Ok I didn’t do all that well at predicting. I got a few right but more half marks than anything else.
The iPhone came out (with that name which was shocking) which I said I didn’t think would happen. However the phone does have wi-fi and bluetooth which I did predict correctly.
I was right about an update to airport extreme with the new n standard. The new Airport looks nice and I’m really liking the design of it. Maybe next time I go for a new router I’ll think to go apple over linksys, although I am a huge linksys fan. Plus they’re a lot cheaper.
I said that new movie studios would be added to itunes. I was right about this but I was seriously dissapointed not to see them on the UK store.
I predicted apple tv would come out although I didn’t get the name right. It didn’t exactly take a genius to figure that out but I’ll take partial credit or something.
I really like the Apple TV but I’m not sure about it yet until I know whether apple tv works on analogue (non-hd) tv’s via composite cable or not, (and I see no evidence to suggest it will). That would be a major blow because I was waiting to purchase one and spend the money I accumilated at christmas on one. I’ve been looking forward to watching rocketboom and diggnation among other things on the tv.
One other thing that dissapointed me was the fact that steve mentioned an output of only 720p. What’s with that? Why can’t you just make it 1080p out the box when other people’s boxes like netgear’s does do this. I hope apple has a firmware update planned because if they don’t a lot of people will be put off from buying one. I can understand this choice partly because I can’t see anything higher than 720p being available from itunes for a long time yet, especially seing as we sdon’t have HD quaility yet. However, just because Apple doesn’t deliver the highest HD quality doesn’t mean other people don’t. You can get a substantial amount of HD content online now in podcasts and other stuff. Granted even that probably isn’t anything higher than 720p but it won’t be too long if it isn’t already happening. Plus, what’s the harm in just including it? It has HDMI and 802.11 n wi-fi so it can handle it. I just don’t get why Apple is giving people reasons to not buy it.
So onto the long list of things I got wrong. 12 inch macbook pro ultraportable, octo mac pro, 6th gen iPod with larger hd (although the iPhone does have a 3.5 inch widescreen), leopard update, iLife and iwork updates, new isights and new displays and a mac mini update.
Ok now onto the iPhone.
I like the iphone and I think they will sell well, even if they do only sell to people with fairly deep pockets. My personal view is probably the same as a lot of people. As seriously f-ing cool as this thing is and as much as it dwarfs any other phone / smartphone out there in terms of features / style, everything, I just can’t part with that much money. If I had secure employment and I used my phone enough to justify spending money on a £300 – £400 (i’m guessing) phone not to mention more importantly the contract when I hardly ever turn my current pay as you go phone on, it just isn’t going to work for me.
Now onto the things I like about it. I love the touch screen, the versatility of the navigation, the landscape mode etc. Lets save some time here and just say I like everything about it. Wi-fi, bluetooth, web browser, OSX, camera, tiger / leopard integration with itunes, ical and everything else.
The things I don’t like about it would be the contract, that it comes out here in october at the earliest, the price, the lack of storage over 8gb (although I can see why an HD won’t fit in there because of all the other stuff it has to fit and how thin it is). The fact that I’ll probably scratch the screen would worry me too.
The bottom line about the iPhone is that it isn’t for me because I don’t use my phone enough, or at least right now. Even if I was to buy an iPod and a phone seperatly I would still be saving money because it’s the cost of the contract I’ll never use that will drive the price up. We’ll see what happens when my situation changes and I need to use my phone more and can put up with the reduced storage over the main iPod video line.
Right now however, I’m waiting for the 6th generation iPod, and if it uses the technology displayed in the ipod section of the iPhone then it is going to be incredible. I am planning to update my current phone to a nice new slider model so what would really be nice is a nano sized slider phone from Apple without all the bells and whistles of the iPhone. Microsoft look set to make the Zune a brand of several devices, Apple should do the same and gradually roll out new phones suited to different people. I have no doubt this is their long term plan so I’m looking forward to the stuff they come out with next.
But if they don’t do anything cool there’s always a 6th gen iPod and a Moto Rizr.
