Keynote Thoughts
Everyone has the same thoughts today I think: total let down. No cool-ass products, and the miniPod is too expensive.
My thoughts are that it's a shame that product cycles can't always be perfectly lined up with Steve's keynotes. ;-) I think Jobs was premature when he said that 40% was a successful transition to MacOSX. Not that OSX isn't very popular, etc., but we *all* need 50% or more before a contest is won, no? I think it was wishful thinking and the crowd's lackluster applause seemed to confirm that thought.
Okay, so what about the future. Well, I'm sticking with my guns: The iPod needs a color screen, integration with wireless technologies and just a general mobile technology rev. Apple's got to get with it, get over the Newton Effect and produce either a mobile phone or a PDA or some other consumer oriented device. The iPod isn't called iMusic or something like that, right? So obviously it's been in the plans for a long time to make that device into something more than just a portable hard drive. Now is the time that's got to happen.
The iPod mini's felt like a marketing product launch. A product developed by looking at charts and graphs, not by the magicians thinking about the needs of real people. No? The iPod was completely out there when it was launched. Apple producing a music player? Why? And it so expensive... But now we all know it's genius. The iPod minis, however, are launched to fill a space in a product line. That's not the Apple we know and love... that's, um, well, Microsoft.
Anyways, Steve promised more to come in this 20th year of the Mac and I'm hoping he's got something cool for us. He set the bar, it's not our fault if every once in a while he stumbles, no?
-Russ