Post WWDC Rumor Round-Up
Loading ...The dust has settled, the new products have started shipping out and thousands of mac zealots have been snagging Leopard Beta off Bittorrent to get a hands-on sneak peak!
So what’s left to say about the Keynote and the new product releases? We’ve had great reviews of the Mac Pro, positive response to Leopard and even got a Windoser or two worried enough to start bitching!
Then there was all that fire about Steve looking ill which was soon put out by Apple PR.
I want to take time out to reflect on the press coverage during the build-up to the event and after.
First off, I think there a lot of dreamers out there who expected the WWDC to bring with it a tidal wave of product releases ranging from new touch screen, wifi, iPods to iChat compatible iPhones. These things of course were not announced, but you would have to be delinquent to believe that anyway, the WWDC is an event first and foremost for developers. Why would Steve waste his time showing these products at the WWDC when such products easily warrant their own release events to the public? So look forward to public announcements being made on their own, in a similar fashion to last years iPod releases, hence no Paris Keynote, althought don’t forget that not all new products even warrant presentation, in particular basic updates (upgraded MacBook / Pros at Paris anyone?!). To be honest I think this is a better way to handle such events, it allows the media to concentrate on individual products and maximises their exposure, clever Apple.
Next, why did Steve need “help” with the Keynote, surely he must be ill?! No you dope, Steve did not have “help”, he is a part of a team. He worked with said team to produce the Keynote and everyone played their part. I think it’s great to see how Steve has evolved his presentations over the years; this time round he realised that he needs to present more than just himself, Phil Schiller and Ives as the faces of Apple (talking of which, where was he this time round?!)… he already tried this with the funky iChat conferences of the past, and allowing other companies to have their say (remember the President of Sony? I felt sorry for him!) this time it was for real. And all the better, it gives people are a chance, no matter how much they whinge, to get used to the idea of Apple sans Jobs, which is an inevitable future.
Now having cleared that up, I’m going to add my own messy proposal to the back end of the WWDC rumour riot… I think that Apple is indeed hard at work at several top secret projects over at Cupertino.
Some maybe software related, perhaps heavy .mac innovation / integration with Leopard to an extent that it will truly become worth it’s monetary value, sorry but right now I feel a little underwhelmed by my .mac account, or maybe the fresh Finder that seemed to be missing from the Leopard pre-release; but I think the real secrets are hardware related.
Think about it, for the last 8 months or more all we’ve really seen from Apple, design-wise, has been great re-engineering of previous designs to accommodate the new processor architecture but little new product design (ok the MacBook was quite a bit different from the iBook and it’s not that much of a step forward). What do I mean by product design? I mean aesthetics and ergonomics. What we all want, in the depth of our hearts, is to see new designs in the Apple product portfolio that throw down the gauntlet in the same way that Leopard will do to Vista. This is where we are going, try to follow if you dare! As it stands, even the iPods are getting tired… Apple knows this of course, it’s the name of their game, to stay at least one step ahead of the competition. Now I’m not saying that what they’ve currently got is not good enough, far from it, I’m just saying that we’re all aware, as Apple are, that they need something new, fresh and distinctly ground breaking to re-assert their position in the marketplace.
I think this explains why we didn’t see the usual Ives endorsement of the Mac Pro design or even the earlier Macbook (as far as I can recall, correct me if I’m wrong). These were not radical enough changes to warrant his public input, or maybe he’s too busy working on designs much more worthy of his attention. What’s the turn around on a design like the iMac, conception to release? 2 years maybe? When was the first iMac G5 announced? And how long before we were told did the Apple design team know about the transition to Intel? I think, at the point they were told, the design team must have been split in two. One side to aid the transition of existing designs to Intel and the other side to consider what new products could be conceived using the new technology, or what old designs could be brought back from the drawing board given this new set on conditions, (mainly related to temperature no doubt).
There is no doubt in my mind that new, innovative products are on their way, and they will be a step ahead of the current generation in terms of product design, taking in to account all of the lessons learned building iPods, in particular the Nano. The first evidence will be the next generation iPods of course, but don’t be too surprised if we see a product added to the pipeline sitting between the iMac and Mac Pro that will ooze quality, and will be a forerunner for things to come. Kind of like a Mac Mini on steroids is what I would envisage, but with an added feature, something spell binding (Front Row 2 anyone? - integration with wifi iPod and iPhone!!). Also don’t forget the new MacBook mini, that one will rock! Hehehe now I’m just rumour mongering, guess I can see why people like dreaming after all! But seriously, there will be a marked step forward in product design that will put Apple even further ahead of the field and I personally can’t wait for it. The comparisons with the new iPod and Zune are going to be a major embarrassment for Micro$oft, trust me.
So to all those of you who were disappointed by the WWDC, don’t believe the rumours so easily next time, and remember patience is a virtue.
This entry was posted on Sunday, August 20th, 2006 at 3:38 pm and is filed under Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
What do you think?
©2006 ZAPCULT / WOODY SABRAN / ABOUT / STATS
Loading ...