Yesterday’s keynote at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference had a lot of product for Mac and iDevice fans everywhere. But in a bit of a departure, I’m going to include some commentary from Jan Dawson, chief telecoms analyst at Ovum along with my thoughts. It’s a bit of a departure and I welcome your feedback. In any case, let’s get right to it.
Apple announced iOS 7 for iPhone and iPad which basically blows up the user interface that we’ve seen since the original iPhone. Not only that, but features such as AirDrop, AirPlay, and true multi-tasking (about time) are included. It’s a huge risk but I think it will work and I can’t wait to get it on my iPhone later this year. Here’s what Jan Dawson had to say about this:
The new version is almost unrecognizable, which will make it polarizing. Some people will love that their phone feels new and different, while others will be disoriented by the newness. Finding your Settings app is hard when the icon has totally changed, and the many people who easily get disoriented by their gadgets may well have a negative experience. On the other hand, this is a clear statement from Apple that it acknowledges the need to refresh the user interface and is willing to do something pretty dramatic. Many of the new features Apple added to iOS 7 are fixes to problems rather than dramatic or clever new ideas – Notifications, Siri, and Multitasking enhancements and the introduction of Control Center all deal with deficiencies rather than providing surprising new features no-one would have thought of. The fact that neither iOS 7 isn’t coming until the fall is a disappointment from a user perspective, but the delay is necessary to give developers time to rework their apps to take advantage of the new operating system and fit in visually.
The next thing on the list is the new OS X Maverick operating system. Besides being the first Mac OS in recent memory not being named after a cat, it brings battery saving tech, it includes iBooks, enhanced notifications, better iMessaging, Maps on the desktop that can be shared with your iPhone, a password manager that goes across your devices among other things. In short, a lot of the items that iDevice users have loved for years are now on the desktop. While not as polarizing as iOS 7, I think this will be another win when it ships later this year. Here’s what Mr. Dawson had to say:
The Mavericks desktop OS is a good upgrade, which continues with the iOS-ification of the Mac OS. The addition of Maps and iBooks and iOS integration for Notifications, Maps and other features are signs that Apple sees iOS as the future paradigm for all its operating systems, and it is driving a slow convergence towards that reality.
Now on to hardware. There’s two new MacBook Air models with more power using new Intel Haswell processors and graphics chips and much better battery life. Though the MacBook Air isn’t going to be my next Mac, this will find an audience and fly off the shelves in Apple Stores everywhere. If you want one, they’re available now. Here’s what Mr. Dawson had to say:
The new MacBook Airs are further evidence that for all that competitors copy the look of Apple’s computers, Apple itself is still ahead in terms of performance. The battery life improvements put it way ahead of other players in this space, and even when competitors start to adopt Intel’s Haswell hardware, they will struggle to match the overall performance.
Next on the list is the shock of the day. Apple has sat on updating the Mac Pro forever. I personally thought they were simply going to ditch it. But I was way off. Apple released a stunning new Mac Pro with a stunning new design and new Intel Xeon processors. All expandability will be external and one other key factor, it will be assembled in the US. The first Mac in a very very long time to be assembled in the US. Oh, and Phil Schiller had this to say during the introduction in reference to the radical design:
“Can’t innovate anymore, my ass,”
Okay then.
I’m not sure about it’s chances as power users may be looking for a computer with internal expandability and a more conventional look. Mr. Dawson’s thoughts seem to echo mine:
The new Mac Pro feels like another sign that Apple is abandoning its hardcore creative users in favor of mainstream users. Even though the new Mac Pro looks very different and stylish, the smaller size means that additional hard drives and other hardware will have to sit outside the enclosure. This feels like a poor tradeoff considering that most of these computers sit under, rather than on, desks in video editing and advertising firms around the world.
Finally, there’s iRadio which is a direct shot across the bow of Pandora. It’s a streaming service that will be available to Mac, PC, and iDevice users and is free via an ad supported model. Don’t like ads? There’s a ad free version if you are part of iTunes Match. I’m wondering how this will work out if you already use Pandora and I will reserve judgement though I don’t like the prospects of iRadio at first glance. Neither does Mr. Dawson.
iTunes Radio as a Pandora clone is a lot less disruptive than a Spotify clone would have been. This is a nice free feature that lots of people will probably try out, but existing Pandora users won’t have much reason to switch, especially as the service is still ad-supported unless you have an iTunes Match subscription. What would be really disruptive is a service that allowed you to call up specific songs on demand as you can with Spotify, but that would likely have disrupted Apple’s existing iTunes business, and the music industry as a whole, too much.
Want to see the entire keynote? Here’s a video link.
That about covers it. What are your thoughts? Post a comment and share your thoughts. Many thanks to Jan Dawson of Ovum for sharing his thoughts.
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This entry was posted on June 10, 2013 at 11:49 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Apple Announces A Lot Of New Products Of WWDC
Yesterday’s keynote at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference had a lot of product for Mac and iDevice fans everywhere. But in a bit of a departure, I’m going to include some commentary from Jan Dawson, chief telecoms analyst at Ovum along with my thoughts. It’s a bit of a departure and I welcome your feedback. In any case, let’s get right to it.
Apple announced iOS 7 for iPhone and iPad which basically blows up the user interface that we’ve seen since the original iPhone. Not only that, but features such as AirDrop, AirPlay, and true multi-tasking (about time) are included. It’s a huge risk but I think it will work and I can’t wait to get it on my iPhone later this year. Here’s what Jan Dawson had to say about this:
The new version is almost unrecognizable, which will make it polarizing. Some people will love that their phone feels new and different, while others will be disoriented by the newness. Finding your Settings app is hard when the icon has totally changed, and the many people who easily get disoriented by their gadgets may well have a negative experience. On the other hand, this is a clear statement from Apple that it acknowledges the need to refresh the user interface and is willing to do something pretty dramatic. Many of the new features Apple added to iOS 7 are fixes to problems rather than dramatic or clever new ideas – Notifications, Siri, and Multitasking enhancements and the introduction of Control Center all deal with deficiencies rather than providing surprising new features no-one would have thought of. The fact that neither iOS 7 isn’t coming until the fall is a disappointment from a user perspective, but the delay is necessary to give developers time to rework their apps to take advantage of the new operating system and fit in visually.
The next thing on the list is the new OS X Maverick operating system. Besides being the first Mac OS in recent memory not being named after a cat, it brings battery saving tech, it includes iBooks, enhanced notifications, better iMessaging, Maps on the desktop that can be shared with your iPhone, a password manager that goes across your devices among other things. In short, a lot of the items that iDevice users have loved for years are now on the desktop. While not as polarizing as iOS 7, I think this will be another win when it ships later this year. Here’s what Mr. Dawson had to say:
The Mavericks desktop OS is a good upgrade, which continues with the iOS-ification of the Mac OS. The addition of Maps and iBooks and iOS integration for Notifications, Maps and other features are signs that Apple sees iOS as the future paradigm for all its operating systems, and it is driving a slow convergence towards that reality.
Now on to hardware. There’s two new MacBook Air models with more power using new Intel Haswell processors and graphics chips and much better battery life. Though the MacBook Air isn’t going to be my next Mac, this will find an audience and fly off the shelves in Apple Stores everywhere. If you want one, they’re available now. Here’s what Mr. Dawson had to say:
The new MacBook Airs are further evidence that for all that competitors copy the look of Apple’s computers, Apple itself is still ahead in terms of performance. The battery life improvements put it way ahead of other players in this space, and even when competitors start to adopt Intel’s Haswell hardware, they will struggle to match the overall performance.
Next on the list is the shock of the day. Apple has sat on updating the Mac Pro forever. I personally thought they were simply going to ditch it. But I was way off. Apple released a stunning new Mac Pro with a stunning new design and new Intel Xeon processors. All expandability will be external and one other key factor, it will be assembled in the US. The first Mac in a very very long time to be assembled in the US. Oh, and Phil Schiller had this to say during the introduction in reference to the radical design:
“Can’t innovate anymore, my ass,”
Okay then.
I’m not sure about it’s chances as power users may be looking for a computer with internal expandability and a more conventional look. Mr. Dawson’s thoughts seem to echo mine:
The new Mac Pro feels like another sign that Apple is abandoning its hardcore creative users in favor of mainstream users. Even though the new Mac Pro looks very different and stylish, the smaller size means that additional hard drives and other hardware will have to sit outside the enclosure. This feels like a poor tradeoff considering that most of these computers sit under, rather than on, desks in video editing and advertising firms around the world.
Finally, there’s iRadio which is a direct shot across the bow of Pandora. It’s a streaming service that will be available to Mac, PC, and iDevice users and is free via an ad supported model. Don’t like ads? There’s a ad free version if you are part of iTunes Match. I’m wondering how this will work out if you already use Pandora and I will reserve judgement though I don’t like the prospects of iRadio at first glance. Neither does Mr. Dawson.
iTunes Radio as a Pandora clone is a lot less disruptive than a Spotify clone would have been. This is a nice free feature that lots of people will probably try out, but existing Pandora users won’t have much reason to switch, especially as the service is still ad-supported unless you have an iTunes Match subscription. What would be really disruptive is a service that allowed you to call up specific songs on demand as you can with Spotify, but that would likely have disrupted Apple’s existing iTunes business, and the music industry as a whole, too much.
Want to see the entire keynote? Here’s a video link.
That about covers it. What are your thoughts? Post a comment and share your thoughts. Many thanks to Jan Dawson of Ovum for sharing his thoughts.
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This entry was posted on June 10, 2013 at 11:49 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Apple. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.