It’s a Mac World.
Mac World keynote is just ending. This is the last Mac World that Apple will be attending. Can’t really blame them for not wanting to have a big event the first week of January. I always thought that it hurt their Christmas sales. I have been watching the updates on Gizmodo, and have to say it was rather lack luster.
First of all it didn’t have Steve Jobs. Steve bowed out of this years event. He says that he has a hormone imbalance which is causing his weight loss, so that might have had something to do with it, or it could have been that there just wasn’t anything good to announce. Phil filled in and apparently did a good job, but there just wasn’t much there. iLife and iWork were updated. Look to be good updates, but nothing mind blowing. Actually Google releasing Picasa for Mac seems to be a bigger announcement.
They announced their new 17″ Mac Book Pro. Looks like a really nice laptop, but it is way to large. The did away with user changeable batteries so that they could squeeze more room in there for extra power. Looks like that will be a big thing. Battery life moved up from 5hrs to 8hrs. Not a bad jump. They also have some new tech that will allow you to recharge more times during the life cycle. Looks like you will get 5 years out of it. That is really pretty much the limit to the useful life of a laptop anyway, so that shouldn’t be a problem. I am not so sure of the glossy lcd. They say there is an anti-glare coating that you can apply, but it is an extra $50. Not the best of options, but at least there is that option.
One More Thing what the announcement of DRM free iTunes songs. That is a welcome addition. I was just planning on writing about my switch to Amazon for mp3 purchases, but this might bring me back to Apple. They are better encoded and no longer have the protection on them. Along with that comes a new price structure. Old songs $.69, not popular songs $.99 and the hot hits move up to $1.29. I guess we always have to count on prices increasing, but I did like the one price fits all thing. I just hope it doesn’t become a one price fits all at the new higher prices. You can also purchase songs over the 3G network directly to your iPhone. I wish I had an iPhone. I miss it so much. Hopefully they will arrive her in Qatar in the next few months.
Maybe the best part was Tony Bennett coming on at the end and singing. Not a bad way to finish off the last of the apple attended Mac Worlds.
Additional Information: I usually watch the coverage unfold on the Mac Rumors site, but apparently they got hacked.