Apple held its annual iPod show this week and the Macalope ’s here to give you the final take - away . Truth be told , he ’s not even go to talk about Ping because he does n’t get it , but you know how it is with swot : we ca n’t pass up a fortune to makea Monty Python reference .
Calvinball
The “ one more thing ” at the outcome was , as predicted , the new Apple TV . What was n’t really predicted was the feature readiness . The new Apple TV is nice but , lease ’s face it , it ’s not the prophet that ’s sound to result us out of the entertainment wilderness and into the promised estate of ubiquitous cheap contentedness .
Apple is betting on an all - rental model which is an interesting gamble but seems improbable to be a huge victor . For starters , Amazon sell show for the same amount Apple rents them . Of course , Amazon ’s serve is n’t without its crotchet , too ( like not working on the Mac ) , but it ’s hard to get unrestrained about spending a buck to be loan something that someone else , for the same dollar , gets to keep .
Apple still has n’t been able to up the 24 - hour boundary on watching a movie ( and , yes , the Macalope get laid they get you get through it at least once even if you go outside 24 hours ) . Of course , it ’s at least easier to see a 45 - min episode ofGleein 24 hours than , say , Cleopatra . peculiarly when you decide you may only bear to take in half of theGleeepisode because there ’s only so much twee - cape you may stand . Other organization allow longer see periods . ( Correction : the time limit for film stay 24 - hour , but the terminal point for TV show rentals is actually 48 hours . )
It ’s rather annoying that current Apple TV users are apparently go to beshut out from watching rented idiot box appearance , evenstreamed from a Mac . While it ’s potential this restriction is Apple ’s doing in Holy Order to avert additional exploitation cost ( the new Apple TV is Io - based , the old Mac OS X - ground ) or simply to labor sales , the horny one wonderment if the deals it shorten with media company are n’t machine - specific .
The Macalope ’s breaker point here is that the television receiver and movie companies love thesevaried and ridiculous rulesbecause they ’re in a game of divide and conquer . It ’s in their best pursuit to keep the cable companies , Amazon , Roku , Microsoft , Apple , and anyone else they work with on an odd terms so that no single party becomes the grocery store leader . The last affair they want is to end up like the euphony industriousness and be a morsel player in someone else ’s game . Apple ’s got the chop to own this business and the industry is determined to verify that never happens . Alas , the Apple TV remains a hobby .
Well , could be worse . Steve Jobs could have taken up scrapbooking .
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iPod Rex
Some of the items in the event might make you question “ Was this tripper really necessary ? ” The iPod nano in particular strikes the Macalope as an odd choice . The last three generations of the nano permit you watch video — and you could even tape video with the last one — but the new model completely eschews video just to make it smaller . It ’s really less of a multitouch nano than it is a multitouch shuffle .
Add to thatthe vertical emplacement of the close / minimize / resize buttons in iTunes 10and some of these announcement appear like the companionship ’s saying “ Hey , look what we can do ! attend ! I SAID LOOK WHAT WE CAN DO . NO , LOOK , DAMN IT . ”
This is n’t exactly novel with Apple and at least the company has natural endowment to go along with its flair for immodesty . There ’s even some method to the madness . Well , not about the iTunes windowpane buttons . That ’s just nuts . But the unbeloved - of - video nano seems to be positioned to push back sales of the very - telecasting - capable iPod touch .
And that , kids , is the lesson of this week ’s Apple consequence : very small matter besides the iPod touch .
you could express mirth at the backtrack on the shambling physique factor , you could scoff at the red - headed stepchild that is the nano , you could chuckle over the idea of Steve Jobs follow Lady Gaga on Ping , and you could call into question whether the Apple TV will ever get to be a real , live boy . It ’s not going to count because the iPod tactile sensation , already a killer whale twist , just get stronger . Thinner and quicker with more filmdom resolution and front and back camera .
Really , it ’s all about the touch .
Listen , when even George Ousays the iPod touch make Android mini tablets disused , you know there ’s no longer any question that it ’s a big passel .
Down is up
Oh , no ! allot toInternet usage trends , the Mac ’s in decline . Quick , everyone go out and range something !
Wait , youarebrowsing something . pathetic Macalope !
But what ’s disturbing is that while Apple is keeping its eye on on the iOS spinning denture , the Mac OS plate has stop whirl and it headed dirtwards .
This would be worrisome , except for the fact that in terms of actual sales numbers , the Mac ’s plate is birl so fast it ’s actually plagiarize off the ground . [ NOTE TO EDITOR : PLEASE COMPUTE PHYSICS OF THIS TO SEE IF POSSIBLE . TIA . ]
According to Needham & Company ’s Charlie Wolf last week , Mac sales grew at 31.5 percent compare to 20.9 percent for the repose of the market . This would imply that Apple ’s market portion is increase considerably , not decrease incrementally as the net exercise resume would indicate . In fact , according to Wolf , the only part of the securities industry where Apple isnotincreasing market part is in education .
Of course , the kids jazz the cyberspace , so maybe that makes the net usage statistic make more sensory faculty . Or does it?Maybe it ’s just that Mac owners are also buying iPhones and iPads and using them to surfboard the World Wide Web . It ’s all so confusing !
Relax .
Do n’t obsess over Internet usage share . It ’s just one index . good indicators are maturation and making money hired hand over fist . And in both those metric , Apple is doing just delicately , thank you very much .
