What is Apple going to release for this anniversary year?!

billy tung · June 30, 2004 11:25AM

It just seems really odd to me that Apple has yet to release much exciting as the EXPO keynote in January had promised 2004 to be filled with exciting announcements.

Maybe Steve has a couple of aces up his sleeve... still 6 more months in 2004 i guess.

ipodandimac · June 30, 2004 11:51AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Billy Tung

It just seems really odd to me that Apple has yet to release much exciting as the EXPO keynote in January had promised 2004 to be filled with exciting announcements.

Maybe Steve has a couple of aces up his sleeve... still 6 more months in 2004 i guess.

new pbooks, new ibooks, new emacs, new power macs, new displays---all of those are pretty awesome.

oh, and airport express, ipod/bmw, ipod mini, xserve g5's...

dunno where you have been, but 2004 has been great so far.

ajprice · June 30, 2004 1:36PM

ipodandimac, thats a very positive way of seeing things, well done. The way I see 2004 so far is :

Speed bumped Powerbooks

speed bumped iBooks

speed bumped eMacs

speed bumped Power Macs

XServe G5

Nothing really 'New' there, just the same stuff made faster

---

New displays - I agree on this, they are impressive.

Airport Express - a nice addition if you need portable wireless

iPod/BMW - again, nice if you have a BMW

iPod mini - not in the UK yet, 6 months after it was announced at the expo!

---

Stuff that has stayed the same -

iPod - 40Gb is the biggest drive Toshiba make right now, fair enough, but it still has the stupid separate buttons above the wheel, when the iPod mini wheel is much nicer. Other stuff like Bluetooth, colour and other stuff rumoured and discussed in other threads here.

iMac - the eMac makes this look stupid right now 20" screen or not, enough said.

pb · June 30, 2004 1:46PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ipodandimac

new pbooks, new ibooks, new emacs, new power macs, new displays---all of those are pretty awesome.

oh, and airport express, ipod/bmw, ipod mini, xserve g5's...

dunno where you have been, but 2004 has been great so far.

The keyword is "exciting announcements". The updates you mention are just the usual updates in the several Mac lines that take place once or twice a year. With perhaps the exception of Airport Express, there was hardly something exciting in the hardware sector.

On the other hand, Apple seem to do much better on the software side, at least this is the message from this year's WWDC.

clonenode · June 30, 2004 3:27PM

We're putting an awful lot of presure on Apple to really "Wow!" us in this anniversary year. Maybe they can come out with something as revolutionary as the first Mac, but (as much as I want it) it does not seem likely.

billy tung · June 30, 2004 4:49PM

That's exactly what I mean. It's been a year of as expected speedbumps and upgrades. The only thing that stands out really is Airport Express and the new displays. What I think should happen on such an important anniversary year is to introduce a new/better way of doing something. Much like how the iPod totally took the world by surprized. I just have this feeling that Apple is really to unleash something more significant than regular speedbumps to mark the year. Am I expecting too much from this?

the one to rescue · June 30, 2004 8:53PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Billy Tung

That's exactly what I mean. It's been a year of as expected speedbumps and upgrades. The only thing that stands out really is Airport Express and the new displays. What I think should happen on such an important anniversary year is to introduce a new/better way of doing something. Much like how the iPod totally took the world by surprized. I just have this feeling that Apple is really to unleash something more significant than regular speedbumps to mark the year. Am I expecting too much from this?

I don't think that engineers at Apple will work harder and invent more revolutionnary concepts just because this is the 20th birthday of the Mac.

I don't even believe that they will release a special Mac for the birthday (or maybe a special edition of an existing product, with the same mobo and almost the same case) : profitability has been the keyword at Apple since Jobs got back.

I don't believe the "imac birthday paris" thing from the WWDC keynote either (though I'll be at the Apple Expo keynote in Paris and that definitely would be sweet if Steve introduced some thing incredible just 10 meters from me!)

Maybe a new cool ad campaign...

jade · June 30, 2004 8:57PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ajprice

iPod mini - not in the UK yet, 6 months after it was announced at the expo!

Not even availible here in the US (not at my local Best Buy...not schedule to arrive till July)

kim kap sol · June 30, 2004 9:25PM

Dual 3GHz G5s...oh wait...

billy tung · July 1, 2004 11:28AM

Hmmm.... now that I think about it. As other people have mentioned in the other tread, the keynote was 15 mins short of the 2 hour mark. Maybe Steve was going to release something that day...

The new displays.... think about it... the space underneath the display is perfect for a mini tower/pizza box/cube/what-have-you machine.

jherrling · July 1, 2004 5:28PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Billy Tung

Hmmm.... now that I think about it. As other people have mentioned in the other tread, the keynote was 15 mins short of the 2 hour mark. Maybe Steve was going to release something that day...

The new displays.... think about it... the space underneath the display is perfect for a mini tower/pizza box/cube/what-have-you machine.

It was probably was ment for the 3 Ghz G5's but since they only knew they couldn't reach their goal 4 weeks a head of the WWDC they didn't have anything else to go in that 15 min. It looks like new iMacs are comming but they were delayed along with the G5's according to the AI front page. So looks like Paris could be big.

pippin · July 3, 2004 11:33AM

In answer to the title question:

Nothing.

a_greer · July 3, 2004 11:40AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Pippin

In answer to the title question:

Nothing.

You all forget the new 20th aniv. gift and first speacial produck from mwsf, the poster...

ajprice · July 7, 2004 3:06PM

I take back the groan about the iPod mini not being in the UK, as it's now finally available. The rest still stands though.

david_oc · July 7, 2004 6:16PM

Don't forget the potential of Airport Express. It's not just portable wireless. Airtunes is a good offering, but more than that, it offers a glimpse into the future. At both the Europe(ish) iTMS intro and WWDC, Steve really emphasised that they we're getting into the livingroom. In and of itself, it's a bit awkward, but even getting people used to Apple in their livingroom is good. Anyway, there's no way Apple would just create software like Airtunes and then leave it alone. Think of the version 2 of any iSoftware, and the leaps and bounds it made over its predecessor.

Also, I know that it's not really til next year, but some of the stuff in Tiger is pretty cool.

Take Spotlight. It looked almost boring when Steve demoed it but look at it like this:

Microsoft have been talking about metadata searching etc. for ages, but can't even include it in their first version of Longhorn.

Apple say nothing (which, bar recent iMac news, isn't unusual), then announce that it will be out next year.

Of course, I wouldn't say no to a MegaMacTM but let's face it, if people are looking for something as revolutionary as the first Mac, bear in mind that the timing for that may not fit with an anniversary.

I honestly think that Apple have had at least two recent(ish) product releases just as revolutionary as the Mac. The iPod changed the music player market. iTMS, one way or another, has changed the whole music industry, and presented the concept for film, software, any industry based on distribution of copies of a single source.

jade · July 9, 2004 12:05AM

free downloads from the itunes music store featuring william hung on vocals

ionyz · July 9, 2004 12:20AM

Quote:

Originally posted by The One to Rescue

I don't even believe that they will release a special Mac for the birthday (or maybe a special edition of an existing product, with the same mobo and almost the same case) : profitability has been the keyword at Apple since Jobs got back.

Same here. It would be surprising but I doubt anything new, as in new machine. A new iMac doesn't count unless its a radical departure from what we know iMac to embody.

costique · July 9, 2004 4:22AM

Quote:

Originally asked by Billy Tung

What is Apple going to release for this anniversary year?!

A press release effectively congratulating all Macintosh users with reaching zero marketshare.

tedndi · July 9, 2004 6:18AM

Mac IIcx in colors running at 25mhz with 17" crt.

lemon bon bon · July 9, 2004 6:30AM

Quote:

Dual 3GHz G5s...oh wait...

Don't tease...it still hurts...

iMac G3, sorry, '3G'.

And it WILL BE HEADLESSS, STEVIE!

Sod that, I want my alu prosumer cube and a consumer white plastic cube to mirror the laptop strat'. Wait. It makes sense...Apple won't do it...

Lemon Bon Bon

lemon bon bon · July 9, 2004 6:36AM

And I want those alu cubes annodiiiiized to match the ipod mini...

...an'...and I want the plastic cubes to be fruity like the original iMacs...

...and I want them to be sanely priced....

......and I want them to be...agpee-able.....

...and I want a goddamn g5 in there dammit......

.....and I want 'tiger'....lots of tony the tiger...

....cos den derlllll be grrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!

......and the Mac hoary (hairy?) hordes of Steve the King will sweep the gates of Redmond and carry the carcass of the duopoly in the fire pit of Dos...

Lemon Bon Bon

What is Apple going to release for this anniversary year?!

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