Four things we learned from Apple's latest keynote

1. Steve Jobs is still at the heart of Apple

The keynote was the first to be held in the Steve Jobs Theatre at Apple Park, a campus the founder dreamed up himself.

The keynote began a request for everyone to close their laptop screens and phone screens off, a request that seemed hard to fathom given the hundreds of journalists covering the event live for their audience. But, remarkably, everyone followed the instruction and it became a very poignant 2 minutes as Jobs' voice was played across speakers.

"There's lots of ways to be as a person," Jobs said. "And some people express their deep appreciation in different ways.

"But one of the ways that I believe people express their appreciation to the rest of humanity is to make something wonder and put it out there.

"It's a way of expressing to our species our deep appreciation. That's what's going to keep Apple, Apple. If we keep us, us."

CEO Tim Cook was visibly emotional as he greeted the audience and got the event underway.

2. Augmented reality is still marching forward and improving

Both iPhone 8 plus and iPhone X feature two cameras that Apple say are "custom tuned for the ultimate AR experience.

Each of those two cameras have new gyroscopes and accelerometers for motion tracking and Apple showed off examples of apps that make the most of the augmented reality capabilities.

Gaming is the obvious area for great AR experience and Apple showed off a version of Warhammer 40K: Freeblade with giant warriors battling on a real-life basketball court that looked great.

A baseball app showed how AR could be used in too enhance sports viewing. The app overlaid statistics for the players live on the pitch.

Imagine watching the All Blacks live and getting updated statistics on tackles made and metres gained just by holding your phone in front of the field.

3. The Apple Watch is growing in popularity

Apple made a big announcement with its Apple Watch - it's now the number one selling watch in the world, overtaking Rolex.

In the previous quarter, Apple reported 50 per cent growth year-on-year for Apple Watch.

The third iteration of Apple's watch was revealed, and it will feature cellular capabilities, for most of the world but not New Zealand.

Cellular would make the Apple Watch Series 3 a much more useful device. You could go for a run taking nothing but your watch on your wrist and still receive texts and calls while you're out and about.

4. Apple is still neglecting New Zealand

Apple announced big changes to its Retail division - its flagship stores known as "Town Squares" - but the official line on whether New Zealand will be getting an Apple Store is still "no comment".

The Town Squares are designed to be much more than just a store to go to to buy Apple products. They will hold events like photography lessons, live music events, illustration tutorials and coding sessions.

The retail experience shown in the keynote was educational, community-focused and creative. It is a big shame New Zealand doesn't get an opportunity to be part of it.