Today was the tech world’s big show: Apple held its much-anticipated iPhone 6 event and capped it off by revealing its widely expected wearable called simply Apple Watch. As the resident Apple fanboy here at EchoUser, I got the honors to share some of my first impressions.

Once again, Apple has made an experience out of the unveiling of its new products. Much has been said about the almost “formulaic” process they use for their big events. But they know how to put on a show and blow past expectations. Today, new iPhones were revealed, a whole new payment method called Apple Pay was demoed, and U2 even performed!

But the real star was of course the Apple Watch. It’s still early, of course, but so far, it looks like Apple has done what it’s always done when it introduces a truly new type of product: Let the competition put out the first products that all have their own issues, patiently learn and innovate in secret, and then give us the experience we never knew we wanted.

Here’s my breakdown of the day’s biggest news:

iPhone

First up, the iPhone. As expected, the new phones are larger than the 4-inch iPhone 5, with two options: the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and Apple’s new entry into the growing “phablet” market, the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. I’m really not sure what to make of the growing phablet trend. Apparently devices of this size — somewhere between a phone and a tablet — are popular overseas, though not as dominant in the US market, and some say size has been Samsung’s one big advantage over Apple in the phone market. Will this move increase demand for larger phones? I’ll bet yes.

One really nice thing about the larger iPhone sizes is that iOS can take advantage of the landscape view. You now can see more and have different layouts — for example, using a list view or seeing additional details for an item. This definitely makes the device feel more iPad-like and could help resolve the issue some people have of not wanting to type long messages/emails and the like on small phones.

The usual performance enhancements and speed boosts were heralded. Faster processors, better camera, more sensors. The iPhone continues to iterate and improve, while never quite being revolutionary any more in its updates. Other new features and apps got shown off, like the HealthApp, great new sensors like the barometer, and things like WiFi Calling that take advantage of always-present WiFi.

Apple Pay

Apple’s new play in the payments space is looking great. There has been lots of work in this space — with the likes of Square and Coin attempting to replace the credit card — but nothing has really gone mainstream yet. Designing a new payment experience for consumers seems simple, but getting major credit cards and retailers on board has always been the challenge. Apple’s platform allows paying with a touch and has the right power behind it to push for industry changes. The digital wallet is now starting to become a reality.

The Watch

Apple pulled out its long-dormant “One more thing…,” a line that hasn’t been used since the reign of Steve Jobs. And it was an appropriate intro for the Apple Watch.

Apple wanted everyone to know about its focus for the watch: making it personalized, intimate, and powerful.

The Apple Watch comes with a new interface, The Crown, for its interactions. The traditional dial on mechanical watches is now the gateway to interacting with the Apple Watch. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on this to see how it feels in use.

Apple has also done away with the square app icons of the iPhone and iPad home screen, choosing icons that mimic a circular watch face and have a less-constrained boundary on the main screen.

Surprisingly, the Apple Watch isn’t exactly a stand-alone product. It still requires the iPhone to work, meaning — for example – that those of us wanting to use the watch for sports activities will need to keep our phones nearby.

A feature called Glances seems to be Apple’s answer to Google Now and notifications. The Glances interface allows quick info, chosen by the user, to appear with a simple swipe. And third-party apps can integrate with Glances and take advantage of its features, which provides lots of potential for enhancing the experience of individual apps.

Apple also touted the watch’s “taptic” engine, which can capture and send feedback via vibrations. As a current Pebble Watch wearer, I see this as a great iteration of the buzz to notify. When I get a message on my Pebble watch, everyone within a 3-foot radius of me knows it because of the loud buzz. Apple has made the notifications noticeable only to the wearer, which helps alleviate one of the major problems of wearables up to now: keeping notifications private. They have also used haptic feedback in some of their apps. Maps, for example, will be able to indicate whether to go left or right without the user glancing at the watch face.

Apple Watch and HealthKit

A big push Apple wants to make with the Apple Watch is to help people be healthier. The Apple Watch has lots of built-in sensors that allow the ability to track movement, distance, elevation, heart rate and probably others that didn’t get announced. Apple wants to use all of this to help us be healthier in our lives, be more aware of what we do, and be supported as we work toward our goals. This has the potential to be a behavior modification engine, too. I have a feeling we just saw the tip of the iceberg for the integration with HealthKit and are likely to see more of what Apple has in mind in the coming months.

One more (UX) thing…

One final thought from a UX perspective: One thing Tim Cook did throughout the keynote was talk about the “customer experience,” not the user experience. This is a subtle change from the language that most in the industry use when talking about UX. Apple is trying to deliver exceptional products to its customers, and in that context, talking about the customer experience sounds and feels more natural than calling everyone a “user.”

It seems like a small change in wording, but it may be much more than that. For example, Apple seems to want to differentiate the Apple Watch from existing smartwatches by making it an integrated, intimate, and natural extension of a person — not just an “interface” for some impersonal “user” to touch. By talking about “customers” instead of “users,” Apple may have found a way to truly keep people’s needs and desires at the center of its designs.