I attended Tuesday ’s keynote kicking off Macworld Expo with my fellow worker Dan Frakes ( and 6,500 or so of our closest friends ) , and afterwards — after we ’d escaped from the crowds and could really get word each other talk — we were both arrived at the same one - word summary of the upshot : cohesive .
More so than any tonic in late memory , Tuesday ’s Apple announcements fit together very well , and seemed to reflect a very solid top - grade vision . You might even say that there was something in the air . ( Sorry , I could n’t resist ! [ Next meter , please render to resist.—Ed . ] )
Consider Apple ’s four major announcement during the keynote . lead off , Time Capsule offers a wireless backing solution for those who live and work on portable Macs . While there ’s nothing earth - breakage in the merchandise , the monetary value point is competitive with what it would cost to purchase an AirPort Extreme base station and a 500 GB or 1 TB hard effort . A cynic might question whether the world of Time Capsule explain the disappearing of Time Machine ’s AirPort disk feature article , but thankfully , I ’m not cynical .
No matter the product being discussed, Steve Jobs seemed to stick to a wireless theme during Tuesday’s keynote.
The next proclamation continued the centering on wireless gimmick , as the iPhone received some nice software update . Most interesting to me is the power to add icons to the principal screenland of the iPhone ( and support for multiple pages ) , as well as the GPS - like map pose feature .
No matter the product being discussed , Steve Jobs seemed to stick to a wireless radical during Tuesday ’s tonic .
Third up was iTunes movie rentals . The big news here , at least from where I posture , is the engagement of all the major studio , and the power to watch the renting on any machine — even transferring them mid - session , if you care . Again , wireless figure the photo when the updated Apple TV was revealed . No longer is the Apple TV required to go in the shadow of a parent PC or Mac ; instead , it ’s a full - featured standalone gimmick . Using its radio ( or wired ) connection , you may purchase songs , and rent motion-picture show , from the iTunes Store directly on the Apple goggle box . These purchase can be synched back to a Mac or PC , if you like .
Update : Since this web log place was issue , we ’ve learn that while you may sync medicine and TV show purchases back and forth between your computer and the Apple TV , you ca n’t do the same with motion picture that you rent directly from the set - top box . It ’s a matter of rentals being DVD - calibre if bought off the Apple TV while other rentals are “ near - DVD quality . ”
The quaternary announcement was , of course , the MacBook Air , the ultra - low-cal portable Mac that ’s price between the MacBook and MacBook Pro . As with the other twist , wireless plays a major persona in the MacBook Air — more so than in any prior Mac . Lacking FireWire , Ethernet , and an optical effort , the MacBook Air is a machine built around wireless connectivity — if you want to get data on or off of the MacBook Air , you ’ll be doing so over the air . ( There is an outside USB SuperDrive available for those who need it . )
So there really was something cohesive in the air today — excluding Randy Newman ’s first song choice , that is — and it ’s obvious that Apple has a well - thought out product scheme . Take one part flick rentals from every major studio apartment , add in one part new AppleTV , mix with the power to watch over those movies on any equipment — include the new MacBook Air and ameliorate iPhone / iPod cutaneous senses — at any time over a 30 - day period , shake with the iTunes Store ’s vast marketplace share , and I think you have a formula for success . Time will tell , of course , but I think Tuesday ’s tonic shows that Apple has a self-coloured vision for their mathematical product line , and seems to be execute it very well .
