Wired’s Cult of Mac drops another year end top-ten list — and it’s a good one. Surprisingly insightful commentary on what’s to come from everyone’s favorite company.
He muffs number 7 by offering several good explanations and then dismissing all of them. The real answer is probably an amalgamation of all of the options he lists.
In all, this is better than Leander Kehney usually offers. He’s a pretty negative guy, of late.
He’s right about .Mac — I’ve held off because I don’t think it’s anywhere near worth $99.
I think he overstates the necessity of the phone situation. Most people already think the “iPhone” failed because they link Apple to that Horrible ROKR phone. I think Apple would recover from a flop. I see the living room as the biggest hurdle — and the one that will be a bigger deal for Apple if they manage to make the leap.
As for the new Campus — I expect Apple will be moving iPod and other devices like it to the new campus. The best answers are usually the simplest.
The iPod shuffle looks like the Mac mini crunched down into a tiny form factor.
I have a hard time taking him seriously when he makes a point based on an old product that has been replaced. He can’t be talking about the new shuffle here.
That whole section where he maps iPods to certain macs is — baffling. At any rate, I think Apple hasn’t moved because I think they feel they’ve hit a pretty good watermark in design.
As for Steve stepping down — stepping down doesn’t mean leaving Apple behind forever. At any rate, discussing his departure is premature, at best.
He makes some good points and is less eye-roll inducing than normal, but I still question some of what he has to say.
He’s right about .Mac — I’ve held off because I don’t think it’s anywhere near worth $99.
See, I actually think .Mac is worth every penny — but it’s not at all for the web services, it’s for the Mac syncing. I never use any of the web services, but the Mac syncing is absolutely essential to me. I couldn’t get by without it. Now, I’d love to see those web services enhanced — I agree they’re well behind Google, Yahoo, and similar. But, I’ve noticed that when people bash .Mac, they’re always taking about the web services and forgetting that .Mac includes the syncing — which, to me, is the key feature.
I think he overstates the necessity of the phone situation.
I dunno. I don’t think there’s any question that someone is going to be successful with a music phone and over-the-air purchases of music. Apple will kick themselves if it’s not them. I think if Apple wants to retain its dominance in this market, it does need a good music phone and good mobile version of iTunes.
I see the living room as the biggest hurdle — and the one that will be a bigger deal for Apple if they manage to make the leap.
I agree 100% — but it’s not a matter of whether or not they decide to “make the leap* — they’ve already announced the iTV. The leap has been made.
As for the new Campus — I expect Apple will be moving iPod and other devices like it to the new campus. The best answers are usually the simplest.
Yup.
I have a hard time taking him seriously when he makes a point based on an old product that has been replaced. He can’t be talking about the new shuffle here.
I would think he is talking about the new one, actually. The new one is silver, like the Mini, and is almost square, like the mini. The old one look almost nothing like the Mac mini.
That whole section where he maps iPods to certain macs is — baffling
I agree. I don’t really get why he thinks the iPod line should map neatly to the Mac line. It’d be cute if it did, but it’s certainly not necessary, or a problem if it doesn’t.
At any rate, discussing his departure is premature, at best.
Probably, but I definitely do agree that Apple’s success in recent years seems largely tied to one person and the thought of what happens after JObs does make that success seem fragile.
001 // Brian Ford // 12.30.2006 // 6:53 PM
He muffs number 7 by offering several good explanations and then dismissing all of them. The real answer is probably an amalgamation of all of the options he lists.
In all, this is better than Leander Kehney usually offers. He’s a pretty negative guy, of late.
He’s right about .Mac — I’ve held off because I don’t think it’s anywhere near worth $99.
I think he overstates the necessity of the phone situation. Most people already think the “iPhone” failed because they link Apple to that Horrible ROKR phone. I think Apple would recover from a flop. I see the living room as the biggest hurdle — and the one that will be a bigger deal for Apple if they manage to make the leap.
As for the new Campus — I expect Apple will be moving iPod and other devices like it to the new campus. The best answers are usually the simplest.
The iPod shuffle looks like the Mac mini crunched down into a tiny form factor.
I have a hard time taking him seriously when he makes a point based on an old product that has been replaced. He can’t be talking about the new shuffle here.
That whole section where he maps iPods to certain macs is — baffling. At any rate, I think Apple hasn’t moved because I think they feel they’ve hit a pretty good watermark in design.
As for Steve stepping down — stepping down doesn’t mean leaving Apple behind forever. At any rate, discussing his departure is premature, at best.
He makes some good points and is less eye-roll inducing than normal, but I still question some of what he has to say.
002 // Jeff Croft // 12.30.2006 // 7:48 PM
See, I actually think .Mac is worth every penny — but it’s not at all for the web services, it’s for the Mac syncing. I never use any of the web services, but the Mac syncing is absolutely essential to me. I couldn’t get by without it. Now, I’d love to see those web services enhanced — I agree they’re well behind Google, Yahoo, and similar. But, I’ve noticed that when people bash .Mac, they’re always taking about the web services and forgetting that .Mac includes the syncing — which, to me, is the key feature.
I dunno. I don’t think there’s any question that someone is going to be successful with a music phone and over-the-air purchases of music. Apple will kick themselves if it’s not them. I think if Apple wants to retain its dominance in this market, it does need a good music phone and good mobile version of iTunes.
I agree 100% — but it’s not a matter of whether or not they decide to “make the leap* — they’ve already announced the iTV. The leap has been made.
Yup.
I would think he is talking about the new one, actually. The new one is silver, like the Mini, and is almost square, like the mini. The old one look almost nothing like the Mac mini.
I agree. I don’t really get why he thinks the iPod line should map neatly to the Mac line. It’d be cute if it did, but it’s certainly not necessary, or a problem if it doesn’t.
Probably, but I definitely do agree that Apple’s success in recent years seems largely tied to one person and the thought of what happens after JObs does make that success seem fragile.