Interesting year for everyone. Hopefully 2009 will be much better. With Macworld looming in just days, I figured I would throw my 2 cents in. The big thing is that Steve Jobs wont be giving the key note. Fact is, at least from what I have heard is that he is sick, no wait, he's dying, no maybe it was he was abducted by aliens. Better yet, Steve is an alien and is awaiting the trip home. Who knows?
The second big thing is that this is Apple's last Macworld. Could this be the end of Apple? Will Apple cease to exist after next week? Is the end of the world coming? Speculation purely.
I have been a Mac user and aficionado for only a short period of time - 6 years. I have been in business for 25 years and have seen a lot of things come and go. Here hopefully are some logical predictions for Macworld and the future of Apple...
First of all, with regards to Steve (as if I know him). He's a wealthy and shrewd business man. Is he healthy? Who knows. He's from what I understand a hard core vegan. Its difficult to look healthy let alone be healthy living that way. Secondly, Steve is in his mid 50's. He's aging. Everyone does. Cut the man a break. His health is irrelevant to the discussion. Apple will continue with or without him.
Secondly, no future Macworld appearances. Two reasons for this. #1 is cost. Apple doesnt need to spend the money to promote itself. I was at the mall 3 times over the last week or so. We have an Apple Store. It was by far busier than any store in the mall. It is just simply not necessary for Apple to promote themselves and tie their hands to an annual trade show. At Macworld everyone has become used to product announcements due to the speculation. I would venture to say that the expectation of a Macworld announcement actually hurts Apple and its reputation. They have been far more successful holding their own events which they can completely control.
Lastly. I believe that there will be a lot of announcements. New Mac Pro and Mac Mini. iLife and iWork 2009. 32GB iPhone. Price reductions in the Touch. Major update and revision to the Apple TV...possibly in conjunction with the Mac Mini...a combined device with DVR capabilities. I also believe that there will be one and possibly 2 new product announcements. Snow Leopard will get a release date. Think about it. What better way to start handing the helm over to the company than to have many new announcements by someone else other than Jobs. It makes sense...at least to me. At any rate, here's to a stellar 2009.
all the speculation about Jobs is really apples fault. They knew the rumors would start
the moment they announced the macworld keynote. In my opinion Steve Jobs should
just do a press release stating that it is unhealthy for the company to be perceived as relying
on one man, therefore other leaders in the company will be spotlighted more for there contributions.
ie....keynotes, product announcements etc. Apple has to be proactive in convincing analyst and stockholders that Jobs is not the driving force behind Apples success. Yes, no doubt Jobs saved apple but it is a new company now, full of talented people groomed by Steve, It will continue to be a success without him....Apple just needs to be blunt and say so much.
...which they're doing with Phil Schiller on stage at Macworld.
Yeah...I know they are and you know they are but it seems to be lost on the pundits....just saying apple needs to spell it out for them.....I guess I am getting a little annoyed with speculation on Steves health and the way it is being used to manipulate stock price.
I'm cross-eyed from reading four pages of predictions but here's a simple product that I don't think was mentioned...
How about an anodized aluminum mouse that is worthy to sit next to the metal keyboard or metal MacBook or MacBook pro? Picture the rear of the 1st gen iPhone with its dull metal look and shiny metal Apple logo ... that would look pretty sweet.
I'm just hoping for a new iMac.. Been putting off buying one for awhile now, hoping for something nice and fast.. Maybe with one of those LED displays?
My 5 yo dual gig G5 died in September. I've been living with an early 2008 2.5GHz MBP since then. I really want a static desktop with expansion for drives and cards etc as the laptop format is a total PITA to me for connecting and disconnecting DVI, FW400/800 USB and Ethernet.
I have been hanging on waiting for a Mac Pro revision on Tuesday that will suck up the money I have banked without a second thought (even for V1 kit and all that may entail - Applecare here I come.
What I've read so far is somewhat depressing as the Mac Pro seems totally off everyone's radar despite not being refreshed since last January.
My other concern is that aside from variations on iLife/iWork 09 there's little else being talked about. Of the Pro S/W nothing whatsoever has been said about Aperture which really needs an upgrade to take on Lightroom. Despite beating Adobe to the punch here has Apple lost the battle as Aperture was like treacle in V1.0 whereas LR was quicker and capitalised on this to grab a bigger market share. Aperture fits my flow much better
Have we been deserted? On both counts? SL seems extremely promising but it seems like a look ahead OS. Are we going o have to wait for SL before either of these get updated?
My 5 yo dual gig G5 died in September. I've been living with an early 2008 2.5GHz MBP since then. I really want a static desktop with expansion for drives and cards etc as the laptop format is a total PITA to me for connecting and disconnecting DVI, FW400/800 USB and Ethernet.
I have been hanging on waiting for a Mac Pro revision on Tuesday that will suck up the money I have banked without a second thought (even for V1 kit and all that may entail - Applecare here I come.
What I've read so far is somewhat depressing as the Mac Pro seems totally off everyone's radar despite not being refreshed since last January.
My other concern is that aside from variations on iLife/iWork 09 there's little else being talked about. Of the Pro S/W nothing whatsoever has been said about Aperture which really needs an upgrade to take on Lightroom. Despite beating Adobe to the punch here has Apple lost the battle as Aperture was like treacle in V1.0 whereas LR was quicker and capitalised on this to grab a bigger market share. Aperture fits my flow much better
Have we been deserted? On both counts? SL seems extremely promising but it seems like a look ahead OS. Are we going o have to wait for SL before either of these get updated?
They may announce one but not deliver one until the next release of Nehalem.
I've been saying for years that a tablet is an utterly retarded, Apple fanwank fantasy that would serve no purpose and would never happen. I posted in tablet threads to ask 'And people would use this to do... what?' or to urge people to abandon the thread, because such threads are annoying, and useless, and pointless.
[Clears throat.]
There's going to be a flat, glass touch thingy about as big as a Kindle or a Sony Reader, and you'll turn the pages of your stolen or ripped books by flicking them, and it's going to launch with an iBooks store or something, but you can use it to play music and do your calendar stuff, and I'd imagine edit documents with iWork '09 web apps, and you'll watch films on it
and
it's going to be a frigging TABLET, OK?
It's going to be really great and it's going to devastate the publishing industry and now writers like me can join our musician friends complaining that we're never going to get paid again and we'll go out and get proper jobs instead.
I've been saying for years that a tablet is an utterly retarded, Apple fanwank fantasy that would serve no purpose and would never happen. I posted in tablet threads to ask 'And people would use this to do... what?' or to urge people to abandon the thread, because such threads are annoying, and useless, and pointless.
[Clears throat.]
There's going to be a flat, glass touch thingy about as big as a Kindle or a Sony Reader, and you'll turn the pages of your stolen or ripped books by flicking them, and it's going to launch with an iBooks store or something, but you can use it to play music and do your calendar stuff, and I'd imagine edit documents with iWork '09 web apps, and you'll watch films on it
and
it's going to be a frigging TABLET, OK?
It's going to be really great and it's going to devastate the publishing industry and now writers like me can join our musician friends complaining that we're never going to get paid again and we'll go out and get proper jobs instead.
This is definitely going to happen. I hate Apple.
I don't think that "books" will be the primary market Apple will go after. It will be a key part, but I think that Apple will use their new...um...'tablet' to radically alter the newspaper/magazine publishing industry.
Newspapers and magazines have the broad audience Jobs craves, whilst obviously needing to be reworked for the new realities of distribution. I think the Apple eBook market will rock the world of:
? Newspaper and Magazine Subscriptions
? Educational textbooks
? General Books
And if Apple has managed to find a way to outdo the Kindle and Reader and use a colour screen, the killer app for the younger set will be comic books.
I've been saying for years that a tablet is an utterly retarded, Apple fanwank fantasy that would serve no purpose and would never happen. I posted in tablet threads to ask 'And people would use this to do... what?' or to urge people to abandon the thread, because such threads are annoying, and useless, and pointless.
[Clears throat.]
There's going to be a flat, glass touch thingy about as big as a Kindle or a Sony Reader, and you'll turn the pages of your stolen or ripped books by flicking them, and it's going to launch with an iBooks store or something, but you can use it to play music and do your calendar stuff, and I'd imagine edit documents with iWork '09 web apps, and you'll watch films on it
and
it's going to be a frigging TABLET, OK?
It's going to be really great and it's going to devastate the publishing industry and now writers like me can join our musician friends complaining that we're never going to get paid again and we'll go out and get proper jobs instead.
I don't think that "books" will be the primary market Apple will go after. It will be a key part, but I think that Apple will use their new...um...'tablet' to radically alter the newspaper/magazine publishing industry.
Newspapers and magazines have the broad audience Jobs craves, whilst obviously needing to be reworked for the new realities of distribution. I think the Apple eBook market will rock the world of:
? Newspaper and Magazine Subscriptions
? Educational textbooks
? General Books
And if Apple has managed to find a way to outdo the Kindle and Reader and use a colour screen, the killer app for the younger set will be comic books.
Yes. This is exactly what they're going to do. I think that the world of printed text you used to have pay money for is about to get rocked.
Yes. This is exactly what they're going to do. I think that the world of printed text you used to have pay money for is about to get rocked.
I wish and I hope that Apple would be the first company to mass produce high resolution flexible displays for mass public consumption. Employed against printed media Apple would absolutely crush, destroy, remake and own the entire printed media industry. All newspapers and magazine companies would have to bow to Steve Jobs as their new master.
Newspapers and magazines have the broad audience Jobs craves, whilst obviously needing to be reworked for the new realities of distribution. I think the Apple eBook market will rock the world of:
? Newspaper and Magazine Subscriptions
? Educational textbooks
? General Books
I think this sounds a little more like it. I know people are fearing that something like this will destroy the print industry, but if they sell print like they sell everything else in the iTunes store, they might end up benefitting print.
Considering the downward spiral newspapers are on right now, I would think that the ability to digitally subscribe to any paper globally could help the industry if they got the price structure right, Personally, I don't like reading books on a screen, but for newspapers and magazines it could work out perfectly.
I wish and I hope that Apple would be the first company to mass produce high resolution flexible displays for mass public consumption. Employed against printed media Apple would absolutely crush, destroy, remake and own the entire printed media industry. All newspapers and magazine companies would have to bow to Steve Jobs as their new master.
And don't tell me the tech doesn't exist yet!
Might be, might be... As everyone recalls, Apple stepped in at the height of the problems and obsolescence the music industry was facing. They just may do the same for the print business.
Comments
Except for some of us who are always insane.
Interesting year for everyone. Hopefully 2009 will be much better. With Macworld looming in just days, I figured I would throw my 2 cents in. The big thing is that Steve Jobs wont be giving the key note. Fact is, at least from what I have heard is that he is sick, no wait, he's dying, no maybe it was he was abducted by aliens. Better yet, Steve is an alien and is awaiting the trip home. Who knows?
The second big thing is that this is Apple's last Macworld. Could this be the end of Apple? Will Apple cease to exist after next week? Is the end of the world coming? Speculation purely.
I have been a Mac user and aficionado for only a short period of time - 6 years. I have been in business for 25 years and have seen a lot of things come and go. Here hopefully are some logical predictions for Macworld and the future of Apple...
First of all, with regards to Steve (as if I know him). He's a wealthy and shrewd business man. Is he healthy? Who knows. He's from what I understand a hard core vegan. Its difficult to look healthy let alone be healthy living that way. Secondly, Steve is in his mid 50's. He's aging. Everyone does. Cut the man a break. His health is irrelevant to the discussion. Apple will continue with or without him.
Secondly, no future Macworld appearances. Two reasons for this. #1 is cost. Apple doesnt need to spend the money to promote itself. I was at the mall 3 times over the last week or so. We have an Apple Store. It was by far busier than any store in the mall. It is just simply not necessary for Apple to promote themselves and tie their hands to an annual trade show. At Macworld everyone has become used to product announcements due to the speculation. I would venture to say that the expectation of a Macworld announcement actually hurts Apple and its reputation. They have been far more successful holding their own events which they can completely control.
Lastly. I believe that there will be a lot of announcements. New Mac Pro and Mac Mini. iLife and iWork 2009. 32GB iPhone. Price reductions in the Touch. Major update and revision to the Apple TV...possibly in conjunction with the Mac Mini...a combined device with DVR capabilities. I also believe that there will be one and possibly 2 new product announcements. Snow Leopard will get a release date. Think about it. What better way to start handing the helm over to the company than to have many new announcements by someone else other than Jobs. It makes sense...at least to me. At any rate, here's to a stellar 2009.
Peace-
Gregg
the moment they announced the macworld keynote. In my opinion Steve Jobs should
just do a press release stating that it is unhealthy for the company to be perceived as relying
on one man, therefore other leaders in the company will be spotlighted more for there contributions.
ie....keynotes, product announcements etc. Apple has to be proactive in convincing analyst and stockholders that Jobs is not the driving force behind Apples success. Yes, no doubt Jobs saved apple but it is a new company now, full of talented people groomed by Steve, It will continue to be a success without him....Apple just needs to be blunt and say so much.
It will continue to be a success without him....Apple just needs to be blunt and say so much.
...which they're doing with Phil Schiller on stage at Macworld.
...which they're doing with Phil Schiller on stage at Macworld.
Yeah...I know they are and you know they are but it seems to be lost on the pundits....just saying apple needs to spell it out for them.....I guess I am getting a little annoyed with speculation on Steves health and the way it is being used to manipulate stock price.
1) Update on how things are going- iPhone sales figures, MacBook figures, iTunes figures
2) iMac speed bump
3) MacPro speed bump
4) New Mac Mini- possible name change to Mac Nano or something along those lines.
5) Snow Leopard preview- this will take up most of the show. Announcements about pricing and release dates will be given
One more thing..... 17" MacBook Pro
There are a few other minor things that could possibly happen:
1) Memory bump across iPod lineup
2) Redesigned Mighty Mouse
That's all I asked for for Christmas.
Without Steve doing the keynote, Apple has to have a strong showing to make up for it.
Things I feel are coming:
- iWork '09
- iLife '09
- Apple TV update
- Mac mini update
- iMac update
- maybe intro of Snow Leopard (more likely WWDC)
- iPhone The Next Generation (better all around; better camera?)
- iPhone nano (current model, smaller package, maybe a few tweaks)
- save the "How well we're doing" stuff for the people it concerns at WWDC
- MacPro updates not at MWSF but later in Cupertino; MWSF is more consumer oriented
- iWork '09
- iLife '09
- Apple TV update
- Mac mini update
- iMac update
- maybe intro of Snow Leopard (more likely WWDC)
- iPhone The Next Generation (better all around; better camera?)
- iPhone nano (current model, smaller package, maybe a few tweaks)
- save the "How well we're doing" stuff for the people it concerns at WWDC
Pick any three, and it might happen.
I'd say "how well we're doing" will be a certainty, followed by an iMac update and a newly designed Mac mini. "Thanks for coming."
How about an anodized aluminum mouse that is worthy to sit next to the metal keyboard or metal MacBook or MacBook pro? Picture the rear of the 1st gen iPhone with its dull metal look and shiny metal Apple logo ... that would look pretty sweet.
Pick any three, and it might happen.
I'd be happy with that.
My 5 yo dual gig G5 died in September. I've been living with an early 2008 2.5GHz MBP since then. I really want a static desktop with expansion for drives and cards etc as the laptop format is a total PITA to me for connecting and disconnecting DVI, FW400/800 USB and Ethernet.
I have been hanging on waiting for a Mac Pro revision on Tuesday that will suck up the money I have banked without a second thought (even for V1 kit and all that may entail - Applecare here I come.
What I've read so far is somewhat depressing as the Mac Pro seems totally off everyone's radar despite not being refreshed since last January.
My other concern is that aside from variations on iLife/iWork 09 there's little else being talked about. Of the Pro S/W nothing whatsoever has been said about Aperture which really needs an upgrade to take on Lightroom. Despite beating Adobe to the punch here has Apple lost the battle as Aperture was like treacle in V1.0 whereas LR was quicker and capitalised on this to grab a bigger market share. Aperture fits my flow much better
Have we been deserted? On both counts? SL seems extremely promising but it seems like a look ahead OS. Are we going o have to wait for SL before either of these get updated?
A new Mac Pro!
My 5 yo dual gig G5 died in September. I've been living with an early 2008 2.5GHz MBP since then. I really want a static desktop with expansion for drives and cards etc as the laptop format is a total PITA to me for connecting and disconnecting DVI, FW400/800 USB and Ethernet.
I have been hanging on waiting for a Mac Pro revision on Tuesday that will suck up the money I have banked without a second thought (even for V1 kit and all that may entail - Applecare here I come.
What I've read so far is somewhat depressing as the Mac Pro seems totally off everyone's radar despite not being refreshed since last January.
My other concern is that aside from variations on iLife/iWork 09 there's little else being talked about. Of the Pro S/W nothing whatsoever has been said about Aperture which really needs an upgrade to take on Lightroom. Despite beating Adobe to the punch here has Apple lost the battle as Aperture was like treacle in V1.0 whereas LR was quicker and capitalised on this to grab a bigger market share. Aperture fits my flow much better
Have we been deserted? On both counts? SL seems extremely promising but it seems like a look ahead OS. Are we going o have to wait for SL before either of these get updated?
They may announce one but not deliver one until the next release of Nehalem.
[Clears throat.]
There's going to be a flat, glass touch thingy about as big as a Kindle or a Sony Reader, and you'll turn the pages of your stolen or ripped books by flicking them, and it's going to launch with an iBooks store or something, but you can use it to play music and do your calendar stuff, and I'd imagine edit documents with iWork '09 web apps, and you'll watch films on it
and
it's going to be a frigging TABLET, OK?
It's going to be really great and it's going to devastate the publishing industry and now writers like me can join our musician friends complaining that we're never going to get paid again and we'll go out and get proper jobs instead.
This is definitely going to happen. I hate Apple.
I've been saying for years that a tablet is an utterly retarded, Apple fanwank fantasy that would serve no purpose and would never happen. I posted in tablet threads to ask 'And people would use this to do... what?' or to urge people to abandon the thread, because such threads are annoying, and useless, and pointless.
[Clears throat.]
There's going to be a flat, glass touch thingy about as big as a Kindle or a Sony Reader, and you'll turn the pages of your stolen or ripped books by flicking them, and it's going to launch with an iBooks store or something, but you can use it to play music and do your calendar stuff, and I'd imagine edit documents with iWork '09 web apps, and you'll watch films on it
and
it's going to be a frigging TABLET, OK?
It's going to be really great and it's going to devastate the publishing industry and now writers like me can join our musician friends complaining that we're never going to get paid again and we'll go out and get proper jobs instead.
This is definitely going to happen. I hate Apple.
I don't think that "books" will be the primary market Apple will go after. It will be a key part, but I think that Apple will use their new...um...'tablet' to radically alter the newspaper/magazine publishing industry.
Newspapers and magazines have the broad audience Jobs craves, whilst obviously needing to be reworked for the new realities of distribution. I think the Apple eBook market will rock the world of:
? Newspaper and Magazine Subscriptions
? Educational textbooks
? General Books
And if Apple has managed to find a way to outdo the Kindle and Reader and use a colour screen, the killer app for the younger set will be comic books.
I've been saying for years that a tablet is an utterly retarded, Apple fanwank fantasy that would serve no purpose and would never happen. I posted in tablet threads to ask 'And people would use this to do... what?' or to urge people to abandon the thread, because such threads are annoying, and useless, and pointless.
[Clears throat.]
There's going to be a flat, glass touch thingy about as big as a Kindle or a Sony Reader, and you'll turn the pages of your stolen or ripped books by flicking them, and it's going to launch with an iBooks store or something, but you can use it to play music and do your calendar stuff, and I'd imagine edit documents with iWork '09 web apps, and you'll watch films on it
and
it's going to be a frigging TABLET, OK?
It's going to be really great and it's going to devastate the publishing industry and now writers like me can join our musician friends complaining that we're never going to get paid again and we'll go out and get proper jobs instead.
This is definitely going to happen. I hate Apple.
pwned.
I don't think that "books" will be the primary market Apple will go after. It will be a key part, but I think that Apple will use their new...um...'tablet' to radically alter the newspaper/magazine publishing industry.
Newspapers and magazines have the broad audience Jobs craves, whilst obviously needing to be reworked for the new realities of distribution. I think the Apple eBook market will rock the world of:
? Newspaper and Magazine Subscriptions
? Educational textbooks
? General Books
And if Apple has managed to find a way to outdo the Kindle and Reader and use a colour screen, the killer app for the younger set will be comic books.
Yes. This is exactly what they're going to do. I think that the world of printed text you used to have pay money for is about to get rocked.
Yes. This is exactly what they're going to do. I think that the world of printed text you used to have pay money for is about to get rocked.
I wish and I hope that Apple would be the first company to mass produce high resolution flexible displays for mass public consumption. Employed against printed media Apple would absolutely crush, destroy, remake and own the entire printed media industry. All newspapers and magazine companies would have to bow to Steve Jobs as their new master.
And don't tell me the tech doesn't exist yet!
Newspapers and magazines have the broad audience Jobs craves, whilst obviously needing to be reworked for the new realities of distribution. I think the Apple eBook market will rock the world of:
? Newspaper and Magazine Subscriptions
? Educational textbooks
? General Books
I think this sounds a little more like it. I know people are fearing that something like this will destroy the print industry, but if they sell print like they sell everything else in the iTunes store, they might end up benefitting print.
Considering the downward spiral newspapers are on right now, I would think that the ability to digitally subscribe to any paper globally could help the industry if they got the price structure right, Personally, I don't like reading books on a screen, but for newspapers and magazines it could work out perfectly.
I wish and I hope that Apple would be the first company to mass produce high resolution flexible displays for mass public consumption. Employed against printed media Apple would absolutely crush, destroy, remake and own the entire printed media industry. All newspapers and magazine companies would have to bow to Steve Jobs as their new master.
And don't tell me the tech doesn't exist yet!
Might be, might be... As everyone recalls, Apple stepped in at the height of the problems and obsolescence the music industry was facing. They just may do the same for the print business.