Apple WWDC: Keynote doesn’t meet high expectations

You have to hand it to Apple. They have set so many bars so high as far as their WWDC Keynote goes that everyone sets very high expectations, and anything short of spectacular fails to satiate the desires of the die-hard Apple fan.

This year the Apple team failed to meet expectations, expectations set very high thanks to Internet rumors, the upcoming Zune release, and past Keynotes. While the Keynote was very good on the basis of new products (Mac Pro) and software (Leopard), there was nothing too special or unexpected, contrary to what we are used to seeing from Stevie J. and his team. No news on a new iPod, no new laptop, and alas, no cell phone. Apple’s stock price reflected the relative surprise at the lack of new products, dropping $1.09 (1.6%) on the day…(this could be due to a number of other factors, including the delayed filings release, as well as the general market hesitation due to the upcoming FOMC meeting…but for the purposes of this blog, I am going to attribute this to the WWDC…;))

However, sitting up at 1am in Hong Kong while reading the live update proved to be quite fun, and some great stuff was announced.

Mac Pro

This beast of an computer was released yesterday. Coming in at a base ofr around $2500, this machine is built for the hard core, with 4.8 million different configurations available…specs are up there and puts this as one of the fastest computers available. The crazy part…up to 2 terabytes of space…that’s 2000 GB! That’s quite a few season’s of Entourage…

OSX Leopard

The new installment of the OS looks to be pretty f***ing awesome. They have added a whole slew of new enhancements, the most significant being programs called Time Machine (automatically backs up all files…you lose the HD, you are ok…you lose one file, you are ok…man, how I could have used this 3 months ago) and Spaces, a program that allows you to have different virtual desktops and group all your stuff together. For example, if you are working on your WordPress blog, iTunes, Powerpoint and Excel for work, email, and surfing ESPN and Appleinsider (hmm…kind of looks like what I am doing right now), you can group these into different categories and open up the different desktops…looks pretty neat. Significant strides have also been made in Mail, iCal and iChat. And this is only the stuff they are choosing to disclose, because who knows who will copy it…*cough* Microsoft *cough*.

Leopard is set to ship in the Spring of ‘07, but unlike the boys up in Washington, Apple actually tends to release stuff earlier, so who knows…Feb ‘07 maybe? Pretty solid birthday present…

All products and software aside, my favorite part of the Keynote this year was the all out attack that was made on Microsoft, Apple basically said that Vista is copying Tiger in a number of areas, so on so forth. I thought that this was hilarious. They had signs up which said “Hasta la vista, Vista” and “Redmond has a cat, too. A copycat.” The most blatant attack on Microsoft I have seen Apple make, perhaps ever, they even showed how Vista copied Tiger IN THEIR KEYNOTE! Great stuff…

On the whole, not what I was expecting (or hoping for), but positive none the less. This week should see Apple lovers everywhere excited about the new releases, and hoping that the holiday season will bring the long desired products that everyone has been waiting to see.

Cheers,
Taps

Apple blog #1: iChat Mobile – I sure freakin’ hope so…

So, it is now 4 days before Apple’s WWDC, and with all the rumors about what they are going to release flying around cyberspace faster than Britney is popping out babies, I thought it would be about time to write my own Apple related blog. Being a complete Apple guy myself (ask anyone…not the Apple Campus Rep for nothing you know…), I love all things Apple, even the stock (which I told my dad to invest in because with the Keynote coming up on Monday that baby is bound to rise…mark my words, $80/share here we come). It is about time to write about it right?

So, with all these rumors flying around, you don’t know what is fact, what is a rumor based on fact, and what is utter b.s. Now, as Apple has the tendency to keep ALL their new products locked down tighter than Alcatraz (most of the time people working within Apple don’t even know what is going on), tech hounds have to rely on rumor pages, blogs and the like to get some idea of what might be going on inside 1 Infinite Loop. And so here we are, unsure of what Apple will unveil at the WWDC (except a new OS, which is an almost certainty…but even then, with Apple you never know!) and so anything and everything is being thrown out there: An upgrade of the Power Mac, now called the Mac Pro…a 13″ Macbook Pro…new iPod Nano that will replace the shuffle…iPod Nano with more capacity…and a slew of others…but my personal favorite rumor has been all the talk about a possible Apple phone.

Now, as my girlfriend will attest, I am a phone junkie. I am always looking to buy the cool new phone (A.Go: Was considering buying a new one today! Hehe), and if my bank account would allow it, I would probably own 3 or 4. Being both a phone junkie and an Apple junkie, an Apple phone would be perfect (and cost efficient) for me. So I have been reading the blogs, checking the sites, and basically eagerly awaiting Monday’s Keynote (1pm EST) while praying for an Apple phone, because there is something you have to understand – in this day and age, if it is made by Apple, it will be awesome. It will be sleek, classy, user friendly and sync with everything else Mac. So when I am going about my regular routine and checking out CNNMoney.com like always and I see Apple’s new phone: iChat Mobile on the front page, that, coupled with all the talk of the phone, gets me really excited. Mind you, the article is essentially a blog, but come on, it is a CNN freaking blog! According to the article, another website, Engadget (which is displaying the following pic on their site), says this is what the “iPhone” (a name that cannot be used since it is already taken by a VOIP company, so people say it will be called iChat Mobile) will look like:

Now, this phone doesn’t necessarily have what it takes to be an Apple phone, and a few things don’t make sense (like why would you have the camera on the back…how would you video conference? Also, why would you put a iPod shuffle controls on the thing? It would have to be a lot smoother than this…the pic looks like a pretty solid 3D rendering, but not Apple enough in my opinion). But irrespective of all that stuff, this is the closest thing that I have seen to a pretty decent rendering of what the phone could look really look like. That, and the one that Such has on his blog. There is this fake ad that is on YouTube which is also pretty amazing, and I think that this would be far cooler than the above, as unlikely as it seems. As far as I’m concerned, I just want them to release it. They have to at some point…and you know they are working on it. This was proven by an AppleInsider guy (who incidentally has way to much freakin’ time on his hands) that found some interesting code in the latest iPod software:

While Apple has been relatively mum on any plans for iPod-branded cell phone, the latest iPod software includes references to an “t_feature_app_PHONE_APP” application and variables such as “kPhoneSignalStrength,” “clPhoneCallHistoryModel,” prPhoneSettingsMenu,” “prPhoneSettingsMenuView,” prPhoneEnableSetting” and “prPhoneMenuItem.”

The phone references within the iPod software are unlikely in relation to Motorola’s iTunes Music phones because those phones do not run the iPod operating system, the member pointed out in his analysis. The references also appear to be unrelated Apple’s address book syncing.

So, take everything into account and it seems that an Apple phone is coming. Or so we hope. Apple has taken some great strides recently (also announced today: 70% of all new GM, Ford and Mazda cars will have iPod integration built in so you can connect your iPod to the car stereo system…already present in BMW and Mercs), it’s products are becoming something of a status symbol. Should they release a phone, it will fit right in (it better be GSM though…I would be so pissed if it was a CDMA phone). And if they do, talk about the Apple stock going way past $80.

Maybe my dad will buy me the phone with the money he makes off of it… 

Cheers,
Taps

This picture courtesy of CNNMoney…and is one of the coolest renderings I have seen…if it looks like this, well, wow! Big screen and iPod control on one side, phone presumably on the other…done and done.