Every time I see one I want to touch it, and I’m always on the look-out for a cheap enough model to buy. But I wonder how the Mac Mini’s sales are doing.
When it was launched, people predicted the Mini – then a G4 – would sell pretty well. Then, last summer, sites predicted the death of the Mini. Since Leopard was release, the Mini just hangs in limbo.
It’s a shame, too, because people love the pint-sized Mac enough to mod the heck out of it. Media centers, car computers – you name it, someone has put a Mini inside it. But how well does it sell overall?
The original idea was to offer up a below-$1,000 Mac so that Window users, who already own a capable monitor and keyboard/mouse set, could jump ship easily and cheaply. The Mini could run OS X and MS Office software and anything else you could throw at it, and users could expect a machine to help them “learn” the Mac OS without whipping through 40 Photoshop filters at top speed. You knew it was a modest system. You didn’t expect a whole lot.
As it stands today, though, people are switching to Apple – but mostly through the notebook route. What’s the Mac Mini’s role in all this? A new MobileMe-only device? A music server?
Plus, OS X 10.5 requires more powerful hardware, and the Mini’s modest specs seem to not up to the new iMac’s standards, I guess I’m just worried the tiny Mac will get lost in the (non-iPod) shuffle. If sales are sluggish, would Apple just drop it? Would the monitor-less experiment be over? And what about the dreaded xMac?
I’m a public relations professional by day, and I’ve got to tell you: I admire the way Apple gets all the headlines for their events.
I noticed this Monday when my iGoogle pops up and the WWDC 2008 buzz was everywhere to be found (above). Apple’s PR juggernaut can’t be stopped, even when Steve Jobs is looking under the weather.
One goal of public relations is to get your message out and to communicate with your “publics” (shareholders, employees, customers, etc.). Another is to get “inches” out of the new press, which amounts to free advertising. Apple does this without batting an eye. Oh, to be a PR pro in the Cupertino halls.
Gizmodo is hosting a wallpaper image to use as your iPhone backdrop, a roundabout way to relive Newton glory days.
Gizmodo is pretty harsh on us Newton users:
However, the fact is that the iPhone, while simpler than Newton, it’s an extremely powerful device. Much more than the Newton ever was. Its software is more accessible to normal users than the Newton’s; it runs an extremely fast operating system and, most importantly, it has a phone and built-in Wi-Fi, which is reason enough to make it a better communicator than the Newton. A product for the masses, rather than a niche wonder.
Whatever, Gizmodo. But we do appreciate the iPhone wallpaper. Click the above image to get your own copy.
Lots going on at the WWDC 2008 keynote, which I finally streamed and watched with much joy. Watch it yourself to see all the action, clapping, and skinnier Steve Jobs.
In the meantime, a few thoughts:
iPod is now a great name. Some folks made fun of the name “iPod” when it was first released. What’s so “pod” about music, after all? But now it fits perfectly. With the iPod Touch, the “pod” become the mobile computing platform – a place to get your e-mail, web, games, and – yes – music. The iPod is now a “pod” for your mobile computing platform.
“We’ve learned so much.” Here, Jobs displays some real humbleness. .Mac kind of sucked. MobileMe is an improvement of sorts. And Apple admits they had things to learn. That’s great.
$199?That’s all me. But because I’m such a big fan of the white Apple products (iPod, iBook, everything), I may splurge and grab the 16 GB version. No 32 GB iPhone? That does stink.
Wait for the Snow Leopard. I wished for a refurbished iMac with Leopard, but now I may just wait until Snow Leopard is released. Why not? “Improved” is always a good word when OSes are concerned. And waiting has seemed to pay off for me so far.
Chinese character recognizer hack? I can see it happening. Use the handwriting recognition app for Chinese characters and hack it so it will recognize English characters. Boom – a Newton-like HWR emulator. And Jobs was right in the keynote: the lack of plastic keys or a physical stylus actually plays in the multi-language-supported iPhone’s and iPod Touch’s favor.
Now I have to wait until July 11 (or maybe a day or two after, depending on lines and in-store activation), but oh well. This is what I’ve been waiting for. A true successor to the Newton has been born.
Do you know how hard it is to stare at this and wait for Apple to upload their Quicktime video of the WWDC 08 keynote?
Do you?
I told myself: no checking the blogs, no checking the live feeds. Wait until you get home and watch the keynote via Apple’s Quicktime upload. That way, you’re watching it unfold like everyone who was there.
But no. No video uploaded yet as of 5:42 p.m. Eastern time Monday night.
Stressed about the “one more thing” that will be announced this Monday, June 9 at the Worldwide Developers Conference? Fear not. We have a round-up of rumors, damned lies, and fun games to play while you’re waiting for the next big thing.
Snow Leopard strays from PPC. This one was first featured at TUAW.com, but the Cult of Mac guys really touch on what a change Mac users have seen from the days of OS 8 and 9 to now. In short, “The Mac is dead. Long live OS X.”
From .Mac to MobileMe. John Gruber did some snooping and found the new domain names Apple registered. People have been bitching about .Mac for years (I had it for a year, and it was…eh), so this could be pretty exciting.
WWDC banner pictures. That’s right. They’re up, and the speculation is flying. OS X iPhone, anyone?
Newton 2.0. This one has been like Lazarus. A new MessagePad in the form of a Mac tablet? Supposedly, there’s a 50/50 chance. But we’ll see. After all, Apple is shopping for handwriting engineers.
I’ve decided not to participate in any of the live blogging feeds or constant refreshing of Apple news sites. I’m going to wait until the Quicktime video is released (which I watch faithfully anyway), just so it can all feel new and “just announced” to me. Should be fun.
I like how the creator uses the Newton to speak with the audience. Also a cool demo of the wifi capabilities of the MessagePad 2000 – complete with Apple sticker.
I’ll tackle the wifi project when I nab a 2100 sometime this summer, but in the meantime you can learn how to send a fax with your Newton.
It’s kind of like right before last year, when the iPhone was first announced. The buzz was feverishly high. Remember that? And all those mockups and predictions came across the blogs, and everyone was going nuts.
Then Steve Jobs gave the demo, and it was better than anybody came close to imagining.
I think WWDC on June 9 will be just like that. All this hyper-excitement over the new iPhone (and well-deserved, I might mention), when all this time Jobs and his crew are planning something that blows us all away. As usual.
Daring Fireball did some digging on something called “Mobile Me,” and I think that might be the key everyone is ignoring (except Gruber, of course). But who knows? No one but a few Apple employees.
So a week from now, I have a feeling we’ll all have something new and exciting to talk about besides a 3G iPhone.
For a guy that was no fan of social networking sites Myspace or Facebook – or computers in general, once upon a time – Brian Floe sure thinks along those lines.
Floe is the creator of MyAppleSpace.com, a growing social site dedicated to Apple fans.
Why not just create a “Mac Lovers” group on Facebook?
“Why not just buy a PC and put an Apple sticker on it?” Floe says. “Mac users especially always want the next big thing, not the second best thing. We have high standards.”
Good point. That’s why Floe says MyAppleSpace is “a little space for the rest of us.”
