Notes of interest: Tiger party, iWork, EncycliPodia
Tiger Launch Events to Pack Several Party Favors
Based on an analysis of data and information, we believe Apple in the US has shipped upwards of a quarter million retail copies of Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" to its retail stores and Apple authorized resellers in preparation for tonight's Tiger launch event.
Sources close to the company said the average Apple retail store is expecting to have 1000 copies of Tiger on hand, while flagship locations, such as the company's SoHo store in Manhattan, have reportedly been stocked with 5000 copies. Additionally, stores are receiving a hundred or so Tiger drop-in kits for preexisting Apple desktop computers in inventory and a few dozen mini drop-in kits for existing Mac minis.
Anaheim, Calif-based Crest National appear to be the ones handling the duplication of Tiger onto optical media. Each retail case consists of 10 retail-boxed copies.
Apple retail stores are also expected to hand out scratch-off lottery tickets where customers can instantly win not only PowerBooks and 30GB iPod photos, but also JBL Creature Speakers, iPod minis, iSights, iPod shuffles, and copies of iWork. "The chances of walking away with free hardware on Friday will be high," one source said.
Additionally, Apple has shipped to its stores thousands of black "Tiger" tee-shirts, which will come in several different designs, each featuring a major feature of Tiger (like Spotlight and Dashboard).
Speaking of iWork
Dare we say it, but Microsoft will love it -- iWork sales have become so sluggish that Apple is literally inventing ways to pull sales of the product out of the doldrums.
After an initial modest response, sales of the software have been described as nothing short of "horrible." Most retail stores AppleInsider spoke to conceded to only moving a handful of copies each week, if that.
In addition to authorizing catalog resellers and some of its stores to offer free copies of iWork to customers who are disgruntled over other issues, the company will be including a free 30-day trial of the productivity suite with each retail copy of Tiger in hopes that it may rejuvenate interest.
Furthermore, Apple has quietly launched a discounted iWork family pack for $99. Meanwhile, online retailer Amazon.com has taken its own initiative, offering an additional $10 rebate when iWork is purchased alongside Tiger.
Grab Your EncycliPodia
Apple on Friday will also begin distributing a brand-new collateral piece that educates customers on its current iPod assortment, dubbed the "EncycliPodia." The full color brochure will include a detailed overview of the full line of Apple iPods, a section dedicated to the integration between iPod and iTunes, and accessory suggestions broken up into sections such as "In the Car," "At Home," and "On the Go."
It's believed that the brochure will prominently feature those accessory makers currently surrendering 10% royalties to Apple from their "Made for iPod" devices.
Based on an analysis of data and information, we believe Apple in the US has shipped upwards of a quarter million retail copies of Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" to its retail stores and Apple authorized resellers in preparation for tonight's Tiger launch event.
Sources close to the company said the average Apple retail store is expecting to have 1000 copies of Tiger on hand, while flagship locations, such as the company's SoHo store in Manhattan, have reportedly been stocked with 5000 copies. Additionally, stores are receiving a hundred or so Tiger drop-in kits for preexisting Apple desktop computers in inventory and a few dozen mini drop-in kits for existing Mac minis.
Anaheim, Calif-based Crest National appear to be the ones handling the duplication of Tiger onto optical media. Each retail case consists of 10 retail-boxed copies.
Apple retail stores are also expected to hand out scratch-off lottery tickets where customers can instantly win not only PowerBooks and 30GB iPod photos, but also JBL Creature Speakers, iPod minis, iSights, iPod shuffles, and copies of iWork. "The chances of walking away with free hardware on Friday will be high," one source said.
Additionally, Apple has shipped to its stores thousands of black "Tiger" tee-shirts, which will come in several different designs, each featuring a major feature of Tiger (like Spotlight and Dashboard).
Speaking of iWork
Dare we say it, but Microsoft will love it -- iWork sales have become so sluggish that Apple is literally inventing ways to pull sales of the product out of the doldrums.
After an initial modest response, sales of the software have been described as nothing short of "horrible." Most retail stores AppleInsider spoke to conceded to only moving a handful of copies each week, if that.
In addition to authorizing catalog resellers and some of its stores to offer free copies of iWork to customers who are disgruntled over other issues, the company will be including a free 30-day trial of the productivity suite with each retail copy of Tiger in hopes that it may rejuvenate interest.
Furthermore, Apple has quietly launched a discounted iWork family pack for $99. Meanwhile, online retailer Amazon.com has taken its own initiative, offering an additional $10 rebate when iWork is purchased alongside Tiger.
Grab Your EncycliPodia
Apple on Friday will also begin distributing a brand-new collateral piece that educates customers on its current iPod assortment, dubbed the "EncycliPodia." The full color brochure will include a detailed overview of the full line of Apple iPods, a section dedicated to the integration between iPod and iTunes, and accessory suggestions broken up into sections such as "In the Car," "At Home," and "On the Go."
It's believed that the brochure will prominently feature those accessory makers currently surrendering 10% royalties to Apple from their "Made for iPod" devices.
Comments
into such a dominated pool and expect instant results.
I love iwork, and as it's features grow and more
macs get out there, i think so will iwork's user base.
Originally posted by chuckeroo
iwork is first gen software. you can't just hop
into such a dominated pool and expect instant results.
I love iwork, and as it's features grow and more
macs get out there, i think so will iwork's user base.
It has potential but it's incomplete. People need a productivity suite. I've messed around with it a bit but it's not something that people will really "grok" in a few minutes.
Originally posted by chuckeroo
iwork is first gen software. you can't just hop
into such a dominated pool and expect instant results.
I love iwork, and as it's features grow and more
macs get out there, i think so will iwork's user base.
I like iWork a lot, but it's VERY rough around the edges, and I couldn't recommend it to anyone wanting to do serious work. Almost all the export options have issues, especially in Keynote, and Pages has lots of problems both in its approach to workflow and in basic functionality.
I'm sure 2.0 will be a lot more popular, especially if they combine it with the rest of the things people need to "work" (spreadsheet, lightweight DB UI, etc.) In the end, though, its target market isn't that clear yet, since serious people will use InDesign or Microsoft Office, and hobbyists often use a free or lower cost alternative. The idea that it could help sell Macs only works if it's, well, included with Macs.
http://images.apple.com/retail/event...nt_exhibit.pdf
Originally posted by AppleInsider
Dare we say it, but Microsoft will love it -- iWork sales have become so sluggish that Apple is literally inventing ways to pull sales of the product out of the doldrums.
After an initial modest response, sales of the software have been described as nothing short of "horrible." Most retail stores AppleInsider spoke to conceded to only moving a handful of copies each week, if that.
Good, 'cause iWork sucks! Pages and Keynote may be great, but what sucks about it is what it is NOT! iWork is supposed to be AppleWorks for OS X, as far as I am concerned. Until it becomes an integrated word processor/spreadsheet/database/painting/drawing/presentation package, I'm not interested.
I've been able to do great things with AppleWorks and seeing the possibilities of what it could do if it were integrated with Address Book, iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, Mail and so on, I could see how a well-designed AppleWorks X could destroy Office for home users and some small businesses. It could make Apple the far, far superior choice for consumers.
When Apple finally delivers iWork 1.0, I'll buy it. (They've reached Gold Master with Pages and Keynote, but the other four pieces haven't been made Public Beta yet.)
Right now the suite should be called i(Don'tHaveWhatiNeedTo)Work
Now that Core Data's in the Wild, the spreadsheet and db portions can progress nicely.
However, Dave, iWork will never become an integrated suite. That's not how the Nexties do business. Look at the AddressBook/iCal/Mail kludge they've got us working with.
http://www.apple.com/retail/events/tiger/gallery.html
Originally posted by Frank777
Everybody who has any brains is waiting for version 2.0 at MWSF.
Right now the suite should be called i(Don'tHaveWhatiNeedTo)Work
Now that Core Data's in the Wild, the spreadsheet and db portions can progress nicely.
However, Dave, iWork will never become an integrated suite. That's not how the Nexties do business. Look at the AddressBook/iCal/Mail kludge they've got us working with.
That's what Services are for-> interoperate the power of other apps within your app without having to integrate application by application.
It keeps apps lightweight, to the point and working in a collection of other apps that provide specific services all applications can leverage.
Write a set of Automator scripts to leverage Services, sit back and be more productive.
Originally posted by Frank777
Everybody who has any brains is waiting for version 2.0 at MWSF.
Right now the suite should be called i(Don'tHaveWhatiNeedTo)Work
Now that Core Data's in the Wild, the spreadsheet and db portions can progress nicely.
However, Dave, iWork will never become an integrated suite. That's not how the Nexties do business. Look at the AddressBook/iCal/Mail kludge they've got us working with.
That's not the definition of integrated:
integrated |??nt?gre?t?d| adjective having been integrated, in particular ? (of an institution, body, etc.) desegregated, esp. racially : integrated education. ? with various parts or aspects linked or coordinated : an integrated and high-quality public transportation system. ? chiefly Physics indicating the mean value or total sum of (temperature, an area, etc.) : integrated electron density along the line of sight.
iWork is integrated and so is mail/address book and iCal they are integrated but are separate applications. A combined suite isn't good in my opinion - nor Apple's. iWork is integrated into iLife and for the record AppleWorks wasn''t integrated it was just like the project gallery in Office - a combined starting point. I use Keynote and iWorks is worth the cost for that program alone - it's a professional presentation software that beats PowerPoint in every aspect (almost).
However iWork is a bit clumsy and needs tweaking, it's also in a need of a proper word processor, data base and spreadsheet.
Originally posted by aplnub
Keynote is EXCELLENT, but Pages needs work.
And it needs a spreadsheet. Really, really, really needs a spreadsheet. Even back in '91 when I worked at WordPerfect tables could do basic mathematical functions in the word-processor. iWorks doesn't even have that, let alone something that can compete with Excell or even Mariner.
That said, I love Pages and Keynote. I hope Apple responds by polishing and adding, and not by just letting it die.
Agree fully with the first post. Apple can't expect to budge the near monopoly of MSOffice with 1.0 software that doesn't even do everything that Appleworks 6.0 does.
One the other hand, iWork as a bundle is fairly cheap. I don't blame them for putting Pages and Keynote together. It would be a different storuy if they were asking MS prices for this stuff. One can easily think of this as a good price for Keynote -which rules- with Pages tossed in for free.
The problem with iWork is that it is simply not good. Not good at all.
There are a thousand things Apple needs to do better with iWork 06, but here are the must haves:
1. Keynote needs dual bullets on a single slide.
2. Keynote needs pro level presenter tools
3. Keynote needs the bugs stomped out of it.
4. Pages is a buggy developer build--embarrassingly so. Basic core and obvious functionality doesn't work, such as export to HTML. Plus didn't it occur to anyone Apple that there was no way to delete a page until they issued a patch? Pages is a brilliant rethinking of the word processor, but it needs basic functionality--how about rearranging pages and smarter layout tools--for it to be usable and trusted by anyone. Pages really is a rush job at best.
5. iWork needs honest to goodness Office compatibility.
6. It needs a spreadsheet. And given the fact that Excel is Microsoft's best product by far, the Apple spreadsheet needs to be solid.
7. In addition to saving and opening Office files flawlessly, iWork 06 needs to play better with MS Office. I should be able to cut and paste a chart or part of a spreadsheet into Pages or Keynote and it should just work, formatting and all.
I am sure this list is not complete, and it certainly is not a list of all of the things iWork 06 needs to be competitive nevertheless great and compelling. But without the above, no one is going to take iWork seriously.
iWork 05 was really just an upgrade to Keynote--a great program--with a demo quality word processor tacked on.
It is no surprise sales suck.
Originally posted by Tuttle
Apple has already started to post pictures from the first Apple Store Tiger crowds:
http://www.apple.com/retail/events/tiger/gallery.html
It's insane to me how I look at all those photos and think, "wow, everyone's wearing black." Surely not everyone wears black, right? I mean, that last photo isn't really of just employees, is it?
The thing I don't understand is that they chose to write Pages from scratch. They should have bought and enhanced a programm called Ragtime.
It basically is a wordprocessor with fairly sofisticated layout capabilites that could have easily been enhanced with a template system. And it includes spreadsheet funcionality as well.
What is Apple thinking? I don't know about everyone else but I like features - so I can do whatever I want with a program - and heck, with all these fast processors and huge amounts of memory what's wrong with packing in all the features - like in MS Office. I don't know why some people call it BLOAT. If MS Office is BLOAT than I guess I like BLOAT.
Apple thinks they can strip a word processor down to just a few features and say it's better cuz it's simple. Ha! Whatever! I guess the market will tell them how their wrong.