Well here I am on my final day (of 2) at what looks like will be the final
MacWorld conference. I say the final, sure the organizers would not agree with me on that one, but if you ask the exhibitors, as I have been doing, publicly all for MacWorld 2010, in private they're not coming back. No Apple at MacWorld doesn't mean too much to these guys! And you've got to agree. It's a bit like a Windows conference without Microsoft turning up.
So was there anything exciting at the final event?
Not really... iLife & iWork get a 2009 makeover with some really nice touches – the best one has to be the face recognition software added into iPhoto which was a cool makeover if not somewhat freaky – almost like bringing the FBI / CSI tools into the real world. To see it in action and play with it was great if your into your photos and like tagging and sorting! However look beyond the geek aspect of it and you can start to see that its beginning to be much more personal and that has to be good. The Facebook plug-in also was cool that you can tag the persons name right there and if there is someone else in the picture that you don't know who it is – they can tag themselves (via Facebook) and this can also come back and update your photos – just cool! However if you are a hardened Mac user that uses these applications already- I don't see Office users dropping their PCs on order to switch to a Mac just to use these applications!
New 17" MacBook Pro. Great looking Mac ( apart from the awful black keys - I just don't like them makes it look somewhat cheap and nasty) but the price tag is quite hefty for the entry level unit - and in this current credit crunch not sure apart from hardcore Apple Mac users who will fork out almost $2800 compared to HP or Dell 17" which will come in almost $2000 less!!!
No Mac mini update, or Air update either (apart from the one at the end of the year – but there needs to be something a bit more for the air). No mention of any iMac upgrades and of course no Steve Jobs, has made the MacWorld swansong a bit of a damp squib!!
And where will the cool kids with their flip flops and socks with Macs firmly under their arm pit go from here to worship the mighty Apple?? According to Apple they have enough stores now to do worldwide product launches (as long as it starts in Cupertino)
Final snippets: iTunes AAC DRM free in April has strings attached, and over 10,000 Apps for the iPhone were highlights (but no mention of the final 4 value for apple from the Apps store) However with Apples share price still struggling and Jobs discussing his illness (which for a very private man does smell like a story to help raise their Market value again) 2009 is shaping up to be a real tough year for Apple and will need all their cash reserves to weather this economic storm.
Now onto CES to see the latest developments in Technology that the Consumer will want to have – but how will they justify a spend in this current economic climate?? The biggest ever Panasonic TV, Technicolor’s BluRay DVD advancement, Divx 7 with H.265 compatibility, Sony’s OLED with a curved & flexi screen!! (OK I’m here already and will update the blog with pictures and comments tomorrow…)
