Yesterday ,as many of you know, was the Macworld keynote speech featuring the one and only Steve Jobs. The speech had really high expectations and I’m sure no one walked away disappointed since the iPhone and appleTV were announced. Two more gadgets courtesy of Apple design that are sure to capture the hearts of many consumers (who can afford the gadgets).
The iPhone looks amazing to the eye (3.5″ widescreen), to the ear (iPod functionality), and to the touch (touchscreen!). The biggest disappointment about this device is the price factor. $499 USD for the 4GB model and $599 USD for the 8GB model (both WITH a 2 year contract!) is a bit too high for me and plus there is no word yet of when we might see this device in Canada. Jobs even announced that the sole carrier will be Cingular who helped develop some of the software for the iPhone. I wonder who will end up carrying the phone in Canada. Maybe Rogers, and hopefully not Bell (no hard feelings to Bell since I love their DSL service). The only other thing I have to say about the iPhone is that it will most likely only cater to a niche market since RIM has captured such a large share of the cellular handheld market with their line of Blackberries. I think the average consumer who may own an iPod but not necessarily an Apple computer would be turned away from the high price point but the consumers who are engrossed in the Apple culture will surely find the funds (any way possible) to get their hands on the iPhone. I wouldn’t doubt seeing people here in Canada with the iPhone, unlocked and functional but willing to sacrifice a few features.
The appleTV is not what many may think. Apple has not entered the flat-panel TV market as yet although their latest monitors are quite nice. It’s merely a device you connect to your TV that can stream and store (40GB) your videos, movies, music, and probably photos from your home network through USB, 802.11/b/g/n wireless, or even ethernet cable. The appleTV isn’t set to release until February but the Apple Store is already taking orders. I don’t think consumers will take to this device very well unless they own huge movie collections on their computers or are too lazy to make a trip to the local video store. Downloadable movies are still the way of the future but I don’t think the majority of consumers are ready to take the leap just yet. Personally I don’t see a device like this in my house at all since we have video on demand and the price equates to about the price of a rental.
Other than what was already mentioned Steve Jobs also noted that Apple changed their name to from Apple Computers Inc to just Apple Inc, which is probably due to the increase in production of consumer electronics and not just computers. It was quite exciting watching/page-refreshing the events unfold as the speech went underway during my five hour break between classes yesterday. Hopefully after I catch up on sleep after being up at 6AM this morning, I will continue on part 2 of the MacBook that I’m seriously considering.