I don't know if you were ready to rock or not yesterday, but I must confess Apple's event surprised me. No, it's not the fact I wasn't prepared for it, it's more than that - you can't really be prepared for an Apple event! When the original iPhone was released, as well as the MacBook Air, I was simply stunned, and it took me almost an hour to assimilate the information. Now, I got through all of it easier, but I will probably have some revelations as we talk about what happened, so let's get this show rolling, shall we?
At the Apple event in San Francisco, Steve Jobs started it all by coming out of the dark and saying "We've got some really exciting stuff to share with you!" and then quickly continued "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." I think that should have been obvious already, if he made it to the stage in flesh and bone...
First topic - iTunes
According to Jobs, there are over 65 million accounts in iTunes currently active, and the new stuff that's becoming available includes NBC's great shows, also available in HD, from now on. HD shows are priced at $2.99, and they can be easily watched on your computer, not just like Apple TV movies.
iTunes 8 doesn't come with too many new things, considering the latest rumors about its new features. Anyway, I am sure veteran iTunes users will enjoy the new Genius Playlists and Genius Sidebar, as well as the Grid View. Both "genius" features are all about AI, so the program decides what's good for you, based on your past choices. I've seen such things with other programs, and sometimes they are brilliant. Sometimes, they're not bright at all.
At last, iTunes 8 features a new Visualizer and enhanced accessibility, allowing you to use VoiceOver in Mac OS X Leopard or Window-Eyes in Windows XP or Vista.
Second topic - new iPods!
Quoting latest NPD data from July, Apple's CEO said the iPod holds 73.4 percent of the market. Wow! With over 5,000 accessories for iPod(only 5k?), Apple managed to create a very interesting ecosystem. Jobs said "they announce products even before we want them to. It's so funny," and I must admit he's absolutely right, especially if we think about the iPod Nano 4G case...
Greenpeace can finally be happy - the new iPods use arsenic-free glass, also being BFR-free, mercury-free, PVC-free, and highly recyclable.
The iPod Classic 160GB will be discontinued, and the largest one remaining will be the 120GB one, priced at $249.
The new iPod Nano is tapered, with a black wheel, just as rumors and early shots were showing. The range of colors can easily compete with the rainbow now, since the iPod Nano is available in silver, indigo, blue, lime green, yellow, orange, red, or magenta!
New headphones have been added to the package of the Nano, and pricing goes like this: $149 for 8GB of memory, second model 16GB at $199.
One more thing about the new iPods - if you want to jump to the next song, simply shake it. Now, that's what I call "user friendly!" Obviously, this means the Nano has an accelerometer, so games for it will surely become much more interesting than before, but that remains to be seen.
At last, the iPod Touch got slightly refreshed, pushing the battery life up to 36 hours of music and 6 hours of video, with 3 models available - 8GB for $229, 16GB for $299, and 32GB for $399.
Conclusions
With these new gadgets, Apple also released the 2.1 software update for iPod Touch and iPhone, improving battery life of the iPhone 3G and fixing a lot of bugs. I hardly wait to see less iPhone 3G problems, and I know I am not the only one!
As "his Steveness" said, Apple now has the "strongest lineup of iPods we've ever had," and I guess he's right with that one...at least until Cowon's latest players hit the US market!
