My thoughts on TG Daily’s “Microsoft blindsided vulnerable Apple with Windows 7″
by Justin Horn on Oct 23rd, 2009 @ 3:51 pmJust saw this TG Daily article on Daring Fireball, Gruber had this to say:
I’m coming around to the idea that Enderle’s really a genius and his doofus routine is a Stephen Colbert-esque schtick.
Unfortunately Gruber is joking (at least I hope so)…Enderle is not a genius. I pretty much disagree with everything he says in this article with the exception of the Magic Mouse (Apple has never been good at making mice) and when Apple almost went belly up.
Let’s take a look at “Windows 7: A New Hope” section of the post:
Steve Jobs and Apple clearly planned for the same traditional behavior [Windows launch failure] and were completely unprepared for both the quality of Windows 7 and the fact Microsoft has a war chest this time. Their near pathetic recent release of a couple slightly improved PCs and a couple peripherals showcases this. They figured they could easily skate through the next few months because, traditionally, Microsoft would be vulnerable and not able to fight back.
The new updates were just that, updates. They got faster hardware and a few other tweaks with the lone MacBook getting the biggest upgrade. Apple is not “unprepared”, but instead sticking with what works and Windows 7 isn’t going to change that. Not sure what Rob thinks Apple should have released? Apple isn’t going to suddenly start competing in the thin margin budget computer business.
Windows 7 should shake some of the bad Vista press (just as XP did for Windows Millennium), but the problem for Microsoft is all the negative press has pushed Apple into the spotlight…even with their teeny weeny market share. People that have never considered a Mac are now thinking about “the switch”. Add in the success of the iPhone and iPod touch and Apple has gained a much larger audience than they ever have before.
Here is what’s really going to happen for Apple and Microsoft in the Windows 7 world:
- People running XP now will continue using XP for as long as they have that computer, especially businesses.
- At lot of people running Vista will pay the upgrade fee since it will probably be worth the price to get the hell off Vista.
- People on a tighter budget will buy a new cheap PC with Windows 7 just as they would if it still had Vista on it.
- People deciding between a Mac and PC will not be swayed to a PC by Windows 7, they just won’t be pushed to Apple by Vista (so one plus for Microsoft here).
Rob wraps things up with:
Two good lessons here, even when you are on top it is very foolish to under estimate a competitor with Microsoft’s resources because they can actually get it right, and picking too many fights at once can take out the most powerful of entities just as it took out a nearly unbeatable Germany in the second world war.
Not even sure how to respond to this one. The “too many fights” is referring to the Droid (Google, Verizon, and Motorola) in addition to Microsoft. I don’t see how Apple is under estimating anyone? Apple is selling more Macs then they ever have before and have the fastest growing consumer devices ever with the iPhone and iPod touch. Looks to me like they are winning both wars.
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Apple vs ?, iPhone, MacBook, Macs
MicroClone Stores, they even copy the grand opening!
by Justin Horn on Oct 22nd, 2009 @ 2:23 pmIf they copy everything else why not kick open the doors in the same style as Apple? …the highest form of flattery I guess.
(via @cabel)
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new MacBook… still $999
by Chiyin on Oct 20th, 2009 @ 12:45 pm
It was only logical for Apple to refresh their most popular Mac and the update comes in the form of an unibody enclosure and glossy LED display. Also new to the MacBook is the glass multi touch introduced with the aluminum MacBook Pros, which was to be expected. Gone is the removable battery, just like its aluminum sister, the new unibody MacBook doesn’t have a removable battery.
For complete specs:
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Apple store down, this is not a drill
by Justin Horn on Oct 20th, 2009 @ 10:18 am
Talked to a friend that works at an Apple store an even though they don’t get more info than the general public they were convinced that we would get new iMacs today or next Tuesday. Apple store is down this morning…on a Tuesday. I think we have the real deal here.
We are supposed to be seeing new iMacs for sure, but also rumored are updates to the lone MacBook (the plastic one, everything else is Pro now).
According to The iPhone Blog (via Daring Fireball) here is the full list of what we could see:
Redesigned Plastic MacBooks, Redesigned (‘Impressive’) iMacs, Updated Minis (Including One That Ships With Mac OS X Server), the Multi-Touch Magic Mouse, and, as the Wildcard I’m-Not-Sure-I-Really-Believe-It-Myself Out-There Rumor, Maybe Even Some Sort of Mentioned-Nowhere-Else-But-in-This-Very-Headline Multi-Touch Trackpad Gadget for Desktop Macs
AppleInsider has posted some possible part numbers:
The unedited parts list is as follows:
MC207LL/A – K84 BEST BTR- USA
MC238LL/A – MAC MINI 2.26/2x1GB/160/SD/AP/BT-USA
MC239LL/A- MAC MINI 2.53/2x2GB/320GB/SD/AP/BT-USA
MC340LL/A – AIRPORT EXTREME (SIM DUALBAND) – USA
MC343LL/A – TIME CAPSULE 1TB (SIM DUALBAND) -USA
MC344LL/A – TIME CAPSULE 2TB (SIM DUALBAND) – USA
MC408LL/A – MAC MINI 2.53/2x2GB/1TB/NO ODD/AP-BT-USA
MC413LL/A – IMAC 21.5″/3.06/2x2GB/1TB/4670-256MB-USA
MC434LL/A – APPLE VESA MOUNT ADAPTER
MC461LL/A – MACBOOK 60W MAGSAFE POWER ADAPTER – USA
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MacBook, Macs, Speculation
How Verizon’s iDon’t commercial should have been
by Justin Horn on Oct 19th, 2009 @ 3:18 pmJust found this YouTube video of an old Sega commercial on Daring Fireball showing “Genesis Does What Nintendon’t”. I’m sure you notice the similarities to the new Verizon, “iDon’t commercial” I discussed yesterday.
Yesterday I said:
I find it interesting that all the iPhone ads show what the iPhone iCan, while Verizon is all about the iDon’t.
Yes, the end result of the commercial was the same as Verizon’s, a direct jab at their competition, but Sega approached in the way I thought Verizon should have. Instead of showing all the things “Droid can”, they choose the inverse approach by showing what the iPhone can’t. If the Droid can do all the things iPhone can’t, then let’s see it!
Another side effect of this inverse approach is something The iPhone blog found after doing a quick survey of their non tech savvy friends:
TiPb asked a few non-geek friends and most of them didn’t even realize Verizon was targeting the iPhone in these ads (some thought the commercial was saying whatever device they were talking about didn’t do the things listed). Is that an ad-failure, or was it deliberately targeting geeks?
This idea of “inverse” is really what I meant by a “negative ad campaign” in my post yesterday…not that going head to head with your competition is a bad thing. The first thing someone that disagrees with me would bring up are the Mac vs PC ads, but I see them as more of the Sega style. They discuss what the Mac can do in direct comparison to where Windows OS falls short. See for yourself in the video below.
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Want to see your friends and coworkers naked? There’s an app for that
by Justin Horn on Oct 19th, 2009 @ 10:30 amWho Is the Bald Guy has posted a video of a new iPhone app that allows you to see through clothing.
Nothing like a fun video to cheer you up on a Monday morning. I loved this and thought the timing was perfect…wonder how many takes it took to get it just right?
(via ispazio)
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Humor, iPhone, iPhone apps
