MacWorld SF 2005
Comments(1) I’d be forsaking my identity as an Apple -fanatic if I didn’t give my dedicated readers a quick update on the new products from Apple…
Mac mini – It has been shot down by the budget department for the near term, but I hope to someday get one of these to add to my home theater setup. I imagine hooking it up to the yet-unpurchased HDTV, and running iTunes, iPhoto, games, etc. on the big screen. For me, it makes a perfect little media server. For my sucker PC using friends, it offers a cheap way to get over to the Mac. Get a KVM and see what I’ve been crowing about for all these years!
iPod shuffle – There are two camps on this one, “what no screen!” and “freakin’ awesome!” Basically, a 512MB or 1GB iPod. Also doubles as a little thumb drive to store files on and shuffle (ha ha) files around. If you can’t figure out why there is no screen, think of this device more as extension of iTunes. You can get a random selection of your favorite songs from a playlist or genre you’ve set up. I especially liked the article I came across where the CEO of Creative Labs basically called iPod shuffle stupid. Where’s the screen, FM tuner, umpteen other features we have? He doesn’t care about elegant design, usability, interface… only adding more and more features.
“Actually, to me it’s a big let-down: we’re expecting a good fight but they’re coming out with something that’s five generations older. It’s our first generation MuVo One product feature, without display, just have a (shuffle feature). We had that — that’s a four-year-old product.”
“So I think the whole industry will just laugh at it, because the flash people — it’s worse than the cheapest Chinese player. Even the cheap, cheap Chinese brand today has display and has FM. They don’t have this kind of thing, and they expect to come out with a fight; I think it’s a non-starter to begin with.”
Can you tell that he is about to feel the cold slap of marketing genius? I think Apple will sell a lot of these.
There were various other announcements from Apple and other third party companies. I’m very excited about iPhoto 5, and also the upcoming Mac OS X 10.4, aka Tiger.
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