Keynote Goodies Galore
January 16, 2008 Filed in: Apple
Okay, I tried posting this last night, but
three-quarters of the entry just outright disappeared
upon export. Here's take two.
Tuesday's Macworld keynote speech by Steve Jobs was interesting and exciting in many ways. Unfortunately for Apple's stock, it seems investors were really hoping for a 3G iPhone. However, iPhone was hardly mentioned Tuesday, and the Mac took center stage. Perhaps this was Jobs' way of making up for last year's iPhone-centered keynote. Here's a quick rundown.
A part of me still covets an iPod touch, and the new features make the device even more desirable. Now, if only they would release a 32 GB version at the price-point of the current 16 GB model...
By focusing on movies, Apple has also made Apple TV a more competitive product. Once tethered to iTunes, Apple TV now has its own interface with the iTunes Store and can even download higher-resulution movie rentals (720p) than iTunes on Macs or PCs. The new user interface is very nice, and the pricetag is even nicer. A 40 GB model is available for $229 and a 160 GB model for $329.
If we watched more movies and TV shows, this might be a no-brainer, even with an XBox 360. Quite simply, iTunes has more content than XBox Live Marketplace and that content is priced better. Also, XBox Live Marketplace gives you a smaller window in which to begin viewing rented material. Out of the product announcements today, Apple TV may actually be the most competitive. (Here's a comparison of XBox Live Marketplace and Apple TV.)
Time Capsule is the child of a high-capacity wireless hard drive and an AirPort Extreme base station. It's designed to compliment Leopard's Time Machine backup solution. Featuring a 500 GB or 1 TB hard drive ($299 and $499 respectively), this is an interestingly positioned product. Quite honestly, if I were to pick up an Airport Extreme and a decent 1 TB external drive individually, it would come up to about $500 dollars. For that same amount, here's an all-in-one solution. Seems like a winner to me even if it does target a niche audience.
I even like the name.
The most attention-grabbing product announced was the MacBook Air. Closed, it's 0.76" at it's thickest point, and it weighs only 3 pounds. Check out the commercial for a good illustration of just how small this thing is. The thing looks amazing at first glance and comes packaged with some truly innovative technology, but I don't know if it will actually be a success.
Much is riding on its appeal as an ultra-light notebook and its stunning looks. Other appealing features include a gesture-sensitive trackpad and an amazing technology called Remote Disc. In a shell, Remote Disc allows the MacBook Air to wirelessly read discs inserted in another computer! This is quite important as the MacBook Air has no built-in optical drive. (However, Apple does sell a $99 USB Superdrive for the MacBook Air.)
Unfortunately, the limitations of this product relegate it to a solely secondary computer position, which is unfortunate considering its price. MacBook Air starts at $1799 with a SSD version available for $3,098! Not only is it bereft of an optical drive, but the hard drive itself is pretty small. It has few ports, excluding even an ethernet port, and the battery is not user replaceable. Fortunately, if you purchase the $129 battery through the Apple Store, installation is free, but this still costs convenience.
I am enamored by the looks and some of the technology in the MacBook Air, but I don't really see its value over Apple's other laptops. Now if Apple released a MacBook or MacBook Pro with a similar form factor and multi-touch trackpad, I might be interested. On the other hand, it's not wise to try to predict the failure or success of an Apple product, and they may have a success on their hands here. One never knows.
images courtesy Apple, Inc.
Tuesday's Macworld keynote speech by Steve Jobs was interesting and exciting in many ways. Unfortunately for Apple's stock, it seems investors were really hoping for a 3G iPhone. However, iPhone was hardly mentioned Tuesday, and the Mac took center stage. Perhaps this was Jobs' way of making up for last year's iPhone-centered keynote. Here's a quick rundown.
iPhone + iPod touch
iPhone and iPod touch both received software updates that can be downloaded through iTunes. iPhone received some GPS-like functionality to Maps, customizable home screens, Web clips (like in the Leopard Dashboard), song lyric support, video chapters, and multi-person messaging. The iPod touch receives Mail, Maps, Weather, Notes, and Stocks – bringing it to surprising parity with iPhone. The only downside of the iPod touch upgrade is a $20 fee.A part of me still covets an iPod touch, and the new features make the device even more desirable. Now, if only they would release a 32 GB version at the price-point of the current 16 GB model...
iTunes + Apple TV
The big iTunes news is movie rentals. Rentals ring in at $2.99-$4.99 depending on definition and release status. Once a movie is rented, a user has 30 days to begin watching the film and 24 hours to complete a film once it's started. The 24-hour viewing window seems stingy, but I understand it's in line with comparable services. In addition to the movie rentals, Apple has signed a deal with Fox in which new Fox DVDs will also contain an iTunes-friendly version of the film on the disc. This is an interesting way to circumvent the whole DVD-backup issue. I wonder if other studios will hop on board with this initiative.
By focusing on movies, Apple has also made Apple TV a more competitive product. Once tethered to iTunes, Apple TV now has its own interface with the iTunes Store and can even download higher-resulution movie rentals (720p) than iTunes on Macs or PCs. The new user interface is very nice, and the pricetag is even nicer. A 40 GB model is available for $229 and a 160 GB model for $329.
If we watched more movies and TV shows, this might be a no-brainer, even with an XBox 360. Quite simply, iTunes has more content than XBox Live Marketplace and that content is priced better. Also, XBox Live Marketplace gives you a smaller window in which to begin viewing rented material. Out of the product announcements today, Apple TV may actually be the most competitive. (Here's a comparison of XBox Live Marketplace and Apple TV.)
Time Capsule
Time Capsule is the child of a high-capacity wireless hard drive and an AirPort Extreme base station. It's designed to compliment Leopard's Time Machine backup solution. Featuring a 500 GB or 1 TB hard drive ($299 and $499 respectively), this is an interestingly positioned product. Quite honestly, if I were to pick up an Airport Extreme and a decent 1 TB external drive individually, it would come up to about $500 dollars. For that same amount, here's an all-in-one solution. Seems like a winner to me even if it does target a niche audience.
I even like the name.
MacBook Air
The most attention-grabbing product announced was the MacBook Air. Closed, it's 0.76" at it's thickest point, and it weighs only 3 pounds. Check out the commercial for a good illustration of just how small this thing is. The thing looks amazing at first glance and comes packaged with some truly innovative technology, but I don't know if it will actually be a success.
Much is riding on its appeal as an ultra-light notebook and its stunning looks. Other appealing features include a gesture-sensitive trackpad and an amazing technology called Remote Disc. In a shell, Remote Disc allows the MacBook Air to wirelessly read discs inserted in another computer! This is quite important as the MacBook Air has no built-in optical drive. (However, Apple does sell a $99 USB Superdrive for the MacBook Air.)
Unfortunately, the limitations of this product relegate it to a solely secondary computer position, which is unfortunate considering its price. MacBook Air starts at $1799 with a SSD version available for $3,098! Not only is it bereft of an optical drive, but the hard drive itself is pretty small. It has few ports, excluding even an ethernet port, and the battery is not user replaceable. Fortunately, if you purchase the $129 battery through the Apple Store, installation is free, but this still costs convenience.
I am enamored by the looks and some of the technology in the MacBook Air, but I don't really see its value over Apple's other laptops. Now if Apple released a MacBook or MacBook Pro with a similar form factor and multi-touch trackpad, I might be interested. On the other hand, it's not wise to try to predict the failure or success of an Apple product, and they may have a success on their hands here. One never knows.
images courtesy Apple, Inc.