it finally comes with an official release date – December. That’s good, but I bet all the professionals were hoping for a more immediate date. They’ve been hankering for a serious Mac Pro upgrade for years. It’s a great machine, but on the surface of it I am not too impressed with the basic model’s 256 GB of SSD. Even

New iLife and iWork are here. They are free – but only with a purchase of a new Mac or iOS device. Which is kind of a bummer.

And, as everyone has predicted, the new iPad is here. It’s pretty much everything that everyone has been anticipating – thinner, lighter, and, of course, faster with the 64 bit A7 chip. What no one has predicted is the new name – iPad Air. I am not sure about that one. They are still selling iPad 2 at the same $399 price. That is starting to feel a bit like a rip off.

There is also an upgrade of iPad Mini. The Retina display was expected, but the faster processor not quite. It is an impressive device, but the new costs very pricey $399. The old iPad Mini is now $299. These are great products, but now they cost about twice as much as the competitor devices from Google and Amazon. They will appeal to those who are already committed to the Apple platform, but they are becoming an increasingly hard to justify price wise for the casual and first-time small tablet users. Apple is obviously betting on the incredible app ecosystem for tablets to continue their dominance and keep attracting new customers.

No new Apple TV. I was hoping they would upgrade the device or at least bring in more varied content. Neither one of the two happened, so I will keep waiting for a real revolutionizing TV gadget. Or at least something that lets me watch most of things that I watch on TV.

Overall, another ho-hum Apple event. They are obviously playing it safe. People are buying their products in record numbers, and they are great products by any measure. If I had money to burn, I’d certainly upgrade to a new Apple device as soon as they are released.

But people had come to expect much more from Apple in the past. I am pretty sure they are working on an iWatch, and will release that device when it’s really ready. But I am seriously starting to wonder if the era of completely and radically new devices might be coming to an end. Maybe we are in the situation similar to the evolution of multicellular life on Earth. Early on in the evolution there was an incredible variety of body plans. But eventually only a handful remained. Google Glass seems like a valiant effort to break the mold too, but I am still not sure how useful and widely adopted a device like that will be. Maybe we are in the midst of the innovation dry spell that will last until a radically new all-encompassing revolution comes. A revolution that is so sci-fi-esque that it’s too intimidating to even imagine.