[X4U] MW Expo; I'm underwhelmed

[Jim Robertson]

I'm actually underwhelmed by Apple's announcements. The new software for the
Apple TV box is OK, but movie downloads are rental only, not available until
30 days after the DVDs are released, have to be watched within 24 hours of
the time you start playing them, and only 720p format for the HD versions.
Amazon's "unbox" service matches feature-for-feature, puts the movies into a
TiVo box, and has higher quality (1080i) video.

The new laptop is "cool", but it's less powerful than the machines already
available, more expensive, and "better" only in that it weighs less by two
pounds and has "bling" value.

I thought that when Apple introduced new Mac Pros two weeks ago, it was
because they'd have great stuff here at the show. They have "OK" stuff in my
view, but everybody else who looks at the MacBook Air (stupid name, if you
ask me) drools.

I didn't see the Keynote, so I don't know how much information was made
available about the iPhone software development toolkit. Whether enterprise
mobile platform developers embrace it will be far more important, in my
view, than a stupidly-named laptop.

Jim Robertson
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