Apple
OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder and Apple CEO Tim Cook
The coolest moment was at the end, however, when the surprise musical guest turned out to be the band OneRepublic (and not Taylor Swift, as some had speculated).
The band sang three of their biggest hits and even dedicated the song "I Lived" to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Tedder also had some of the funniest lines and best moments of the event.
For instance, when he took off his jacket in the hot room, he quipped, "I'm waiting for the iJacket." (Although, the "i" is a Steve Jobs thing. In the Cook era, it would arguably make more sense to call it the Apple Jacket.)
He also told the story of the creation of the "Good Life" saying, "Artists, they make records and you work for a year, two years, and the last thing you do - you just half asleep throw out - becomes the biggest thing on that album. This is one of those songs. I apologize in advance for all the times you've been in Whole Foods and you've heard this song, buying your hummus and your gluten-free whatever. By the way, the iPhone 6S is gluten-free."
That's a feature that Apple didn't mention, but it's true. The iPhone 6S is, in fact, gluten-free.
During the song, Tedder jumped off stage and sought out Cook in the audience to take a selfie together on his iPhone. It says something about the rock star status of Tim Cook that an actual rock star wants to take a selfie with him.
The performance was in contrast to last year's event, where the featured band was U2, one of the biggest bands of all time, but definitely an aging "dad's band" in the eyes of many. Apple then angered people by forcing a free copy of U2's album onto everybody's iPhones with no immediate way to delete it.
No forced free album this time, although if you want more OneRepublic, Cook would probably tell you to sign up for Apple Music.
Tedder posted the selfie to the OneRepublic Twitter account:
Mid performance of Good Life with @tim_cook at the @Apple event 15 min ago & yes, no filter ?? #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/YvZFOWWJzc
- OneRepublic (@OneRepublic) September 9, 2015