The shine is off the Apple

[zap2]

Perhaps the OP is one of those instant gratification types who need adrenaline 24/7 and then is also one of those who gripe when something new comes out and it doesn't provide enough of a buzz.

Personally, I'm fine with a slow period. Lets the bank account recover some and hopefully when something does come out, it's good to go from the start and doesn't need patches to fix.

Perhaps...when I read this thread, what I got from the OP was "Apple has hit a slow point" and to that I'd agree.

But I'd agree with you that slow periods have to come around from time to time. WWDC should bring exciting stuff around, and I'm sure I'll be buying some Apple fun soon

 

[agl82]

.

 

[tlinford]

iWatch

iWatch who? sound a bit voyeur!

 

[technic]

This is in reference to the iTablet. I recall speaking with a person in the industry that will remain unnamed about Apple buying quite a few 10" touch screens from a supplier they often use in China. I wonder if this is part of ramping up production for something of the iTablet sort. I know I can only offer this has hearsay and conjecture, but it seems something "interesting" or "exciting" is on the horizon. Who knows if or when though.

 

[MisterMe]

This is in reference to the iTablet. I recall speaking with a person in the industry that will remain unnamed about Apple buying quite a few 10" touch screens from a supplier they often use in China. I wonder if this is part of ramping up production for something of the iTablet sort. I know I can only offer this has hearsay and conjecture, but it seems something "interesting" or "exciting" is on the horizon. Who knows if or when though.

Welcome to last month.

 

[gibbz]

This is in reference to the iTablet. I recall speaking with a person in the industry that will remain unnamed about Apple buying quite a few 10" touch screens from a supplier they often use in China. I wonder if this is part of ramping up production for something of the iTablet sort. I know I can only offer this has hearsay and conjecture, but it seems something "interesting" or "exciting" is on the horizon. Who knows if or when though.

Was your "person in the industry" Apple Insider?

 

[neutrino23]

Well, Apple's Mac division has sort of plateaued in many ways. If you look back at 1998-2004 there were radical changes to the product lines frequently including generational processor updates (G3, G4 and G5), major software updates (introduction of iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, GarageBand, 10.1 Puma, 10.2 Jaguar, 10.3 Panther, 10.4 Tiger, etc) and complete design overhauls across the board.

Mac product design has been relatively the same since 2003/2004, Mac OS X and iLife development has slowed down considerably and Apple's been milking the Core 2 Duo line since 2006.

We've reached a point where Apple's Mac products (both hardware and software) are mature.

Not quite sure what you are after, if things were radically different everyday we'd never recognize anything.

The unibody laptop design was quite a big development. The built-in, custom shaped battery in the 17" MBP is quite a step forward. iWork adding Numbers was a big deal. The quality of the screen in the 17" MBP has gotten quite a bit better. I was stunned when I saw a production version matte screen recently. Better than the prototype at MWSF. Apple has gone from 802.11b and g to n. Time Machine and Time Capsule were new developments. MobileMe took a while but has gotten to be pretty good. Multi-finger gesturing has been added in the last couple of years. Text to voice improved dramatically with Leopard. Applescript has gotten dramatically faster. Safari has improved quite a bit.

Looking Forward:
Snow Leopard will be quite tasty. The new iPhones and v3.0 software will be quite nice. I look forward to 500GB/7000RPM HDs in the near future. Possibly we'll see OLED screens in the laptops inside of a year. Late fall or early spring might see quad core CPUs in laptops. Possibly in the next year or so we'll see micro-sized projectors built into everything. Wouldn't it be cool to watch a movie or Keynote presentation projected out to 36" diagonal from any laptop, maybe a bit smaller from an iPhone or iPod touch? They are in development but not quite ready for prime time.

So, I respectfully disagree. I think we've seen a lot of big developments and I expect to see even more in the near future.

 

[iVeBeenDrinkin']

I can't remember the last time I was at all exited about an Apple product. The iphone is the only thing I remember being excited about from Apple in the last 4 or 5 years. I used to get all juiced up about the cool and amazing products that Apple used to come out with all the time. But over the past few years, the things that Apple have released just make me say meh. (with the iphone being the only exception)

Does anyone else feel the same way?

This thread made me say, meh.

 

[MacGuffin]

I can't remember the last time I was at all exited about an Apple product. The iphone is the only thing I remember being excited about from Apple in the last 4 or 5 years. I used to get all juiced up about the cool and amazing products that Apple used to come out with all the time. But over the past few years, the things that Apple have released just make me say meh. (with the iphone being the only exception)

Does anyone else feel the same way?

Perhaps you are developing a more rounded personality with a wider range of interests?

The opposite could be true, too, explaining your inability any longer to feel excitement as you become duller and drearier in your world of "meh."

Just remember this. All normal people are excited, or as you call it, "exited," about Apple products.

 

[netdog]

I can't remember the last time I was at all exited about an Apple product. The iphone is the only thing I remember being excited about from Apple in the last 4 or 5 years. I used to get all juiced up about the cool and amazing products that Apple used to come out with all the time. But over the past few years, the things that Apple have released just make me say meh. (with the iphone being the only exception)

Does anyone else feel the same way?

Oh yeah, Apple hasn't done anything exciting in the past 5 years!

New products introduced since (not including bumps)...

2004 - Airport Express with AirTunes
2005 - Mac Mini
2005 - OS X 10.4 Tiger - Spotlight, Dashboard Widgets, Smart Folders
2005 - iWork
2005 - Video iPod
2005 - Video added to iTunes Store
2005 - iPod Nano
2005 - iPod Shuffle
2006 - Intel (iMac, MacBook Pro (PowerBook), iMac, Mini, Mac Pro)
2006 - Native Windows via Boot Camp (and Parallels)
2006 - MacBook
2006 - Games go on sale at iTunes Store
2007 - AppleTV
2007 - Airport Extreme Base Station with Air Disk (and eventually Time Machine)
2007 - iTunes Store Begins Removal of DRM
2007 - iPhone
2007 - iPod Touch
2007 - OS X 10.5 Leopard - Time Machine, Spaces
2008 - Time Capsule Backup Appliance
2008 - MacBook Air
2008 - iPhone 3G with GPS
2008 - iPhone + Touch OS 2.0
2008 - App Store
2009 - Unibody Construction Across Portable Range

Coming this year:
iPhone Rev. 3 with Video, Enhanced GPS
iPod Touch gets a camera
OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Open CL, Grand Central, Quicktime X, Exchange
10.4" Touchscreen Device?

It's a shame that in the past 5 years, Apple hasn't been able to touch the exciting advances offered by Microsoft (Table and Vista), Dell (Adamo!!!) and HP (a crap touch interface welded onto an iMac clone).

 

[Ish]

I can't remember the last time I was at all exited about an Apple product. The iphone is the only thing I remember being excited about from Apple in the last 4 or 5 years. I used to get all juiced up about the cool and amazing products that Apple used to come out with all the time. But over the past few years, the things that Apple have released just make me say meh. (with the iphone being the only exception)

Does anyone else feel the same way?

Maybe you're just getting old!

Sorry! Couldn't resist! Maybe the realisation that there's more to life than just gadgets, even if they are fun. When you're looking forward to something and saving up for it, it seems exciting, but when you've had it for a while it just takes its part in your life and upgrades aren't half as fun. The iPhone was just so different from anything else and its newness hasn't worn off yet. That and the different apps that are continually coming out keep it new-feeling.

 

[student_trap]

Its a tough one for me. On the one hand I think the macbook/macbook air and especially iphone are all fantastic products, while on the other I miss the outlandish design that came with the late G3 and G4 products. I remember the first time I saw the imac G4 for example, it was incredible. Or the first time I saw a powerbook G4 and thought to myself...that is one slick laptop.

For me though, I think the key apple thing was change. Never stay with a design too long, keep pushing boundaries, always one step ahead of the competition, and for the most part (especially with respect to the last example), they still do this. But somehow a difference is still there.

I think it could be this:

When I go into the apple store with my girlfriend (who cares not a hoot for tech, like most people) and ask her about what product she likes best, she moves instantly to the ipod nano in her favourite colour, and then to the white macbook. If I then ask her opinion of the unibody macbooks, and wax lyrical on how they are a marvel of design, she always replies:

'but it just doesn't look very apple-y'

Perhaps that is the point?

 

[Goona]

Oh yeah, Apple hasn't done anything exciting in the past 5 years!

New products introduced since (not including bumps)...

2004 - Airport Express with AirTunes
2005 - Mac Mini
2005 - OS X 10.4 Tiger - Spotlight, Dashboard Widgets, Smart Folders
2005 - iWork
2005 - Video iPod
2005 - Video added to iTunes Store
2005 - iPod Nano
2005 - iPod Shuffle
2006 - Intel (iMac, MacBook Pro (PowerBook), iMac, Mini, Mac Pro)
2006 - Native Windows via Boot Camp (and Parallels)
2006 - MacBook
2006 - Games go on sale at iTunes Store
2007 - AppleTV
2007 - Airport Extreme Base Station with Air Disk (and eventually Time Machine)
2007 - iTunes Store Begins Removal of DRM
2007 - iPhone
2007 - iPod Touch
2007 - OS X 10.5 Leopard - Time Machine, Spaces
2008 - Time Capsule Backup Appliance
2008 - MacBook Air
2008 - iPhone 3G with GPS
2008 - iPhone + Touch OS 2.0
2008 - App Store
2009 - Unibody Construction Across Portable Range

Coming this year:
iPhone Rev. 3 with Video, Enhanced GPS
iPod Touch gets a camera
OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Open CL, Grand Central, Quicktime X, Exchange
10.4" Touchscreen Device?

It's a shame that in the past 5 years, Apple hasn't been able to touch the exciting advances offered by Microsoft (Table and Vista), Dell (Adamo!!!) and HP (a crap touch interface welded onto an iMac clone).

Apple has introduced a lot of things, I don't know what people want from them, a car or something?

 

[SACD02]

Oh yeah, Apple hasn't done anything exciting in the past 5 years!

New products introduced since (not including bumps)...

2004 - Airport Express with AirTunes
2005 - Mac Mini
2005 - OS X 10.4 Tiger - Spotlight, Dashboard Widgets, Smart Folders
2005 - iWork
2005 - Video iPod
2005 - Video added to iTunes Store
2005 - iPod Nano
2005 - iPod Shuffle
2006 - Intel (iMac, MacBook Pro (PowerBook), iMac, Mini, Mac Pro)
2006 - Native Windows via Boot Camp (and Parallels)
2006 - MacBook
2006 - Games go on sale at iTunes Store
2007 - AppleTV
2007 - Airport Extreme Base Station with Air Disk (and eventually Time Machine)
2007 - iTunes Store Begins Removal of DRM
2007 - iPhone
2007 - iPod Touch
2007 - OS X 10.5 Leopard - Time Machine, Spaces
2008 - Time Capsule Backup Appliance
2008 - MacBook Air
2008 - iPhone 3G with GPS
2008 - iPhone + Touch OS 2.0
2008 - App Store
2009 - Unibody Construction Across Portable Range

Coming this year:
iPhone Rev. 3 with Video, Enhanced GPS
iPod Touch gets a camera
OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Open CL, Grand Central, Quicktime X, Exchange
10.4" Touchscreen Device?

It's a shame that in the past 5 years, Apple hasn't been able to touch the exciting advances offered by Microsoft (Table and Vista), Dell (Adamo!!!) and HP (a crap touch interface welded onto an iMac clone).

I love how someone says something about Apple that is not 100% compliments and yet someone brings Microsoft in
How humiliated did you guys feel during Apple's dark days that you feel like bringing up Microsoft in every possible opportunity?
By the way, let me know when Apple catches up with rest and adds HDMI (or at least offers Mini-DP to HDMI in their own store), e-SATA, Blu-ray and higher end graphics chip for their laptops....

 

[student_trap]

Apple has introduced a lot of things, I don't know what people want from them, a car or something?

Its not the introduction of new products (for me at least), but rather the design ideas behind those released. In my opininon, the last apple product that reflected the 'think different' approach was the iphone. SInce then we have had more and more computers that look like they could be PC's

 

[neutrino23]

Apple has introduced a lot of things, I don't know what people want from them, a car or something?

Wouldn't that be interesting. Apple could take a few billions from their cash hoard and buy GM. Steve would fire the top four or five levels of management and hire some good people. Then he'd turn Jonathan Ives and his team loose on product design. I wonder what they would come up with? Imagine Steve giving the keynote speech at the Detroit Auto Show. What a hoot.

 

[Goona]

Its not the introduction of new products (for me at least), but rather the design ideas behind those released. In my opininon, the last apple product that reflected the 'think different' approach was the iphone. SInce then we have had more and more computers that look like they could be PC's

Well to me Apple's computers don't look like PCs. They all have the same design elements and I know it's made by the same company. Very nice, clean looking design. I don't know what you guys expect from them.

 

[MisterMe]

I love how someone says something about Apple that is not 100% compliments and yet someone brings Microsoft in
How humiliated did you guys feel during Apple's dark days that you feel like bringing up Microsoft in every possible opportunity?
By the way, let me know when Apple catches up with rest and adds HDMI (or at least offers Mini-DP to HDMI in their own store), e-SATA, Blu-ray and higher end graphics chip for their laptops....

So it is your position that your perceived deficiencies in Apple products in the past discredits anyone else who defends Apple against charges that they feel are silly? OK.

 

[SACD02]

So it is your position that your perceived deficiencies in Apple products in the past discredits anyone else who defends Apple against charges that they feel are silly? OK.

The other poster claimed that somehow the premium is justified because Apple uses high quality parts; Apple happens to use the same parts as every other PC makers. You guys had an excuse during PowerPC days to claim things are different (Powermac G5 power supply failure, iMac G5 failures and such come to mind) but with Apple using Intel, they are using the exact same parts as every other PC makers including Dell, HP, Sony and such
So I'm curious, where those higher quality parts come from? Do Intel, nVidia, ATI, Seagate, Western Digital and others give parts to Apple that are made better and unavailable to any other PC maker?

Simple question

 

[mikes70mustang]

the time where i find my self wanting to be excited by a new apple product is the time where i need to get a life

 

[Insulin Junkie]

I agree with the poster who mentioned the MBA. I sure went 'wow' when I first saw it, though me personally I'll wait until it gets significant spec bumps before I'd consider it.

 

[aaquib]

I don't think Apple has a company is slowing down or being any less innovative than they were before. Nowadays, the keynotes just aren't exciting. Go look up any 2001-2007 keynote and how exciting the presentations felt. The RDF died after the legendary Macworld 07 keynote. Now, it just feels like a bunch of random guys trying to sell us something. Before, Steve Jobs would get up there and convince us he changed the entire computer industry.

Maybe it's just me, but Apple keynotes don't excite me nearly as much as they used to.

 

[NT1440]

a ......mini tower!

and...........support for all off the shelf graphics cards!

and..........an imac with easy to swap out hdds, and maybe the ability to hold 2!!!!

and..........wireless display connections standard! with the ability to hook up to a tv wirelessly (with an receiver that goes into say an hdmi port)!

Yea im sure the general public will get excited over an average type of computer

 

[Not Steve Jobs]

I can't remember the last time I was at all exited about an Apple product. The iphone is the only thing I remember being excited about from Apple in the last 4 or 5 years. I used to get all juiced up about the cool and amazing products that Apple used to come out with all the time. But over the past few years, the things that Apple have released just make me say meh. (with the iphone being the only exception)

Does anyone else feel the same way?

Just wait for WWDC 2009. Apple will fool us all.

 

[Keebler]

i don't think the shine is off.

they've had some groundbreaking, leading edge toys - imac, ipod and now the iphone.

sure...it's been a bit quiet, but gee whiz....some companies never come up with 1 world changing product, let alone 2 (ipod and iphone).