[X4U] MW Expo; I'm underwhelmed

[Jens Selvig]

We live in such an accelerated society! Apple 'has' to outdo itself  
every year?


On Jan 16, 2008, at 6:18 AM, Jim Robertson wrote:

> 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.
>

Not sure if 1080i is higher quality? Maybe someone with more  
experience can shed light on this?  I don't watch many movies so I  
don't really have an opinion as to whether this new service is good or  
bad.

> 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 know lots of people who would find those more powerful Mac Book  
laptops totally useless. "Who would want to read their email during  
the day?"

  My guess is that there will be brisk demand for this new sleek unit.

> 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 don't understand why Apple announced the new Mac Pros before Mac  
World. Maybe two weeks of sales were important? I suspect that an  
announcement at MW would have been received as ho-hum stuff?

> 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.
>

I kind of see this new laptop as a pretty big change in direction for  
Apple. Sort of like when they dropped floppy drives. I can't see not  
having a CD/DVD drive included with the laptop. Maybe in 5 years it  
will be normal?

> Jim Robertson
> -- 
>


Jens Selvig
...Lost in Montana...