Apple in March
March was a busy month for Apple, it released new Mac Pro, iMac and Mac Mini; it release a brand new iPod Shuffle; it released the beta of iPhone software 3.0; it allowed movies to be bought or rent in HD on the iTunes Store; it updated iTunes, Front Row, Airport Extreme & Time Capsule, and iLife. Not to mention this March Madness was actually started the last week of February when Apple released Safari 4 beta and update to Apple TV. It is kinda like what else can Apple release for the rest of the year? A new iPhone is a shoot-in for the WWDC in June, new iPod will be at the September event, beyond that I can’t think of anything else in their slim product lineup. Sure there’s the laptops, but they just got redesigned at the end of last year, so this year they will probably be a speed-bump update only. So maybe a new AppleTV? or a brand new product will show up this year??
Spectulating what Apple will release is a job that’s already been taken by millions of rumor sites and financial analysts out there, so I am not gonna get into that but I will comment on what was released this month. First the iPod Shuffle – i will never get an iPod Shuffle no matter which generation it is, however, I have to admit that I am curious about the Voice Over feature – especially how it works on my Chinese songs. Apple products have long been internationalized. All the menu of any of their products from Mac to iPod can be switch to another language, and Voice Over has always been in OSX – the Alex voice in Leopard has been talking to me for a while, but this is the first time that user’s own contents can be read out loud in another language! I am curious of how it sounds and how accurate can it be. It’s too bad for Chinese it can only support Mandarin for now, hopefully Cantonese support will be upcoming and I can try it out in the Apple Store. And if this feature prove to be good, I am sure it will make its way to other products (hint: iPhone!)
Some people were underwhelmed by the iPhone 3.0 software. They were like, copy cut and paste, MMS, search and email in landscape, they ain’t that sexy or new! But they should look at the bigger picture here. The star of the show was actually the 1,000 API for the developers! Apple opened up the platform even more so than ever before. The new abilities these API can enhance and lead to many more innovative apps and games! It’s true that the App Store is full of 99 cents crap, but you can’t deny that there are also tons of useful apps, free or not, that enhance and make people’s life much more convenient! Not to mention the games! The platform is still young and developers are still trying to figure it out, but out of that infancy we already got excellent games like Rolando, Trism, Topple, Tap Tap Revenge, Toy Bot, Dizzy Bee and many many more games that are not the same type of game that you would find in other platforms. The only complain I have with what I saw at this 3.0 preview was there’s no better app management other than Spotlight search, and the fact that we will have to wait a couple months for it!!
As for Apple’s Desktop lineup, my opinion about them is more about my own need and plans – I have long wanted to replace my aging Powerbook with a Macbook Pro, while my iMac’s 3 years anniversary is coming up at the end of this year – so it can wait for a while until I need to replace it. However, i think my need has changed and given how the iMac is constantly cheaper than the Macbook Pro and still being more powerful, not to mention my need for mobility computing decreased sharply after the iPhone. I think my plan definitely needed adjustment. The new Desktop lineup Apple released this month further justified my new idea. Then there’s the digital transition of the television signal, which means by June my ancient broken TV will have no use at all. So I come up with the idea that maybe I can get a new iMac for my room, and my old White iMac can be move out to the living room to replace the TV, couple it with the EyeTV 250 Plus, I can record and watch live TV, hook it up with the PS2 to play games as well. It is such a workable plan that not only I get to keep the two-mac configuration at home, I get to save money from dropping three grands for the Macbook Pro (yes it will get to that amount when I trick it out with all the extra options~)
But of course, these are just all talks, I don’t have the money to replace my Macs~ 
Related posts:
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Subscribe RSS
Leave your response!