Well, the WWDC Keynote is over. The Reality Distortion Field has dissipated (much faster than when Steve gives the speech) and all the pundits are now shredding through the information provided looking for that one thing that can get them through a thousand words or so for their next blog. Seeing as I’m one of those very same people, why should I skip MY turn?
I guess what struck me some 24 hours later wasn’t so much what the Keynote addressed, but what it left out. I’ll get to that later. I’m going to start by talking about what they DID announce that made it a fascinating event. Please note that this won’t be in the order given at the Keynote, so those of you with weak constitutions that might be subject to vertigo, or have a fear of heights might want to consider reading something else instead. You have been warned.
We had a nifty update to the iPhone with some cool new features, some new partners making dockable hardware for it (the Tom-Tom GPS looks really Buck Rodgers-ish), and an increase of storage along the line making it the first iPhone that has tempted me to the point that I’ve actually laid down some cash for one. For the last two years at Macworld I’ve had the chance to play with other people’s iPhones and yes, I had a serious case of iPhone-envy. I would pull out my Motorola Razor and have had to suffer the looks of pity, derision, and at times disgust while others pointed, prodded, and swooshed their ways across a touchscreen that I could only dream of. As I have said all along, I look at the iPhone as a convergence device. One that could replace my iPod and cell phone without compromise. The 8 and 16GB models just didn’t do it as I carry a lot of video around with me on my 80GB iPod Classic. A 32GB iPhone is finally just about what I’ve wanted and I can wait no more! Of course Apple being Apple, they weren’t merely satisfied with just that. Oh no, they wanted to replace hand-held game systems, GPS units, heart monitoring systems, laptop computers, and eventually it will evolve into a machine that will also make a chocolate milkshake with JUST the right amount of malt. So, I’m sold.
The 3.0 software for the iPhone most likely will open up all new worlds for the device to conquer and tempt me beyond reason to spend even more money at the iTunes store, but such is my lot in life. Moving on.
There was quite a bit of talk about QuickTime and a NEW LOGO! The fact that you can do some quick and dirty video editing is nice and that the controls will simply fade out of existence when not needed certainly made me stand up and pay attention’¦BUT IT HAS A NEW LOGO! Sorry, I get distracted easily by shiny things.
Snow Leopard looks to really be the last nail in the coffin for all of you with PowerPC Macs. Yes there will be severe gnashing (please note I pronounce that guh-nashing) of teeth by the long-time, never say die, AIM will live forever people’¦please, just let it go. Intel is the future for Apple unless they pull some rabbit out of the hat with that chip design company they bought, but regardless PPC is DOA. Please join the line of OS9 intransigents over there in the corner’¦yes THAT corner over there, thanks.
The really big news about Snow Leopard isn’t all that techy stuff that I admit I don’t understand, but no doubt will wonder how I EVER lived without six months from now, but the price. A mere $29 upgrade for existing Leopard (10.5 c’mon keep up!) users, and the family pack for $49. That is some wonderful news and in celebration I won’t even be snarky about it. You’re welcome.
There’s also a new MacBook Pro that looks remarkably like the old 13.3-inch MacBooks and that the solid aluminum MacBooks seems to have disappeared. There’s a connection there somewhere I just know it. The ExpressCard slot has disappeared replaced by an SD memory slot. This kinda reminds me of the Dick York/ Dick Sargent switcharoo on ‘Bewitched’ in that it’s different, but we’re not supposed to notice. The fact that many of you have no idea what I’m talking about beyond a reference to yet another bad Will Ferrell movie makes me sad indeed.
Safari 4 is now out of beta. Yippee? It certainly has some UI changes from either Safari 3 or the aforementioned beta, but Apple seems convinced that no one wants to see a progress bar as their pages load. Yes, yes, I’m sure it’s much better now and javascript exploits will run at twice (TWICE!) the speed they could before.
Now what was missing? Well, no new desktops or AppleTV updates. The Apple netbook so many were convinced was coming was not surprisingly absent. Or was it a Mac tablet that was rumored? Frankly there are so many things that Apple fans seem to think is just around the corner that it would take a database to manage all the rumors (and the number of shed tears when the wunderkind announcement is once again not made). No Steve Jobs surprise walk on. No mention of a new carrier for the iPhone (Sorely needed, but Bill Palmer handled this one nicely in the blog previous to this and I won’t rain on his parade). Apple may or may not get around to some of these things, but if there’s one thing I’ve discovered since writing about all things Mac it’s that Apple really doesn’t give a hang about my opinions on darn near anything and I suspect that isn’t going to change anytime soon.
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