So, by now the news of Apple’s announcements is all over the interwebs. I’m not going to give details here, you can find that on all sorts of other great sites (Engadget and MacRumors, to name a few). I just want to give my quick impressions of the four primary announcements they made.
- Time Capsule/Airport Extreme HDD – I think this one has potential. I recently bought the Airport Extreme and it has been nothing but impressive. It’s the best home router I’ve owned (not that I’ve owned a lot) and it shares my Canon MP500 printer nicely between my always wireless MacBook and the PC. I’d pay $299 for that great functionality bundled with a 500GB server-grade internal HDD for storage. I think this has potential to compete with Windows Home Server and be a nice all-around solution for Time Machine backups and syncing multiple computers (Windows and Mac).
- iPhone/iPod Touch Software Update – I updated the InternetSafety.com iPhone to 1.1.3 minutes after Steve got off the stage. Even with the potential for many thousands of people updating at once, it downloaded and installed quickly and cleanly. 1.1.3 offers a few new features, but nothing earth-shattering (in my opinion). Still, it’s nice to see an update that adds features rather than just stopping people from applying the latest hacks, cracks, and custom ringtone apps. The real shocker was that iPod Touch users are going to have to pay $20 for the update that enables Mail and Notes and the Stock and Weather widgets. Way to reward your loyal, early adopters, Apple, by making them pay for stuff that should’ve been there day one.
- iTunes Store Movie Rentals/AppleTV Refresh – This is probably the only announcement that would make me consider spending money ASAP. The AppleTV just dropped to $229 (sucks to be that guy who bought it over the weekend for $299). It’s a nice device, but at $300, I felt it didn’t really give you much. Now, with the ability to purchase content directly on the AppleTV, it seems a lot more worthwhile, and I could see myself buying one eventually. I doubt I’ll rent many movies from iTS as the prices are a little high for my tastes, but that’s not going to stop a lot of people and Apple will make a killing on it. I think the content is also slightly less expensive than similar Microsoft Marketplace content.
- MacBook Air – This was probably the highest octane announcement. I’m sure it’s something a lot of people are looking for. Personally, it’s not for me. The size of my MacBook doesn’t bother me. The size of the MacBook Pro doesn’t bother me. If I were going to drop $2000 on a laptop (because, let’s face it, you can’t buy it without at least a few extra pieces that will bring the total up), I’d go for the more powerful Pro with a 15.4″ screen. That’s me, though. Additionally, the internet is aflutter with the fact that it has a non-user-replaceable battery. Personally, I think they’re blowing it out of proportion as by the time the battery starts to die out, most of these same people will have upgraded through at least 2 iterations. It is one sexy-looking laptop, but it’s not for me. Oh, and for the record, that’s one of the dumbest names since the Lisa.
So, that’s it. That’s my summary of my feelings about it. Overall, it was a pretty good time following it. I have to give props to MacRumorsLive.com and their coverage. Engadget went down a few times, but the MacRumorsLive stream kept coming and didn’t even require refreshing. That was a great experience, guys! (Not to mention, it was sponsored by MacHeist which I have purchased both years now–great products in that bundle.)