Macworld and bust
Just got back from Macworld Expo in San Francisco. There's been hundreds of billions of electrons pushed around the past week with people's reactions to Apple's announcements, but before I share mine, I urge anyone who has never been to a Macworld (or even those who have) to read one of the best descriptions of what travelling to the show is really like. Dave made a series of posts to the Lawrence Apple User Group blog that capture the flavor of Macworld Expo like nothing else:
Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
So, I would totally buy the Apple phone, if they just yanked the phone part out of it. I want a touch-screen iPod with super high resolution and the ability to surf and read email wirelessly when I am at a hot spot. But I don't want a phone, and I don't want a 2-year contract with Cingular. Ugh...buying a beautiful Apple product and having to get service and support via a crappy cell-phone provider would be like buying a shiny new Mac and having to call Dell for technical support.
As for the Apple TV, I think it is named wrong -- they should have called it the "Airport Express with Video" because that is all this thing does. No DVR, no playback of any format other then iTunes...all it is is a vehicle to play your purchases content on a TV. Apple should give it away for free, on the theory that the razor is free, and the pay-TV shows are the blade. As it is, I don't think the device is worth anything with its crippled feature set.
And then there was Leopard. Well, actually no. Windows Vista ships in two weeks and Apple didn't even mention its own OS at Macworld. Nothing on the "secret features" that have been hinted at. As of right now, Leopard looks like about as big a deal upgrade-wise as the move from MacOS 9 to 9.1 -- some under the hood stuff and a few add-on features that are already available from third parties. Yawn.
Maybe next year, right?
UPDATE: Dave checks in with his final wrap-up from Macworld.
Just got back from Macworld Expo in San Francisco. There's been hundreds of billions of electrons pushed around the past week with people's reactions to Apple's announcements, but before I share mine, I urge anyone who has never been to a Macworld (or even those who have) to read one of the best descriptions of what travelling to the show is really like. Dave made a series of posts to the Lawrence Apple User Group blog that capture the flavor of Macworld Expo like nothing else:
Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
So, I would totally buy the Apple phone, if they just yanked the phone part out of it. I want a touch-screen iPod with super high resolution and the ability to surf and read email wirelessly when I am at a hot spot. But I don't want a phone, and I don't want a 2-year contract with Cingular. Ugh...buying a beautiful Apple product and having to get service and support via a crappy cell-phone provider would be like buying a shiny new Mac and having to call Dell for technical support.
As for the Apple TV, I think it is named wrong -- they should have called it the "Airport Express with Video" because that is all this thing does. No DVR, no playback of any format other then iTunes...all it is is a vehicle to play your purchases content on a TV. Apple should give it away for free, on the theory that the razor is free, and the pay-TV shows are the blade. As it is, I don't think the device is worth anything with its crippled feature set.
And then there was Leopard. Well, actually no. Windows Vista ships in two weeks and Apple didn't even mention its own OS at Macworld. Nothing on the "secret features" that have been hinted at. As of right now, Leopard looks like about as big a deal upgrade-wise as the move from MacOS 9 to 9.1 -- some under the hood stuff and a few add-on features that are already available from third parties. Yawn.
Maybe next year, right?
UPDATE: Dave checks in with his final wrap-up from Macworld.
posted by Mike at
4:56 PM
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