AI, Mobile, and Eveything Around the Cloud

Without Apple's redesigned unibody Macbooks (which I have and love) and the refreshed iPod Touches, and certainly the iMacs were no help, Apple stock price could have end up much lower.  The record quarter revenue and profit did stunt any effort from Jobs not being at the helm, at least until June. But with Macbooks selling really hot, let's not forget the iPod Touch.  the iPhone had a great quarter but nothing like the 7 million sold in the previous quarter.  So, let's focus on the iPods. It's unfortunate that Apple doesn't break out individual numbers for the different iPods but I'm willing to believe that the second generation iPod Touch did a lot to exceed analyst expectations (from Wall Street to Internet bloggers/analysts).  I got the 2nd gen 8GB iPod Touch and it's just absolutely incredible.  I have the iPhone as well and this design is just incredible.  More than just the design, it's what it represents.  It's a mobile computing platfo...

Maybe not today.  Maybe not in the next couple of years.   But don't be surprised if Apple offers only Macbooks and Mac Pros as the two main Mac choices somewhere down the line. If that was to happen, I'm sure there will be an hybrid of Mac and Apple TV (my Mac Hybrid) perhaps even integrated with a widescreen LCD (or LED) HDTV.  But that's analysis for another blog.   First let's examine why Apple would do this rid themselves of consumer desktops: Macbooks have higher margins.  Mac portables account for an increasing percentage of sales. Steve Jobs read our lame blogs at On Apple and over at Onxo .  Okay.  Just being funny.  Okay, not funny. The move is towards mobile computing - laptops, smartphones, mobile platform with devices like iPhones and iPods. Affordability.  Laptops, including Macbooks, have gone down in average selling price.  Furthermore, refurbished Macbooks are very popular with consumers. As far as going green, Macb...

According to Business Week, that is indeed the case. I guess hits are needed at BW in light of the deep recession that we're in. Honestly, these kinds of comparison posts are a weekly ritual.  However, it usually isn't a staple for mainstream print media.  Of course, it was mainstream media that did brushed aside blogs as true news sites (which I happen to agree - for some sites, such as the one you're reading now) but since they recognize blogs are an important part of reaching out to readers, they quickly learn that blogs are ways to sustain business.   Hence, BW's trashy post about MBP being more expensive. Never mind that the Macbook Pro they're coming has a newer chipset, never mind that Dell's machine uses a much older video card, never mind that it's Vista on the Dell and not OS X, never mind that MBP can come down to the level of Vista and wash away any after taste after booting back into OS X.   Interestingly, BW made a point about economic pressure...

It's official.  iLounge reports 500 million apps have been downloaded from Apple's app store.    This is incredible.  Also incredible is that there are now 15,000 apps available for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  That right folks.  These numbers are big.  When the app store debutted back in July of 2008, there were only 500 apps.   Here's a bit of the breakdown in reaching this remarkable half a billion downloads: Six weeks prior to December 5, iPhone and iPod Touch users have downloaded 200 million apps. On december 5, Apple announced 300 million apps were downloaded. In a merely 42 days, another 200 million apps were downloaded to reach half a billion.  That's 500 million downloads in all. 15,000 apps available for download. Any bets on when we reach 1 billion? Source:   iLounge , Apple (need to go see it now before it goes away)

This just in.   Steve Jobs of Apple Inc will take a leave of absence citing distraction his health situation has created.  In the letter, Jobs indicated his health situation was more "complex" than initially thought.   Tim Cook will take over day-to-day duties. Source:   Yahoo News (AP) Note:  After Jobs initial explanation a couple of weeks ago, many doctors were quoted in the media wondering if Jobs' cancer had returned.  Then, a hormonal issue as stated by Jobs was easily remedied.  Wish you the best, Steve.  See you in June!

It's over. There will never be another one like it. For the last Macworld Keynote, we weren't blown out of the water with anything spectacular. Blogs and podcasts alike have been all over how this ended.   Nevertheless, those of us follow Apple will just have to soldier on and wait for those special events that dotted the calendar year for updates on existing Apple products (and maybe new ones too).  So, what do I personally expect in the coming year? Based on my years of watching Jobs, Apple, and their product cycle, and I can make some simple predictions for folks new to the Cupertino scene.  Just as Apple have declared, product introductions will take place in smaller venues at special events at a time of Apple's choosing.  Usually, the media is will receive an invitation that provides some sort of clue to what Apple has planned. The iMac is due for a refresh.  There are plenty of rumors and I don't traffic in them but I believe that given the up...

Given the good press the Palm Pre is getting so far in the media, one part of the story that is mentioned but hardly highlighted is the people behind Palm's latest and best chance of turning things around. Now, we don't know if Palm Pre or the new widget-based OS will be the new OS X of the mobile market. There will be a lot of waiting, analyzing, blogging, and speculating along this line and we'll see a lot of comparisons to Apple and Apple's turnaround because a lot of the folks at Palm now trying to revive the company were former Apple executives or engineers. Certainly there are top names we've all heard in the media. Lesser known are the number of former Apple engineers. However, should Palm succeed in turning it around, imagine how hot former Cupertino executives will be, especially those who had the fortune of being personally schooled (or ripped a new one) in the Jobsian view of the world. And there is no denying that Palm Pre's UI and other implement...