Apple sets "gold standard for corporate America"

Apple should NEVER stop making the Classic. At least not any time soon. Spinning drives cost MAGNITUDES less than Flash and it'll take several years for that to change. (Look at how long it took LCDs to displace CRTs.) Today, the biggest Classic (160 GB, $349) costs 30% less than the biggest Touch (32 GB, $499) and has FIVE TIMES the capacity. That's more than SEVEN TIMES the cost per gigabyte. ($15.60 vs. $2.20) For those who want high capacity and low cost, it will be unbeatable for quite a while. (No sense mentioning that if you want more than 32 GB, it's the ONLY option.) Plus, the Classic's interface, with physical buttons, is MUCH easier to use in a car than the Touch's.

I actually think Macbook Air is a terrible name for it. Macbook - it's a mac notebook. Macbook Pro - it's a professional mac notebook. Macbook Air - wtf is that? What does air have to do with it? It still needs a power cord. You can use someone else's CD-drive through the air, but that is just one feature. What is "air" about it?

"FZ Series," no question, pretty useless if you're not a computer yourself or it's meant to imply some sort of FuZz.

But Apple has a category of confusing product names.
I mean, is it just me or are others confused by the jungle cats of the OS?
Who's in charge of marketing these babies? Marlon Perkins?

What's next Lynx? Ocelot? Jaguarundi?

My money's on a Serval upgrade.

with regard to the analysis of the naming idea behind the macbook / macbook pro / macbook air - there was an almost identical analysis in episode 16 of "the talk show" from a few days back:

http://www.thetalkshow.net/

I agree with your post, but I think Apple takes it too far.

There are so many why Apple, whys, but there are a few.

Why no Mac? Like everyone is either all-in-one, or a Pro.
Why no 13-inch MBP? Maybe there wouldn't be so much MBA hate.
Why no 15-inch MB? Normal users don't want bigger screens?

I don't know why tech companies can't understand the importance of product naming. Try buying a Canon camera. The consumer Line has 24 models! All named with mysterious alpha-numeric combinations. Crazy.

that must be why their stock is going through the roof!

I thought the article overall was interesting, but your comment about the Touch replacing the Classic seems ridiculous to me. I have had a Touch for several months, and I think it is great for watching videos while I run on a machine or play video clips to my class (I'm a teacher). I love using for simple web browsing or checking emails as well. I hate listening to music or audio books on it. With the Classic (or Nano) I can skip songs, adjust the volume, even go back a few seconds in an audio book when I didn't catch something without taking it out of my pocket.

To do the same thing with the touch I have to take it out of my pocket, enter my passcode, then it is impossible to move back just a little bit as the touch screen just can't do small adjustments - at least not using fingers.

The point is that saying the Touch will replace the Classic is like saying Mangoes will replace Bananas once they get the production up.