Once again, Steve Jobs gave one of his legendary keynote addresses and once again he announced a lot a nice to breathtaking products and enhancements.

But once again, he left out quite a few details…

And once again, I am going to point them out! Yes, just because I can! :p

Note: don’t get me wrong, I love that stuff, I buy it all. I just wish the right stuff released in the right order..

Half baked iPhone enhancements

OK, nice software updates, but:

  • Still no copy & paste! Can you believe that? ... but we have wiggling icons now :-/
  • Still no video capture. The hardware is there... but apparently marketing has decided you cannot use it.
  • Still no podcast update "over the air"... but who cares, as long as the keynote is dubbed "Something in the air".
  • Still no games (not that I personally care... but still)

Basically, this looked more like a $20 software release for the iPod touch (which is good, even if you need to pay) than an iPhone event. My bet is they’re holding back some more about the iPhone. As Steve says at the end of the keynote: this is what they announced in the first 2 weeks of 2007. There are still 50 weeks to go! (Hint: the iPhone SDK is to be released at the end of February…)

Movie rentals

That was long anticipated. It’s nice to have it, but:

  • Movies start after 30 seconds and you can watch them almost live... right... if you have an exceptional broadband connection and you are downloading a standard def movie... no way is this going to happen for mere mortals ordering HD...
  • Now if an HD movie ends up taking 10 hours to download... and you only have 24 hours to watch it, after you initially realized you only had 3 seconds to watch after 30 seconds... there's gonna be a problem. Let alone if you watch one evening and you get interrupted, you may not be able to watch the end before the next evening... more than 24 hours later. Bummer.
  • Release dates are 1 month after DVD releases. So how long is this after you can get the DVD from NetFlix?
  • OK, so I get the DVD from NetFlix... how do I insert that DVD into my Apple TV? I don't right? I need a separate DVD player... how convenient... Oh wait, I could use a Mac Mini instead of an Apple TV. Cool? No, not cool: how do I get the Apple TV software to install on the Mac Mini? Front Row there has barely been updated in years... |-|

Btw, there’s a lot more reasons to get a Mac Mini instead of an Apple TV: it gives you access to media that you can’t get through Apple! Let’s say Joost for starters…

Then Steve also said they asked users and they told him they didn’t want music rentals… Why didn’t he ask me? I still wish there was a monthly plan where you get unlimited music at 128 kbps (that you can only listen to as long as you’re subscribed). That would still let Apple sell me the high quality 256 kbps versions of the songs I like the most.

MacBook Air

That one really kills the Sony TZ… but again:

  • No Ethernet port!! Hello?? Yes I get the 802.11n pink tinted glasses moment... but what if you're in an hotel room that only has wired internet? It's only 2/3rds of the hotels out there... :crazy:
  • Why does Steve sounds so bored (if not evasive) when mentioning the environmental issues addressed in the making of the MacBook Air? Are those few extra dollars in production cost really bugging him that much?

Anyway… despite all this… I’m pretty excited to get my hands on all this stuff. The Time Capsule + Time Machine is brilliant integration! :)

OK, back to playing with my upgraded iPod Touch… ;)

Comments from long ago:

Comment from: Mox Folder

I agree Time Capsule was probably the best anounce today … but most of people probably won’t get it, they’ll still complain about the missing fucking 3G in their fucking iPhone.

The MacBook Air design is incredible and very suggestive…

Et puis sinon de quoi tu te plains ? maintenant tu peux envoyer des SMS à plusieurs personnes à la fois ;o) Aller à la prochaine keynote Steve nous parlera d’un “Revolutionary Copy & Paste function”. Ça deviendrait presque ludique ces keynotes…

2008-01-16 06-08

Comment from: N Goos

Nice article here!

I agree that it is kind of strange that the enhancements you name in the article have not been made already in the Iphone.

2008-04-15 01-01