Apple iPhone Announcement Marred By Live Stream Issues, Chinese Interpreter

Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) highly anticipated iPhone 6 and iWatch announcement Tuesday was marred by live stream problems, including a Chinese interpreter and intermittent outages.

Users unable to attend the event in California were infuriated by streaming issues when the video feed appeared on Apple’s website. The normally reliable stream played out of sync with the speakers onstage, froze up and completely cut out at certain points. When the stream did work, the voice of a Chinese translator was broadcast in lieu of the Apple presenters, infuriating Twitter users who have spent weeks speculating on what the announcement would unveil.

The stream remained down through much of the important parts of the announcement, with Apple’s live blog providing much of the detail that CEO Tim Cook was trying to explain. The event was so anticipated that the #AppleLive Twitter conversation was streaming for hours before Cook actually took the stage. Soon after the cameras turned on, though, the hashtag had turned from anticipation to parody.

It’d be foolish to suggest that the streaming issues will affect the success of the iPhone or iWatch, though, as the new device will come in two sizes and incredible camera features that will make it possible for customers to shoot time-lapse videos in slow motion, among a number of other new perks.