While keeping an eye on the various Apple-related sites lately, I’ve found myself a tad confused. What? You want some more reviews from us? Those will be coming in a few days, we promise. It seems that Apple has been a bit “off” ever since Macworld San Francisco.
Where’s iLife ’07 or iWork ’07?
The most obvious missing piece from Macworld San Francisco was updated versions of Apple’s two software suites. For the past few years, we’ve gotten accustomed to new iLife versions in January (heck, even before it was iLife, we saw this when iPhoto was introduced). iWork followed that trend with its second version. It seems like Apple has been waiting awhile to get something new out to us, especially since that’s guaranteed money for them from many Mac users who feel compelled to get something new.
Leopard?
Leopard has gotten a few comments here and there, but even that has been quiet. Usually when Apple gets a few months away, they’ll throw a more pinpointed release date. Plus, it’s getting to the two-years-since-the-last-OS mark. We’re ready for something new.
iPods?
Apple’s iPod lineup has gotten rather stale as of late. Don’t get me wrong—the current crop of iPods is superb, but the current designs have been around for awhile. The “regular” iPod has not changed much (except for capacity/a few features/brightness) since its introduction over 14 months ago. The nano is much like its more scratch-prone predecessor, but has remained unchanged since September. Let’s not forget the shuffle, which got more colors, but that’s about it. Where’s the Next Big iPod Innovation™?
Apple TV Delays?
Yesterday, word came out that the Apple TV would not ship for another few weeks. Now, I understand delays happen with product ship dates, but this was supposed to be the expected-to-get-your-hands-on-early gadget from Apple’s 2007 announcements. Maybe enough to tide people over until the iPhone…
The Blame Game
I’m not one to blame anyone for what’s going on. Clearly the Mac Web, accessory manufacturers, and resellers are in a holding pattern until Apple comes out with things that are expected, but not “official”. It seems that things have gotten to be a bit of a standstill, more than even in past years. Of course, I could be wrong and Apple could be updating something later today…it is a Tuesday, after all.
2 Responses to “What’s Apple Up To?”
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02/27/2007 at 12:58 pm
iLife:
It should be quite obvious that iLife is going to be included with Leopard. iLife is likely to gain a lot of Core Annimation tools, and with Redmond bundling in their photo app and such with Vista, Apple is smart to include iLife with the OS taking any “extra fee for what Vista gives me” off the table.
Bundling iLife will also appear as a bargain. $149 for Leopard which includes iLife. Anyway one looks at it, it is a deal, and will only help increase Leopard’s adoption rates.
iPods:
The only iPod that is a legacy product at this point is the iPod video – and that product is not likely to get a rev. until the iPhone ships. Apple is not going to risk jeopardizing any iPhone sales by delivering a touch-screen iPod that could satisfy some of those iPhone sales before the phone arrrives – not a chance.
AppleTV:
Either the FCC is holding things up, or studio contracts are still inked with what is about to come with AppleTV… And that would be, direct movie purchases via your living-room and eventually rentals. The AppleTV will tie directly into the iTunes movie store, much like it currently ties into the movie trailers on Apple’s website. In purchasing, AppleTV will work in reverse of what it known to do. It will gather a purchased movie from the web (iTunes in the sky), and store it to the AppleTV hard drive, then dump it over to the iTunes libary on it’s mated PC/Mac iTunes.
02/28/2007 at 1:05 am
They have no reason to bundle iLife with the OS.
iLife comes free with a New Mac as it is.
Retail box sales of Leopard don’t need iLife to sell.
Retail box sales of iLife will sell. There is no need to give it away.
Apple is a hardware company. The only reason for new versions is for new hardware sales. Upgrades to existing users is just gravy.