Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple
Three stories I hope will go away in 2007
Soon 2006 will be but a memory in our collective. There were many highlights, and we'll be focusing on them soon enough, however I would like to take some time to point out a few stories that I hope I will no longer have to read about in 2007:
- The iPod phone, nee iPhone: This product hasn't been released, and there is a chance it will never be released, and I'm already sick of it. Will it have buttons, will it just be an iPod with wireless, will it run a light version of OS X? I'm sick of the speculation, and this will be the last I have to say about it until Apple announces it (or Macworld 2007 comes to a close, whichever happens first).
- Gimmicky Marketing: My Dream App, Mac App A Day, MacZot, and MacHeist all captured plenty of headlines this year. Some developers loved them, some developers hated them, and most Mac users were just happy to get cheap (or free) software. Let's just move on people, these sites are simple marketing tactics. There is nothing nefarious about them, nor is there anything particularly inventive about them. If you enjoy participating in them, continue to do them. If you dislike them with the red hot passion of a thousand suns, that's cool. Can everyone just please agree to stop chattering about them?
- Zune/Vista bashing: Microsoft bashing is something of a staple on the Mac web, but I tire of it. I have been using Vista as one of my primary OSes since Vista Enterprise became available, and you know what? I like it. Do I like it as much as OS X? No, but it is the best version of Windows I have ever used (a title previously held by Windows 2003). As for the Zune, I have yet to see one in person but I hope that it succeeds. Apple could use a strong rival in the MP3 player space, because competition fosters innovation. Let's face it, the iPod of today is pretty much the iPod of 2 years ago with a color screen and more storage. Let's see how Apple can crush the Zune with innovation.
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
Robert Schmitt said 12:02AM on 12-22-2006
Those are the only three reasons I even get up in the morning. Don't take away my reason to live.
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Rick said 12:18AM on 12-22-2006
I agree with Geoff Padro.
Why on earth are blogging about what you no longer want to discuss? That in itself doesn't make sense.
The iPhone phenomena, the Zune/Microsoft issue, and large program giveaways are all valid topics for discussion and debate. What exactly would you like to discuss in 2007?
When and if the iPhone does break, will you be reporting on the latest app that allows snow to fall on my desktop? Is this a worthy story? I don't understand your view as deeming news unworthy because you are "tired" of reading about it.
Maybe it would benefit you to go ahead and research as to what journalism is.
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John said 12:55AM on 12-22-2006
i back this 100% scott
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Crazy Developer said 1:34AM on 12-22-2006
So Scott does that mean we wont have to read about any of phil ryu's money making schemes on TUAW ever again. I really hope so.
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Carroll Wills said 1:43AM on 12-22-2006
I agree with 1 and 2 and am in no position to even comment on the 1st half of #3, never having used Vista. Personally, I hope Vista is a good product, since I'm going to have to be stuck with using it at work.
OTOH, I could not disagree more with your take about the iPod vs. Zune battle. Apple has done quite well innovating with the iPod in the last two years, thank you. You can watch TV on it, now. You can watch movies. You can play games. You can get an iPod that counts the miles you've run, and you can get an iPod that's the size of a matchbook. And all this took place without the competitive "help" of the Good Ship Redmond.
Moreover, Zune isn't just about building a better MP3 player. Have you forgotten the little Easter Egg hidden in that little brown brick? The protection money MS is handing over to Universal Music. If the Zune succeeds, the large corporate content providers will have their foot in the door to wring a payday from consumers not only for the content itself, but for the machine that plays it.
IMHO, hardly the competitive utopia you'd have us believe.
Thanks, but I'll continue rooting for a rout of the Zune.
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Schlaeps said 2:11AM on 12-22-2006
I suppose all good things must come to an end.
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MatzeLoCal said 3:35AM on 12-22-2006
When I read about the 'Delicious Generation' on the Rogue Amoeba Blog, it mostly agreed, except the fact, that I wouldn't count Delicious Library to the "annoying" apps. DL did everything right and it's a great app and experience.
And so it is with MacZot. MacZot brings a developer for one day into spotlight. Unfortunately I don't know the conditions that had to be signed, but as an app is only available for one day, it can't be such harm to a dev.
One of the first things I will do with my upcoming app is to put it on MacZot... I hope they will accept it :)
IMHO is one of the greatest App-Launching websites, because on MacUpdate or Versiontracker your app will get lost between all the others
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spiny norman said 3:14AM on 12-22-2006
point #2 is a bit hypocritical isn't it?
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Halapeo said 12:01PM on 12-22-2006
Actually in 2007 I ONLY want to read articles about the iPhone, gimmicky marketing and how much M$ products suck.
1. I don't have a cell phone. I have never used a cell phone. I don't really want a cell phone. But if Apple puts one out, I will buy it. That'll make my wife happy, thinking she has me on a leash.
2. Guess what? ALL marketing is gimmicky. Marketing in general is a gimmick. It's trying to get you to buy stuff. I took my kids to Sea World today. At the beginning of the Shamu show they have this segment where August Busch IV comes on and talks about how Anheuser Busch supports the "heroes" serving our country. Whatever. It was a way to bring the name of Anheuser Busch into the Shamu show and uses our service people as a gimmick to do so. I thought it was cheesy, exploitive, and you know what, most of the crowd loved it. Raise your glass to our valiant warriors, right? Just make sure it's full of BUD! Anheuser-Busch doesn't give a crap about our "heroes". They care about selling their mediocre beer to the masses. Give me gimmicky MAC marketing any day.
3. What good is living without a little good ol' M$ bashing? M$ is like Anheuser-Busch in that all they care about is selling their mediocre crap to the masses. Now, that's not to say that Apple doesn't want to sell to the masses. They do, but they don't seem to want to do so at the expense of a philosophy that places quality, innovation and ease of use as guiding lights. M$ doesn't really care about any of those things. It really doesn't seem to care about anything, really, except selling it's mediocre crap to the masses. Please, please, please continue to unload on M$ and with both barrels. One each for Zune and Vista.
2007: The year of the Apple Phone, free apps and M$ squarely in the sights. Bring it on!
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Adrian said 6:03AM on 12-22-2006
I agree - I think Vista will give Apple serious worries, and rightly so.
And as for the Zune the portrait screen format really works well, plus Microsoft has room to improve on the iPods mediocre acoustic performance (Although I'm reasonably happy with my 80GB iPod the bass level distortion is really, really ANNOYING. Buying legal, non-DRM full quality MP3's from playlouder.com, for example, shows up that iPod doesn't offer the best sound quality, nor does iTunes selling only crappy 128kps MP3.
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MacCrazy said 6:06AM on 12-22-2006
Excellent post.
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JS said 9:55AM on 12-22-2006
I couldn't agree more, and this type of reasoned posting is exactly why I've gradually stopped viewing macdailynews.com -- with its hyperbolic ranting -- and moved over to TUAW.
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Punky Howitzer said 10:05AM on 12-22-2006
Oh, has Zune-bashing become passe now that TUAW's had its fill?
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Kevin C. Tofel said 10:07AM on 12-22-2006
Bravo Scott! Having an open mind is something that should be admired, not condemned. Those with closed minds are missing your points: you've simply had enough of some stories that have been played to death for the moment. That's fair. Indicating that Vista isn't half bad in your hands-on experience is something that I think Mac users would appreciate since 99.9% of them likely haven't used the new OS yet. I'll go on record to agree with you: it's the best Windows OS yet. I've beta tested it for 15 months and have been using the RTM version for about 4 weeks; it's replaced XP for me at this point. I personally can't compare it to a Mac as I haven't used a Mac in years. However, YOU have and that's why I come here. I'll be getting a Mac early next year largely due to the varying opinions I've read and will continue to read here!
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Ravi said 10:22AM on 12-22-2006
I couldn't agree less ;)
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philip said 10:28AM on 12-22-2006
I agree. Especially with the whole iPhone, its getting old. Vista isn't all too bad, although my boss has been going through some of the new features and asks "Can your Mac do this?"
My usual answer is, "Yeah, for a few years now."
btw: the wii browser works great!
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BigDaddyJ said 11:22AM on 12-22-2006
"So what are we going to talk about now? ... Pudding ... pudding ..."
If you read TUAW on a daily basis, you'll see that the guys here do a *fantastic* job of posting on other stuff. There's a lot of cool stuff coming out for the Mac every day. I'm sick and tired of hearing about the iPhone, myself.
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spil said 6:56PM on 12-22-2006
Carroll (#25), what Scott means is that it is basically the same in design. about 7 (iPod Photo and 5.5g included) revisions of the iPod and it is still basically the same: scroll wheel and screen with the same interface. Over the years, the scroll wheel has changed slightly and the screen has become larger and able to display color images. The iPod has gotten thinner, and its capacities have grown. It has been able to play increasing varieties of media. All of these have changed the iPod, but in 50 years, if you show a kid a 1g iPod and a 5g iPod, s/he will probably not see many differences in the device. They look basically the same save for some subtleties. I think the iPod has not been changed dramatically because "it just works", if it didn't it would have changed more.
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river said 11:17PM on 12-22-2006
you use vista from time to time? do you have to? if you have to, then fine. but you make the statement as if it's something to be admired. "look how even-handed i am. i'm so neutral." come on. you have a good, working hammer. you have a crappy, broken hammer. you're going to use the crappy one just to show how far above the petty arguments you are?
as for the list, well, i don't have a problem with you not wanting to read about these topics any more. but, dude, you *wrote* about them in your list. so now we have to read about them, and about how sick you are of hearing about them. you know what? just write about something else, and then write about something else again. we're not stupid, we'll get it. and we'll go elsewhere to get a hit of that sweet iphone-is-so-much better-than-a-ms-p.o.s.-zune-because-it's-my-dream-zot action. know what i'm sayin?
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Ain said 1:25AM on 12-24-2006
I coudln't agree more with George as well as with Scott.
Microsoft shouldn't make it to the news or topics at all cos it hasn't quite earned the hype. Dudes at Redmond put RC2 of Vista on the market and as we predicted there are security patches out already. Quite Microsoftish.
And what the hell is that Zune thing? It looks ugly and is expensive as well. But some of us are still talking about pricey Apple products. Update yourself Mr Fanatic W. User.
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