Reaction to SHOWTIME ?

[Apple Corps]

What is your reaction to SHOWTIME? While I enjoy my iPod - it is not a major emphasis for me. HD video, HD video downloads, Rev B MBP with upgraded gpu, are on my needs list now and I was just so so about the announcements today. In another thread I wondered if Steve's Reality Distortion Field is not working as well as it used to. The stock market, with a good day today, was unimpressed - Apple stock up by a whopping ten cents.

As a stockholder, I am very pleased that iPods have done so well. Adds $$$ to me and to Apple's engineering budget. OTOH, the releases are feeling like halfway measures more and more. iTV gonna ship next year, 8 months of Rev A MBPs with problem units still shipping, "near" dvd quality downloads (how long since the year of HD?), no true G6 video iPod still, iPhone ?????

Your thoughts??

 

[Doctor Q]

We have separate threads for discussion of each of today's announcements.

Please use this thread if you have comments about Apple's overall direction, marketing approach, position in the industry, stock market value, etc. but not for discussion about the specifics of iTunes 7, movie downloads, the new iPods, iTV, etc.

 

[swingerofbirch]

I was going to start a thread called "Apple doesn't get it," but I guess this thread seems like it might be a good place for those thoughts.

If the movies being sold on iTunes were only being billed as a nice add-on to the iPod as the TV shows were when they were added, I would think the idea was OK.

First, the iTunes store is selling movies to people who will own them. That makes sense: they should own them after paying $9.99-14.99.

But, if you really want to own a movie, and not just watch it once, don't you think you'd want to have it in higher quality, with the DVD extras?

Apple is betting that consumers will want to pay DVD prices to own a digital copy of a movie, without any extras, not even at DVD quality, and then in Q1 2007 pay $299 for the good fortune of being able to watch on their high definition flat screen plasma?

Which brings up another point: if they have a HDTV it's likely they have 5.1 sound. And as far as I can tell, these digital movies come with stereo only.

iTunes looks muddled and overly-complicated. If they're going to make a huge section on the left hand side that says STORE, why not at least take advantage of that space and underneath have Music Store, Movie Store, TV Show Store, etc......

Apple is moving so far from the simplicity that Jobs brought back to Apple that it makes me sad.

When I get my new iMac I'm going to avoid upgrading to iTunes 7 for as long as I can hold out. I think we need to start a petition. There are just too many different UIs, too much packed into iTunes, too many half-baked ideas. In short: it's all too Microsoft.

What happened to simple devices and applications that did one thing really well?

This is a sad case of a "jack of all trades and a master of none."

EDIT:
I also think iTunes needs to be renamed...it's taking over the realm of QuickTime, so maybe Quick? Or QuickPlayer?

Also notice the buttons, the play button looks like the edges are rough. And so do they scroll bars of the Cover Flow UI. Although the scroll bars of the CoverFlow UI look better than iTunes'. Why not just use the CoverFlow UI for the whole player? Unify it!

 

[Apple Corps]

I emailed Doctor Q that my intent is not specific response to each of the announcements BUT the trend of Apple's releases - especially since the Year of HD is now a couple of years behind us but not much in hand yet save for some monitors resolution. Many months ago I postulated that Apple may not have the organizational capability to scale to Steve's vision - my sense is that there is more hype - less delivery and fewer of us being "starry eyed" about it.

Thoughts again???

 

[Doctor Q]

Please, go ahead and discuss these issues.

I wonder if the stock reaction had more to do with trepidation about Apple's further moves into consumer electronics than about whether Apple is keeping pace with Steve's vision. Or the fact that one of their products was a sneak peak, not a product announcement.

I don't think the rumor mills led to overexpectations for this event, because the rumors were, if anything, more accurate than usual.

 

[Apple Corps]

Doctor Q - I agree - the iTV is gonna ship in 2007 did not help much. The sense I have late this evening is that the SHOWTIME event was a bit of a letdown - nothing all that exciting - no 6G iPod, no iTV (or whatever) shipping, no MBP updates, medicore movie resolution and selection, no HD emphasis.

I believe that Steve has been working the studios but not yet obtained the deals he was hoping for. This event may have been done to just get it started - deep down I suspect there were more things in the works for but not yet ready.......


Ciao

 

[MovieCutter]

You have to remember. Apple makes no promises for these events. When you set high expectations, you're bound to get let down, but it's not Apple's fault entirely. They set no expectations, but that goes both ways I guess.

 

[pianoman]

i think everyone expects too much from Apple. we have come to expect an iPhone when they have said very little about that product's development (if anything at all) and a full-screen video iPod when that idea might never become a real product (many iPod users try not to get their screen smudgy - if the scroll whell is touch-sensitive and on the screen, how would that work out?). yesterday's product announcements are good improvements over what we had before.

with respect to the computers, perhaps some members of this community do not realize the difficulty associated with switching processors. obviously there are going to be some problems with a brand new proccessor. they are working on those. we cannot reasonably expect the first release of anything to be like the final release of its predecessor. the new notebooks and desktops are amazing machines. i consider myself lucky to have one - i know many people who cannot afford Apple computers.

let's all just take it easy for a while. Apple was working on new iPods and a new iTunes, now they're working on updating their notebooks (we presume), all while working on the new OS that we expect next year. and let's not forget iLife and iWork.

i like coming to MR to read about the rumored releases and learn about new products (like the new iPods). i like coming to MR to read about other people's problems and share my thoughts. don't take my above statement as a hatred against the spirit of these forums - i just think we might expect too much from our beloved Apple.

 

[Apple Corps]

pianoman - you made a number of good points in your response.

That said - the Merom is simply a "drop in" to the current socket - no engineering issues for that alone. The top of the line $2800 MBP uses a lesser cpu that the new $999 iMac - that is poor. We are approaching NINE (9) months since the MBP was announced - no Rev B yet. The move to Intel chips was going to give us far more rapid upgrades than the snails pace we saw with Moto and IBM.

Hell - maybe Apple's notebook engineering crew is confused and thinks we are still on the old Moto / IBM release schedule

Remember - almost NINE (9) months since MBP was announced. iPhone rumors are heating up, 8 core Clovertown sample chips are being benchmarked, and their top professional notebooks remain in the "Twighlight Zone" of yesterday.

We have been patient for months - this is - IMO - absurd.

ps - Apple has a ton of $$$ for plenty of engineers to not fall behind the competition.