Apple Celebrates Global Accessibility Awareness Day With Stevie Wonder Concert

Apple yesterday held a concert at One Infinite Loop in honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day. This morning, CEO Tim Cook tweeted out a thank you to Stevie Wonder, who performed at the concert.

tim cook stevie wonder

The event marked one of Apple's traditional "Beer Bash" celebrations, which in the past have seen performances by Maroon 5, One Republic, Darius Rucker, and more, usually coinciding with a major milestone like the 30th anniversary of the Macintosh.

Apple has been highlighting the importance of accessibility features throughout the week, beginning with a large collection of "Designed for" promotional videos that it posted on YouTube on Tuesday. The clips showcased features like VoiceOver and Made for iPhone hearing aids, accompanied by personal stories of how Apple fans with disabilities use each feature.

On Wednesday, Tim Cook then sat down with three accessibility activists to discuss the company's accessibility features across its range of devices. Last October, Apple published an all-new accessibility website that brings all of these features to the forefront as a way to explain and celebrate how the company has built unique accessibility features into iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Watch.

Top Rated Comments

bitfactory Avatar
83 months ago
Gone are the days when ceo's of Apple used to focus on technology
Give it a rest. Accessibility is one area Apple needs to stay nimble.

I have zero problem with any of this. +morale +public goodwill
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
83 months ago
Gone are the days when CEO'S of Apple used to focus on technology!




Score: 24 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
83 months ago
Seems like gone are the days when CEO'S of Apple used to focus on technology!
Umm, assistive tech is techology. Jesus, it's called AT. Assistive technology.

Oh sure, throwing in a new CPU every now and then must be far more 'technology focused' than, say, making your devices fully accessible and usable for somebody who can't see squat. Or people who can't hear, or even have control of their limbs.

But no, you really nailed it. Not focused on technology at all.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sunny1990 Avatar
83 months ago
Seems like gone are the days when CEO'S of Apple used to focus on technology!
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
keysofanxiety Avatar
83 months ago
i swear there is a day for everything now...
How about a "MacWhiners" day? Oh wait, that'd be a year-long event.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
joe2k17 Avatar
83 months ago
i swear there is a day for everything now...
I'm blind excuse me for having 1 article a year written on accessibility. The IPhone means way more to me than to you it's a light detector, money reader, scanner for my mail, identifier of objects like can goods, reader, radio, and a whole bunch of other things. Apple was the first to make the same out of box experience for someone blind as yourself by not making them pay extra for a product. Things will return back to normal for yourself now I'm sure there will be a bunch more new posts about the same old things.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 17

Apple Releases iOS 17.0.1 and iPadOS 17.0.1 With Bug Fixes, Plus iOS 17.0.2 for iPhone 15 Models

Thursday September 21, 2023 10:28 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 17.0.1 and iPadOS 17.0.1 updates for the iPhone and the iPad, adding bug fixes to the new software. The iOS 17.0.1 and iPadOS 17.0.1 updates come just a few days after Apple launched iOS 17 and iPadOS 17. The software, which is build 21A340, can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. There is a...
iPhone 15 Pro Lineup Feature

iPhone 15 Models Feature New Setting to Strictly Prevent Charging Beyond 80%

Tuesday September 19, 2023 2:04 pm PDT by
All of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models feature a new battery health setting that prevents the devices from charging beyond 80% at all times when enabled, as confirmed by The Verge's Allison Johnson during a Q&A session today. The new setting is separate from the pre-existing Optimized Battery Charging feature on iPhones, which intelligently delays charging past 80% until a more...
emojipedia 15 1 emoji

Emoji Coming to Future iOS 17 Update Include Shaking Head, Brown Mushroom, Lime, Phoenix and More

Tuesday September 19, 2023 12:43 pm PDT by
As Apple was announcing new iPhone models last week, the Unicode Consortium was officially approving new emoji characters that are set to be added to smartphones starting in 2024. Mockup of new emoji from Emojipedia Approved Unicode 15.1 emoji include phoenix, lime, an edible mushroom, shaking head vertically (as in a "yes" nod), shaking head horizontally (a "no" head shake), and broken...
iPhone 15 Pro Max 5x Optical Zoom Limit Feature 1

Apple Explains Why iPhone 15 Pro Max is Limited to 5x Optical Zoom

Wednesday September 20, 2023 9:52 am PDT by
In an interview with Numerama's Nicolas Lellouche, Apple's VP of camera software engineering Jon McCormack explained why the iPhone 15 Pro Max's tetraprism lens system is limited to 5x optical zoom, instead of 10x like on Samsung's Galaxy S23 Ultra. The interview is in French, so quotes below are computer translated. Apple says the Telephoto lens on the iPhone 15 Pro Max features the...