Leaning Towards Against Apple Watch With A Camera

If you're on the Internet today, who isn't these days, you probably heard a thing or two about the next Apple Watch.  But one thing no one seemed to have mentioned about it today is whether the next Apple Watch will have a camera for take pictures or Facetime calls.  Personally, I'm leaning against Apple adding one but, at the end of the same, it will not affect me too much.

The main reason I am leaning against Apple putting a camera on the Apple Watch is mostly due to privacy issues.  I'm a guy and as far as looks, well, no one will be clamoring for me to be on the cover of the next issue of GC or anything public.  No, no risk of anyone taking pictures of me and violating my privacy.  I can't say that is going to be the case for a lot of what society considers to be good-looking or attractive.  I can see folks getting uncomfortable in gyms for starters.  Or showers.  Or changing rooms.

While I'm not less likely to wear my Apple Watch if it had a camera on it, I can see some people getting uncomfortable if they see someone wearing a watch with a camera.  Of course, people these days are entirely comfortable with carrying phones into gyms, maybe this is not as big of an issue as I expect. 

Still, most people would not deny privacy to be an issue with a wearable capable of taking pictures or videos.  It was an issue with Google Glass after all.  And it will be an issue with other wearables including the Apple Watch.

Another reason why having a camera on the Apple Watch will not affect me is that I don't answer FaceTime or phone calls now because it is heard to hear for one thing and holding my wrist up to my ear looks silly.  So, even if Apple does install a camera and if only for FaceTime video chats, I'm still not gonna use it much if at all.

Should Apple find the space for a camera, I rather have them add new sensors and/or battery instead.  What do you think?

Macbook Refresh Coming Up - Best Guess is Mid-April [feedly]

Looks like my predictions may be more accurate this time around than "trusted sources" many Apple rumor sites have and whatever Wall Street analysts are using to feed and manipulate Apple's stock.  The Retina Macbook and Macbook Airs could be closer to a refresh than June as many of them expects. 

While a quick check of Apple's website shows up shortage of Macbooks available for sales, retailers, both online and off, are showing dwindling stocks if not outright discontinuations of current models. 

So, if you're in the market for a new Macbook like I am, hold, hold, hold...

More at Macbook Refresh Coming Up - Best Guess is Mid-April at On Apple

Looks like more stores are seeing low stock of the 2015 Macbooks of various lines including the Air and the 12" Retina one.  Good deals can be found on Best Buy while the 12" Macbook is no...

Macbook Refresh Coming Up - Best Guess is Mid-April

Looks like more stores are seeing low stock of the 2015 Macbooks of various lines including the Air and the 12" Retina one.  Good deals can be found on Best Buy while the 12" Macbook is no longer available.  As far as last week, sales in the stores have stopped.  So this does mean updates are coming.  Best guess is April.

And the refresh will happen without an event like Apple traditionally have for the iPhone, iPads, and the Apple Watches.  Mac sales have been strong and despite what many in the Apple community, specifically Mac users, fear, Apple will not be abandoning the "trucks" of the computing world as long as there are tens of billions in profit to be made. 

Many considered the PC war to be long over and Microsoft's Windows dominance firmly established, but there are still areas around Microsoft's turf that Apple can nibble around - specifically, the segment of the market where PC costs more than $1000.  And even as deals have pushed Macbook Airs down to around $800, it looks like Apple has relegated PC makers to a vast but largely unprofitable piece of the PC market.

More and more folks are abandoning PCs for mobile devices as their primary mobile weapons of choice - phones and tablets.  Even here, Apple's iPads dominates those that cost more than $400. 

We will continue to see Apple churn out high-end Macs for years if not decades to come.  And the last refresh should be available in April.  Keep in mind that Apple may not update all the Macbooks but it does appear that the Air and 12" versions should see the light of day while there are talks that Apple could hold off the Macbook Pro until June when it holds its annual World Wide Developer Conference.

New 12" MacBooks Coming Soon?

Like many of you, I am eagerly waiting for Apple to release the new updated 12" Macbooks.  It's been more than a year since we have yet to see anything new on that front.  However, with the extended sale going on at Best Buy for the 12" Macbook, there is a slight glimmer of hope that we might see an update sooner rather than later in June when Apple holds its next event, the Worldwide Developer Conference.  For weeks now, Best Buy has been pushing out the 12" Macbook with a $300 discount. 

What is more interesting is that for the low-end model, only the gold is available while the silver is the only model at the higher price.  It's worth monitoring some more over the next week or so.  A check at other retials showed that they have some models in stock while Apple's own online and retail stores does not seem to have any shortages.  However, checking other models like the Macbook Airs similar situations where there are certain models that are no longer on sale.

It does mean that we could be looking at a refresh of the Macbook line sooner rather than later.  Personally, I don't buy the speculation and rumor that Apple is waiting for the WWDC in June to unveil the new Macbooks.  Perhaps, if there is a new Mac Pro, that might be the venue to do that.  Apple has not always release new Macs at the WWDC.  It's rare that it happens.  My guess is that Apple wants to allow more time between the just released 9.7" iPad Pro and the future release of the new Macbooks so that the iPad Pro can have a window of a few weeks to itself to take off. 

And this does make a lot of sense.  Apple has been trying to stem the dwindling iPad sales for many quarters now.  Given that the iPad is the computing platform of the future that Apple is betting on, it's crucial that demand for the iPad is strong.  A couple of quarters of increase sales could go a long way in easing concerns of both Apple brass and Wall Street. 

So, I'll be waiting for the new Macbook update whenever that is.  But I'm hopeful that it'll be a shorter wait than most anticipated.