Innovation - Apple Does It Again! iPods and iPhones and Bears, oh, My!

This and That Technology Tips
Innovation - Apple Does It Again! iPods and iPhones and Bears, oh, My!

September 9, 2007
Volume 7: Issue 4

Hey all,

It's amazing to watch Apple's press conference. Steve Jobs rolls the excitement, showmanship, technology of Comdex (former huge computer show in Las Vegas) show into one press conference. See if you can count how many jabs he makes at Microsoft ;-)! Well, I watched the whole press release and am impressed by the serious price cutting and newly added features of the iPhone and the re-designed iPods. Coupled with the upgrading of all Macs (the iMac, the Mac Mini, the MacBook, the MacBook Pro) to Core2Duo processors (the same processors found on Intel Windows machines), Apple seems to be doing a lot right these days!! Don't fret, though, PC Users, I still do lots and lots of work with Windows PC Users, Treos, Motorola Qs, Blackberries, Web Design, Graphic Design, and Web Hosting work. Apple's just making a larger dent in the customers I serve and I want you all to know we're well-rounded here at In The Moment Computing.

Enjoy,
Clyde

iPhone Announcements

The iPhone just keeps getting better with age (okay, so it's only been a couple a months), but Steve made things exciting on September 5th, 2007. Sounds like by the end of September, you'll be able to make your own ringtones from selected songs. Of course, with Apple, you don't get something for nothing! It's $0.99 per custom-made ringtone + purchase of the song = $1.98 per ringtone. The great thing is that they don't make you buy the song again. So, if you had the cool Todd Rundgren song, "Hello, It's Me," on your ipod, you could convert the part "Hello, It's me" as a ringtone for $0.99. My guess is that if you had that song in your own personal collection off Todd's greatest hits which you paid $15.98 for on CD, you'd have to buy the song again and pay for the ringtone - $2.98. Bottom line, the possibilities of ringtones are endless - - all for under $3.00! Another cool feature will be the iTunes WiFi Music store due to hit your iPhone (and your iPod Touch) by 10/1/2007. This means whenever you're near any wireless network, you can go to the iTunes store and download $0.99 (or restriction free $1.29) songs. This really opens up a new world to iPhone and as we'll see later, iPod, users. Say you're at someone's house or office - a song comes on the radio - you can immediately download it to your iPod; you then download it when you get back to your computer. In sum, beginning in October of this year, iPhone users can make custom ring tones for cost of song + $0.99 and iTunes WiFi Music store. There will be an immediate price Reduction on the 8 G iPhone, they'll be dropping the 4 G model, decreasing price from $599 to $399, effective immediately.

Steve Jobs, due to protests over people who purchased iPhone 68 days before the $200 price decrease is offering a credit of $100 in Apple products to quell the wave of unrest. Read some great tips from my friend Vindu at the Mercury on how folks are getting the full $200 back in cash.

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iPod Announcements

Apple went crazy on us and re-designed all the iPods; added a red Shuffle, Nano, and Gift Card; added lots more storage for basically the same price; added lots of features to the Nano that only the IPod Classic used to have; more battery life in most products, and added a cool new model, the iPod Touch!

Here's the lowdown on 3 re-designed models. I won't go into super detail. You can see the summary at the end of this to make the distinction between units:

iPod Shuffle - $79, 5 new colors, (product red - part of proceeds goes toward diseases in Africa).

iPod Nano - (4G) $149 - (8G) $199 - 5 new colors, Music, movies, TV shows, videos, audiobooks, podcasts, photo slideshows, games
video (204 pixels/inch- as good as display as iPod Classic!), Browse by album art (coverflow), Photos, 3 games built-in, all metal casing, 24 hours audio/5 hours video/charge.

iPod Classic - (80G-20,000 songs) $249 - 30 hours audio/5 hours video (160G-40,000 songs) $349 40 hours audio/7 hours video.

The iPod Touch

I just love the creativity of the Apple folks. There's a term in the web 2.0 world called "mashing" where you combine two applications. The iPod Touch is a great mixing of the iPhone and the iPod. Actually, the iPod Touch is simply a stripped-out iPhone, where the phone is taken out and the rest of the stuff is left behind - the basic form/function, the wireless access, the web. There is no phone or email access on the iPod Touch (yet!). My guess is that with a simple software upgrade, they'll add email and guess what you'll have? You'll have something revolutionary (I mean evolutionary), a Palm Treo 600 or a Blackberry (circa 2005), oops - I didn't just say that! My hat goes off to Jobs and company for packaging, but I give 90% credit to the visionaries at Palm for putting everything (except for wireless) together in one package. Remember what they say, "Perception is Reality." Jobs is the master at changing perceptions. But, I digress. The details are below. An incredible device!

iPod Touch - (8G) $299 (16G) $399 - 22 hours audio/5 hours video, The iPod with Wireless Access!!
Music, movies, TV shows, videos, audiobooks, podcasts, photo slideshows, you tube videos. Available by 10/1.

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Comparison of all products previously mentioned (from Apple's website).

Comparison from Apple's Website

Starbucks Music Synchronization - Soon, you'll be able to download any song you hear in a Starbucks, once you're on their network. You can also look at the last 10 songs played and download any one of them for the same ol' $0.99. Nice marketing deal for Starbucks. Some Starbucks facts:

They have 14,000 (5,800 WiFi) stores in 42 countries
They serve 50,000,000 customers per week.
They have 18 customer visits per month, more then any other retailer.
They are opening 7 stores opening per day.

The Starbucks iTunes WiFi store will be "free" to all customers. You won't have to get on their paid wireless network. You still have to pay $0.99/song. By Oct 2nd they'll light up New York & Seattle (600 stores), then in November 2007 - San Francisco (350 stores). Skip Holiday Retail Season Off. In 2008, February (Los Angeles 600 stores), Chicago in March (25% national footprint). By the end of 2008, metropolitan. By then end of 2009 - all will be completed. If you want to see all these announcements from Steve, Howard (co-founder of Starbucks) and a special musical guest star singing two of her cool songs, click Apple Press Conference .

Cheers,
Clyde

Hope you enjoyed the ride!