So, I’m a huge apple fanboy, but I have to say I’m a little disappointed by all the announcements. It seemed like this keynote was about enhancements to current products, but not the ground breaking enhancements you might expect…more like cover up enhancements… you know, making items work like they should in the first place.
Table of Contents
The Time Capsule
Airport Extreme with a hard drive. Wow, innovative. It’s a NAS, so if you have multiple computers needing to backup, and you don’t currently have a wireless router or an external hard drive, then this might be a good option. But, if you have any of that hardware kicking around already then this isn’t exactly something your going to be picking up on a whim. So, I guess if in the future if you want to replace those ailing hardware options with a single device, it would make sense. It’s nothing to write home about though.
iPhone and Touch
Is it just me or does it seem like apples scrambling to give users what should have been shipped in the first place? I mean seriously, multiple SMS support… what is this 1997? Mail on the touch…wow, now there’s an idea. Why do companies continuously think it is alright to ship crap and fix it later with a patch. It’s annoying and insulting. Why the hell do the think they can charge 20.00 for a bunch of applications that other Touches shipping henceforth will come with? When you add in the fact that they’re giving a free software upgrade to Apple TV users for free it seems more like a cash grab then anything else… Now, I know what you’re going to say: A struggling device like the Apple TV needs a little boost to get it moving again, and the Touch is hot off the presses and selling just fine. So, Apple knows that selling something to the Touch crowd will go over alright, whereas, charging 20.00 for an Apple TV upgrade might just be a breaking point for those already owning the device. No matter how you slice it, it’s a lame attempt at banking a couple extra million in my opinion and I’m having a really difficult time seeing any other way. We’re not that dumb Apple, so don’t make us feel like we are.
Movie Rentals
This, in my opinion is the most interesting thing to come out of Macworld. Apple has a real opportunity here, and I don’t see any reason why they can’t capitalize on this market. 10 years ago after arguing with an idiot blockbuster manager I turned to my wife (girlfriend at the time) and said “Blockbusters toast”. It didn’t take a genius to see the writing on the wall, and I’m kind of surprised that a major corporation didn’t decide to take them on sooner. So, kudos to Apple. I’m glad that he demise of blockbuster is near, and I’m even happier that I will soon have the ability to get the movie of my choice at the click of the button. It’s really hard to see a negative here.
The Macbook: Air
This is the one that really had me sitting on the fence, it’s innovative as hell. It screams of the future for mobile computing, and I’m really glad that Apple is pushing the envelope. But I think they kind of dropped the ball in some areas. Now, it should be pointed out that I’m not at Macworld, I haven’t been able to play with one in person either, so you should probably take this with a grain of salt… There are not many upgradable options from there website and for the price, that’s kind of LAME. The RAM? Nope, you seem to be locked in to 2gb’s. Hard drive? unless you want to drop an extra 1000.00 for a solid state drive there is no real options here. So, you could pay 1100 for a MacBook and be able to get faster speeds, a bigger storage space, or instead I could spend 1700 and get a machine that doesn’t even have a Firewire port. It doesn’t make much sense to me. If its meant to be a PDA more than a computer I don’t see why most people wouldn’t get the iPhone or a touch, and if it’s meant to be a computer…why wouldn’t a potential user get a MacBook? Now, If you want to look cool as hell, get the MacBook:Air, because after all, that is all that matters. Other than that, I can’t really think of one good reason why I would get a MacBook: Air, and trust me, I’m in the process of getting ready to replace my laptop…and right now I’m leaning towards a MacBook.
