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| Behold....The symbol of technological dominance! |
I think it's safe to say that many of us are Apple tools. I-pods, I-phones, and I-Dunnos are all over the place, and Apple is making sure they're king of the hill when it comes to the tech wars, but today, Apple is hoping to solidify its approach to technological dominance. (Mark my words...Apple will become our version of Cyberdyne and create Skynet's real-life equivalent.) Anyway, today Apple head honcho Steve Jobs unveiled the company's new line of products during a "special event" in San Francisco and it was a doozy. Specifically in the makeover of several of its I-pod models.
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| I-Pod touch brings Asians to your device at the touch of a button |
First up, the I-Pod touch is getting a new piece of hardware installed in the form of an HD video camera. Not only that, there's also a camera on the front of the device which will allow for face-time chat found on the I-Phone 4. The new and improved touch is also getting some new cosmetic features like smooth edges, and it's said to be a little under 2 millimeters smaller than the I-Phone 4. But what really caught my eye about the new I-pod touch is it's obvious push towards the portable gaming market. The new touch is supposed to feature an improved tilt-control feature called "gyroscope," which basically allows the phone to be more precise in its movements. On top of gyroscope, the touch also tacked on a new feature called "game-center." Basically, it's an App that allows for multiplayer games with other I-pod touch users. So what's this going to cost you? Apple ... In all of its price gouging glory ... is setting the price of the new touch at $229 for the 8GB, $299 for the 32GB, and $399 for the 64GB.
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| The revamped I-Pod Nano |
And last, and certainly least, is the new I-pod shuffle. The shuffle is taking a step back in terms of its design by featuring the click buttons found in the 2nd generation shuffles. There's still no screen on it, but what has me scratching my head is why would they make the shuffle similar to the nano in size? I know there's a touch-screen on the nano, but there's just something I can't quite put my finger on that's nagging me about how similar the sizes of these two gadgets are. The new shuffles come in only the 2GB version, which costs $49.
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| The I-Pod Shuffle. Proof that you're a cheap ass. |
I-tunes is also getting in on the makeover action in the form of i-tunes 10. One of the bigger changes in store for the new i-tunes is in the form of a new social networking feature called "Ping." Ping works just like facebook in that you make a public profile that allows you to post status updates and whatnot, but allows you to follow what music you and your friends are listening to. I don't really see Ping being a game changer in the social networking department, but I like the idea of me discovering new bands by following what music my friends are listening to. The new i-tunes is already out for download, but for some reason my computer isn't recognizing it. Damn you technology!!!
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| The Apple TV is destined for failure |
The other major announcement today came in the form of Apple's newly renovated 'Apple TV.' I'm not all too familiar with it, but from what I know Apple tried to launch this product a couple years ago and set a marketing goal too lofty even for its own good by attempting to replace Cable TV with Apple TV. The new Apple TV is a little block of hardware you can place on top of your television set that basically acts like a glorified Netflix. According to a couple of reports, the new Apple TV allows for users to stream rented movies, tv shows, music, and much more straight to their sets....and it's all in HD. There's no storage on the device, which I feel ups its value, but I think this is still going to be a bust. If you have Netflix you know how valuable the online streaming is. And with Apple setting a tentative price of $.99 for renting TV shows and $4.99 for movies, I don't see many people hopping on this bandwagon. With blu-ray players, XBOX, PS3, and Wii consoles able to stream Netflix already, it's a tough sell.
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| I-Tunes 10 available now...except on my freaking computer!!! |
Whoo...now that the news-ish part is done...what are my thoughts? I think the touch and nano are the best parts of today's announcements. Both pieces of technology offer a fresh new appraoch to their respective devices and give it a flavor that'll get consumer cash flow going. I'm especially interested in checking out the new nano. I really like the way the screen looks, and I think it's still reasonably priced. I'm also not surprised that Apple is going for a chunk of the portable gaming market. Full disclosure: I do not...and I mean DO NOT...believe that portable gaming will reach the height of console gaming anytime soon. There are too many technological boundaries to make a portable game better than a console games in terms of playability, graphics, story, blah, blah, blah. BUT...I DO think it's a marketable audience and for that I give a round of applause to Apple for its brilliant business strategy. It'll sell.
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| This is how you watch movies. Thank you Netflix. |
As for the shuffle, I think it will probably sell as well as it always has, being the cheaper alternative for many consumers, but I am calling fail on Apple TV. The problem with Apple TV is that its trying to sell a service that is already being dominated by a company like Netflix, and Apple isn't even offering a cheaper alternative. You have to pay $99 for the device alone, and then the cost of renting increases on top of that. Why pay $99 when you can just pay $9 a month for all the rentals and streaming you want? (I know Netflix doesn't have new release DVD's until 30 days later but seriously people? Is it really going to kill you that you can't watch Mark Wahlberg suck major ass in "The Lovely Bones" for a month?)
That's my two cents. Hope you enjoyed it.
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