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January 11, 2007
While My iPod Gently Sleeps
Wow! What a week it has been for the tech industry. It's not quite over yet, but we've seen the big announcements at this point. The iPhone (the Apple iPhone, not the Cisco iPhone) seems to be reigning over them all at this point. I saw something entirely new on Amazon.com regarding it. If you search for iPhone, the top search result will be a blog entry (Amazon now publishes blogs or "plogs" from editors of various departments) talking about the iPhone.
I guess the general feeling in the retail world post iPhone announcement is that if you don't have it to offer, you'd better at least talk about it, put a picture up of it, something.
It was quite heralded the day of it's announcement, but criticism quickly swooped in to attempt to steal the glory. It was actually very warranted criticism; however. There are quite a few drawbacks to the new device:
- No 3G
- Non-removable/non-replacable battery
- Only first-party software at this point
- Big on consumer features, small on productivity/office apps.
I think it's valid to point out that Steve claimed it was the first of a new product line. Even Cingular's big cheese mentioned that it was the first of several devices Cingular and Apple hoped to collaborate on.
For a Gen 1 device from a compnay that's never really produced a phone before... I think it's rather stellar. It certainly has the home user market in the bag. Despite what critics are calling "reviews" on the net, it's important to remember that this product won't even launch for several months. There's still time for things to wrong, corrections to be made, features to be added or dropped... basically it's still a preview at this point. Though, given the way in which it was announced I'd be surprised to see many changes. I don't think Steve would have stood up there and sold it's features if he weren't entirely sure that it was a done deal.
The folks over at Palm; on the other hand, are refering to the Apple iPhone as "vaporware." That term is usually reserved for products that are 100% smoke in the mirrors and never actually come to be. The recently cancelled Phantom game console, for instance, is a glaring example of vaporware.
Apple's iPhone, in contrast, was demoed in working form and even offered up for important Macworld guests to play with.
Perhaps the folks at Palm are frustrated that their own OS and bread and butter devices are on the verge of extinction, only survived by a sellout treo device running Windows Mobile. Palm needs a re-invented identity and quick.
Then again, it remains to be seen if Apple's iPhone will make the bang that Apple proclaims. It's a pretty hefty claim when you say you've reinvented the phone. If anybody could make it sell though, it's Steve Jobs.
Aside from iPhone (and all of it's controversy), There were other announcements at MacWorld of note. Jeff doesn't seem to like the iTV... sorry, Apple TV (seriously, if you were going to rename one of the two, why rename the one that's not under threat of lawsuit?). I have pre-ordered my AppleTV! I'm rather excited for it. That's because 99% of my TV viewing is now done on iTunes. So for me, it's a no-brainer. If you do TiVo or a DVR, it's probably not that big of a deal to you. It's certainly not a breakthrough device as it's been around in various forms (Media Center Extender, iLounge, Xbox 360) for quite some time. You've got to admit though, Apple does it with a sleekness that's totally Apple.
I seriously need to get that widescreen TV to go with it now!
Nobody seems to be talking about Apple's new Wi-Fi gear though. In fact, the only reason I noticed it was because I'm in the market for a new router. The new Airport Base Station (the first refresh in about 5 years) is looking very sleek. It shares a form factore with the AppleTV and the Mac Mini. All-in-all, this MacWorld will prove to be a very expensive one for me!
By the way, the name of this blog came to be because I am writing it as my iPod charges. It simply reminded me that I really haven't chimed in on the iPhone other than to say I want one.
Posted by Decemberice at January 11, 2007 10:24 PM