Bahoot? Kersplat!

really? that's funny and sad at the same time -- and i can totally see that.

ddt

gun in mouth: pull trigger.
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/02/mac-upgrades-sl.html

I totally disagree. Apple's offerings are long in the tooth. Apple needs to use the bad economy to aggressively push suppliers to deliver faster, better stuff. A great year for our "economac" headless iMac idea, a great year to put out a mini at an awesome price point AND set up a consumer version of OS X server to make a media home base.

No?

Prediction: Apple is going to give up a lot this year.

oh, that article is such bullshit. even the lead sentence isn't supported by the text and it gets worse from there.

chowdhry's been wrong more than he's been right (can't think of when he's been right). and this doesn't even make logical sense. think about it. apple's going to hold off new models with the newest chipsets... to introduce them later, so they hit the market already long in the tooth? or apple's going to skip a cycle of speed bumps at least, new tech at most? eat all that r&d and reserve payments to intel... because... they want to keep obsolete stuff on the market?

all this might make sense for some company, but doesn't for apple.

ddt

Lately, whenever I see the phrase "analyst who tracks Apple" I immediately think "guy who has less than no clue about what Apple will do".

I don't think Apple will go to the lengths that baha would like (what a shocker), but whenever I sidle up to any of the physical Apple Stores near me (there are 7 in IL...) they are far and away the BUSIEST stores in the mall. These are not just "lookers" people are walking out with thousands worth on MBPs, iPhones, iPod (esp touch) the whole weekend.

With the BT mouse and keyboard and HDMI in many living rooms a quality replacement for the Mini would make a lot of sense...

charlie (who prefers to be quoted as "charles", by the way) has a good grasp on stuff. but i have called "apple analysts" at major firms such as Gartner and IDC in the past and have had to explain to them what is going on with apple, and then they make up a quote off the top of their heads. guess that's why they get the big bucks.

ddt

Hey, can I be an Apple analyst? I'm eminently qualified. Example: After MWSF's relatively paltry product announcements, I boldly and confidently predicted that Apple would have a slew of product announcements on consecutive Tuesdays beginning in late January and throughout February. I was completely and unequivocally wrong. In other words, my record's as good as most of the folks who get paid to do this.

I'm shocked nothing has hit the internets in regards to a solid release schedule.

That the Mac Pro (still listed as "The new Mac Pro" btw) and the Mini are over a year old, that the iMac is going on 10 mos ... these fall way outside of the realm of really cool "consumer company" products. They smell more like FAIL at this stage.

I'm really pissed and anxious to buy something new.

I'm really pissed and anxious to buy something new.

well, that'll show them!

heh. this is exactly where apple wants you... .

ddt

Last recession (remember how nice that one was by comparison?) Apple said that they where not going to retrench, that they where going to innovate their way through the downturn. They did. And it worked. I can't see them changing now.
New products are coming, but Apple is doing a very good job keeping lips sealed.

dpbd
New mini

> well, that'll show them!


yeah, i was thinking of maybe starting a Blog!

no more ACDs in the pipeline? Or the 20" at least?

Oh jeez that. apple seems to be seriously lacking in the development area. what's next, go all henry ford, you can have it any color you want as long as its black? why don't they standardize on three products: macbook pro 15", imac 20" and iphone. After all, we hate anyone who wants anything else.

and a new one every two years.

I have to admit, if Apple doesn't have a new, interesting product by the end of March, I will think they've slipped. Either because of the economy or because something went kablooey behind the scenes. It's been too long.

I do think the question of HOW a company (esp. a product company) rides out a big downturn like this, is most interesting.

Some 'escapism' by consumers, buying things to FORGET about the problems of the day in stark contrast to the fact that they shouldn't be spending shaky income/money, will indeed happen.

As a leader, I would be hard pressed to come up with a spend versus save. Me, personally, I am very much a save and have the money before you spend it EXCEPT on autos or homes. Just because very few people can afford to write a check for either. Not meaning to spend a LOT MORE than you can afford on a car, mind you. But one usually has to take out a loan for a decent car. Granted, I was at the spot that I could have written a check for my used Prius, but I didn't.

As for other 'luxuries', I think one should be able to afford them, first. Travel, furnishings, appliances, etc. Although my close (enough) brush with death has me wanting to take more trips abroad (more than the ZERO I currently have taken) before I die. Just the passport hassle and expense has put me off so far.

So, there's always the struggle with the save for a rainy day vs spend to 'help' the economy. The balance must be struck micro and macro speaking. Not sure the best balance for any given government/economy.

http://www.cringely.com/2009/02/wheres-steve/

and

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/02/21/how_intels_battle_with_nvidia_over_core_i7_impacts_apple.html


JW -- I'm with you. Something better be shaking soon or else it's really "wither mac".
That Harperstown Xeon was introduced in late 2007 folks! The Mac Pro in January 08! This is getting ripe.

That Where's Steve is not listed at the iTunes Store's link for his podcast. Perhaps it's not made it YET?

The Nvidia chipset is a big problem. My Macbook continues to have problems related to that unit, very similar to the ones I had in my last generation Aluminium 17" MBP. Overheating is common in this machine. Just now I glanced at my CPU temperature and it's up to 70. I've got a bunch of windows open, but beyond browsers, no heavy applications. SMCFancontrol doesn't generally stick past sleep and I have to remember to quit and relaunch to get my fans on full force. Otherwise, every now and then the machine will slow to near inaction. The video will also just shit itself requiring a hard restart every few days as well. Don't get me wrong, in other ways this is the best machine I've ever owned, Apple is finally figuring out price/performance/size, but Nvidia is a problem.

If Apple wants to suggest that it's ok without Steve, it doesn't just need to roll out new hardware, it needs to aggressively roll out aggressive new hardware this spring. Get that tablet out of ye dark dungeon lads! I don't care if we all know it's there, get it out now. Wow us with a serious upgrade to the iPhone. Unroll some Steveisms, e.g. ideas that Apple knows best: make the iPhone battery removable, let AppleTV run third party apps like boxee without reboot, etc.

That would be one tack. You know, another problem with rolling out many products is where to put them. I mean, we have a dinky little Apple store and I'm not sure where they'd put another 2 or 3 classes of products. And they have to train the dozens of Apple store employees there (at ours) Some of them might extend past their capabilities.

I think Apple needs to expand our Apple Store into a larger one, or open another one, perhaps.