This has been a strange year, slow hardware announcements, forays into new areas (ATV and iPhone) a new OS coming. A lot is happening but it feels so slow.
This is an excellent overall summary?a paradox with respect to the speed of the company's progress.
I'm reminded a bit of January 7, 2002 when Steve and the team introduced the first flat panel iMac. As beautiful as the computer was, most of us who were hoping for more raw power were absolutely underwhelmed (even to the point of indignation) by the announcement, particularly considering the way that the company hyped it.
In retrospect, the flat panel represented a decent step forward for the company?by no means as earth-shattering as Apple's hyperbole would have had everyone believe, but nonetheless substantial, especially aesthetically.
Having just taken possession of a beautifully designed and fundamentally rock-solid quad-core Mac Pro, it's good to see aesthetics and engineering so nicely melded. In that category, Apple is running very strong. Its products remain incredibly empowering for those of us who use them.
Predictions about the iPhone may have caused Apple's stock to skyrocket beyond reasonable valuations, but the company's foundation is obviously now not merely in its OS and hardware. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that Apple's overall health depends upon its ability to out-innovate Microsoft and other competitors with life-empowering consumer electronic devices so that the company can slowly but steadily gain marketshare in its traditional computing province. As long as OS X continues to be a more stable and sensible operating system than the alternatives, Apple will have something to offer. Look for an ongoing dance featuring two increasingly inter-related sides of one amazing company.
Macworld introduced two consumer devices that of no use to me. WWDC introduced the final form of OSX tiger and a much of new features that will be very useful to me. I only wish they'd release a machine that isn't for super pros that can use all of them without cluttering my desk.
Comments
This has been a strange year, slow hardware announcements, forays into new areas (ATV and iPhone) a new OS coming. A lot is happening but it feels so slow.
This is an excellent overall summary?a paradox with respect to the speed of the company's progress.
I'm reminded a bit of January 7, 2002 when Steve and the team introduced the first flat panel iMac. As beautiful as the computer was, most of us who were hoping for more raw power were absolutely underwhelmed (even to the point of indignation) by the announcement, particularly considering the way that the company hyped it.
In retrospect, the flat panel represented a decent step forward for the company?by no means as earth-shattering as Apple's hyperbole would have had everyone believe, but nonetheless substantial, especially aesthetically.
Having just taken possession of a beautifully designed and fundamentally rock-solid quad-core Mac Pro, it's good to see aesthetics and engineering so nicely melded. In that category, Apple is running very strong. Its products remain incredibly empowering for those of us who use them.
Predictions about the iPhone may have caused Apple's stock to skyrocket beyond reasonable valuations, but the company's foundation is obviously now not merely in its OS and hardware. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that Apple's overall health depends upon its ability to out-innovate Microsoft and other competitors with life-empowering consumer electronic devices so that the company can slowly but steadily gain marketshare in its traditional computing province. As long as OS X continues to be a more stable and sensible operating system than the alternatives, Apple will have something to offer. Look for an ongoing dance featuring two increasingly inter-related sides of one amazing company.