Sorry about being MIA for a while. I’ve had quite a bit going on, most of which centered around work. Last week I was on the west coast for some work in San Jose.
Excuses aside, I simply had to comment on the big announcements today from the fruity people. I think it goes without saying that the devices unveiled today are compelling and beautiful. Apple continued the trend-setting posture today. I won’t bother to go over each and every device because I’m sure that by now, you’ve read about all you can read on them – perhaps even purchased one or two of them.
It shocks me just how awesomely Apple has slain the competition this year. The best part of it is that the biggest revolution of them all (Leopard) is still yet to be unleashed to the public. Apple has really stored up some fabulous work for this year and they are absolutely killing in the market.
I should point out that Microsoft suspiciously dropped the price of the Zune merely one day prior to the Apple event… on a Tuesday… when Apple had announced the media event two weeks ago… and… Microsoft says… well… they had always planned to do that and it was a regular part of its lifecycle.
Who the hell does Microsoft think they are fooling?
It’s not all roses in the Apple side of the world though. Jobs delivered quite a jolt by announcing a $200 price drop on the iPhone, which has sent pundits spinning tales and Apple fans frothing mad. In a way, I don’t blame them – historically when you were an early adopter of an Apple product, you could expect some technical issues but you didn’t expect a 1/3rd price drop 3 months later. Ouch. That’s gotta hurt. If I had bought an iPhone, I would be sleeping in the doghouse tonight. The wife would have absolutely tied me up by the toenails and flogged me with a wet Chinese mein. I’m not really sure how I feel about this, but Jobs really should do something to throw those early adopters a bone. I suspect he will do that, but just didn’t bring it up at the press event because of the possible negative tone around that discussion.
One other item I will point out. I received an 80gb video iPod last Christmas as the crowning gift and I love it. I love it so much, matter of fact, tha I cannot really justify the expenditure for one of these new and fancy iPods. While they are definitely attractive, I have my sights set on Macs themselves and need all the spare change I can get right now.
For those of you getting sucked in by the halo effect and kicking around the idea of buying a Mac… that ante probably just went up a little bit.
Finally, a parting thought.
The war for the enterprise is fought in the home.
Leopard will be waiting when your enterprise decides to convert. It will have many surprises to offer you. You won’t be sorry.