Picture a wall of every single app available that lights up each and every app gets downloaded. Pretty slick digital wall at the Moscone center for the WWDC.
Stay tuned this tuesday, March 17th as Apple will be showcasing the new OS 3.o for the iPhone for a select few. Video recording? New homescreen that shows a few emails and calendar entries? MMS?
When if comes to Apple Products I can be the biggeset fanboy of them all. I’ve tried and purchased them all, maybe it’s because the first computer I ever touched was a Mac in highschool, my first computer that I ever owned myself was a Mac, and maybe it’s because I went to a design school where everyone used Macs as well in their elitist way – I am and always will be a fan of Apple products because it has been my first touchpoint with computers and the internet as I remember it.
Enough with the mini Apple manifesto, fast forward to today and the revolution of the MP3 age and the iPod. Everyone knows how great the iPod was and still is, but along the way Apple launched a budget friendly, go out and get active playing MP3 device called the iPod Shuffle. Now of course I have owned a shuffle, its actually sitting somewhere in my desk with a myriad of other useless gadgets I’ve collected along the way. A couple of things bothered me about the first gen shuffle – basically you had one really long playlist and you couldn’t tell what track you were listening to. It could of had a little more storage and would have been great to have a little display which has simple information such as track information, battery life, maybe date and time…you know the basics.
The new 2nd gen shuffle seems to have corrected most of these mistakes. More storage, voice that tells you what track you’re listening to, and finally the ability to have multiple playlists…oh and it comes in black or silver now as well. The major selling point seems to be the voice capability to tell what tracks or playlists you are selecting or listening to. Although I would have much preferred to have a mini display to read this information instead of a robotic voice guessing what that track name is supposed to sound like…but hey I can live with this – it is a much needed feature either way that was lacking in the first gen model and it provides apple with a key selling point that they can highlight in their marketing efforts.
The thing which I think is a big mistake…and maybe a mistake done on purpose, is the decision to not include the controls on the actual player, but to only have them on the headphones. Yes you can spin it and say that they could have never been able to make such a small device without lifting the controls off the body of the player, but I suspect something a little sneakier from Apple. I must have about 7 of those white earbud headphones lying around in my desk, why you ask? They simply break all the time. What happens if you bust the headphones on your new little shuffle? Well it seems you now own a little brick until you get a brand new $25 set of new earphones so you can get the ability to control your shuffle again? Not good Apple.
I am however a sucker and will most probably get one for my jogging purposes, since I’m currently using an iphone to jog because my music library is on that one device and use my good old nike plus watch instead of the ipod nano combo. A sucker born every minute, I know…I will give you guys more concrete feedback after a few days use.
more info and cheesy apple demo here
Here’s a little piece of inspiration for the weekend…how to become a millionaire in 7 days.
Wouldn’t this be nice, cmon Steve…one more for the road.
This is the first time Steve Jobs took the stage for the introduction and demonstration of the Macintosh computer. With the health of Steve Jobs in question and the last Macworld conference just passed, the world may never see a man who could capture the attention of the world with every new product launch (or small upgrade!). I will confess to being an Apple fanboy to a certain extent. Maybe it was because I started out as a graphic designer and that my first computer was indeed a black powerbook G3, but I have been dedicated to macs as my primary computer for over a decade. Steve, hope you get better and continue to steer this ship for another decade.
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