Steve Jobs

The Morning After (Macworld)

After digesting yesterday's Stevenote, I decided to go way back—all the way to Christmas day—and revisit my predictions for the big event. Now, I'm not one to toot my own horn; and certainly a lot of what I predicted was already being buzzed about by the usual suspects. However, I do have to say I called a really nice shot on the Apple TV, but more on that later. Here's a recap of my predictions and my morning after analyses:

Prediction: Ultra-portable Notebook: Everyone seems to think this is a foregone conclusion. I'll buy it, although I don't see the love affair with a 13" notebook. It's got to have something special about it to set it apart from the Mac Book.

Morning After: Even though me and everyone else were expecting this, I think a lot of people were stunned at how thin and beautiful it turned out to be. I am amazed at what the industrial design team at Apple was able to pull off. I said that it would have to be special to set itself apart from the MacBook and it certainly is, in my humble opinion. Score one for me, and just about everyone else on the planet.

Prediction: iTunes Movie Rentals: I can definitely see this happening, although I think it may be a part of something bigger...

Morning After: Like the MacBook Air, this was widely predicted by most everyone who keeps up with the Mac Universe. However, I alluded to something bigger and it turns out I was right. More below.

Prediction: Mac Pro Refresh: Those in the know say OS X 10.5.2 is very nearly ready and supports Intel's newest Xeon chips, which are currently only used by the Mac Pro and Xserve. Macworld is a consumer show, however, so I hesitate to think he'll spend much time talking about a decidedly professional product.

Morning After: My initial hang up with this rumor was that it wouldn't be presented during Macworld because it didn't make sense to announce professional products during a consumer show. It turns out I was right about that, too. Apple released updated Mac Pro and Xserve models, based on Intel's latest quad-core Xeon chips, several days before Macworld.

Prediction: iPhone Software 2.0: Some of the rumor sites have started to buzz about an iPhone hardware upgrade, but I'm as much or more convinced that Uncle Steve will hit us with a big software upgrade for our beloved iPhones. Despite all of its awesomeness, the iPhone still lacks some basic features that most all other phones possess. My gut says Steve unveils a major iPhone software update that will bring us among other things, video capture, MMS, copy and paste and the previously seen Notes syncing. One would also have to think that such an update would prepare the way for installation of the third party apps that will be coming once the iPhone SDK is released in February. I think SJ will use Macworld to tout the SDK and invite a few choice developers to show off the apps they've been working on with an advance release of said SDK.

Morning After: I was wrong on this one. I though the leaked firmware making the rounds over the last couple weeks were only a sliver of what we would get from Jobs at Macworld. In reality, the leaked firmware was exactly what was released yesterday—even a bit-for-bit copy according to Nate True. My guess is that we'll get another update in February to pave the way for third-party apps created with the forthcoming SDK.

Prediction: Apple TV: Some have already written the inscription on the Apple TV's tombstone, but I believe Steve has other plans. I believe something big will happen with Apple TV at Macworld, either in the form of a major software upgrade or a new hardware configuration or both. I can see iTunes movie rentals playing into this, but I think it would be much more than that. I think we're going to see some way(s) to get HD content from Apple and onto our TVs. I think we'll see improvements to media sharing with iTunes. I think we may even see some more integration with YouTube and possibly other content providers. I really think every attempt will be made to make the Apple TV relevant.

Morning After: I really nailed this one and most of what I saw from the blogosphere was a prediction of Steve holding a funeral for Apple TV. The only thing I didn't predict was a price drop, which should make it even more desirable. I called the major software update (Steve even went so far as to call it version 2). I was right about HD content. I was right about media sharing, with the ability to procure content directly from the device and sync it back to Macs or PCs. I was right about YouTube. I was right about other content providers (in this case, it a provider—Flickr). I predicted Steve would make every attempt to make the Apple TV relevant and I believe he did just that.

Overall, I didn't do a bad job, although I went with some fairly safe predictions. Save for Apple TV, every prediction was being thrown around by most, if not all, of the Mac rumormongers on the interwebs. Now, it's time for me, and all fellow Apple fanboys, to turn our attention to NAB and WWDC. Until then, I'll be praying for someone to buy me a MacBook Air

Cheap Labor

Phone conversation carried out (on iPhones, of course) between Steve Jobs and Randall Stephenson.

Ring...Ring...Ring...

SJ: "Hello."

RS: "WTF Steve? People are already hacking your iPhone to pieces. I thought we had a deal."

SJ: "Chill Randog. I've got, and I'm thrilled about this, an army of the best engineers in the world working to secure and completely lock down the iHolyGrail."

RS: "I know that's not true. You've got all of your best devs on Leopard trying to hit the October deadline."

SJ: "Hold up Randizzle. When did I say my devs were on it? I'm outsourcing it."

RS: "WTFBBQUPPERCUTPWNSAUCE!? You're outsourcing this shizzle? I'm about to fly down there and give you an iAssKicking."

SJ: "Slow your roll Mike Tyson. I've got the iPhone Dev team on the scene."

RS: "Who the F#$K is the iPhone Dev team?"

SJ: "They're a collection of the brightest devs on the planet. There's about a hundred of 'em who work 'round the clock to QC each firmware release and find all the bugs in each one. They're really good and really fast."

RS: "A hundred F#$%ING devs? How much are these guys costing us? WTF are you trying to pull Steve?"

SJ: "They're free as in beer."

RS: "Free?"

SJ: "Yeah, it's really simple. All we do is tell them they can't run useful applications on their iPhones and BOOM! They get uber motivated to find bugs. They figured out how to make malformed TIFF..."

RS: "You had me at free, Steve. You had me at free. I'm going to go delete the accounts of some dissenters. Have a good one"

I'm pretty sure that's how it went down.

iPhone Deal Unprecedented?

By now we've all heard about Apple and Cisco agreeing to "share" the iPhone trademark. I'm not at all surprised that a deal was reached, even if it did take much longer than expected. What I'm wondering is this: has there ever been another case of a company (Cisco) agreeing to let another company (Apple) use its trademark to identify a product so similar to its own? I'm an unabashed Apple lover and Steve Jobs fan, but I'm shocked that he has this much clout or could pull this off. I mean, he basically got Chambers et al. to pseudo-abandon the trademark, which Cisco clearly owned. Anyone know of any similar cases where this sort of agreement has been reached?

iPod has Competition?

The blogosphere has been a buzz recently with rumblings of an "iPod killer" from Microsoft. The guys over at Engadget have confirmed the existence of said product and have added their two cents based on information from their sources. Admittedly, I am an unabashed Apple supporter and, the Zune, as it's being refered to, sounds like it could give the iPod a run for its money. I even caught myself thinking, as I was reading the scoop at Engadget, that this device would blow away any iPod currently on the market. However, I can't help but think about how badly Steve Jobs hates to be showed up. I have a feeling that the next generation of iPods, whenever they may be released, are going to blow us away and I'm not just talking about video. I think Steve's got something big up his sleaves. Back to the Zune, they're not going to call the jukebox software iZunes are they?

Tags: Apple, Microsoft, iPod, Zune, Engadget, MP3, spudnik187, Bryan Bartow, Bryan Bartow, spudnik187

Stevenote ‘06

I don't know whether or not I've mentioned it here before but, I'm a huge Apple computer fan. Today they unleashed a couple new software and hardware gems. I won't delve into detail about the hardware (think dual core Intel processors) as I would rather rant about software. The reason I switched to Apple in the first place was their dedication to putting the user first. Everything they do is driven by the user experience. Their latest update to the iLife suite of applications seems no different. They just make complicated things (setting up picture gallery websites, etc.) easy to do. I call if the wife test. If my wife can do it then anyone can. iLife has definitely passed the wife test and this version should only allow her to do more. That seems to me to be the difference between Apple and most other tech companies; they understand what the people really want/need. Check out iLife and, for that matter, a Mac today. You won't be sorry.

Read more at www.apple.com/