Apple Has a "Back to Mac" Event Scheduled

[billf]

This could be good news for those of us who use Macs on a daily basis:

Apple has just sent out invitations to a special media event on Apple's campus that will focus on the Mac. The event will take place on October 20 at 10am Pacific Time at Apple's Town Hall building, and Apple says that it will include "a sneak peek of the next major version of Mac OS X."

More about it:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2010/ ... ber-20.ars" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mhschmieder]

The speculation is that the next version will be called "Lion".

[Timeline]

How many big cats are left FGS?

[mhschmieder]

There are a LOT of cat species. I'm personally rooting for Margay.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margay

[Frodo]

The speculation is that the next version will be called "Lion".

R U lyin'? Seriously-- Lion?

As long as it doesn't render everything else I have obsolete and *works* it doesn't really matter what it's called, I guess.

Lion. LOL!!

Let's hope Apple hasn't lost its "mane" focus-- and that its users will sustain some sense of "pride".

[HCMarkus]

The speculation is that the next version will be called "Lion".

R U lyin'? Seriously-- Lion?

As long as it doesn't render everything else I have obsolete and *works* it doesn't really matter what it's called, I guess.

Lion. LOL!!

Let's hope Apple hasn't lost its "mane" focus-- and that its users will sustain some sense of "pride".

And the crowd roars its approval...

[mhschmieder]

Here's one report on Lion, related to some hints dropped by Steve Jobs at the MacBook Air new product launches today:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... .DTL&tsp=1

[mhschmieder]

As an aside, is that 4% of market share accurate? Granted, it's worldwide, and I think is for total number of computers vs. current sales?

Still, I thought I had heard that Apple had crept up to 15% of US new computer sales as of this year?

Are iPads counted as computers or not?

OTOH it was little-reported that Apple missed their earnings estimate today for the first time in two years...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... s.business

[KEVORKIAN]

OTOH it was little-reported that Apple missed their earnings estimate today for the first time in two years...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... s.business

That report is super inaccurate. Apple blew away the earnings estimates for their most successful quarter ever:

http://www.forbes.com/2010/10/19/apple- ... video.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The expectations of iPad sales fell short of analysts' predictions but the iPad is a first of it's kind product that hasn't even been out for a year now.

Here is a good chart:



http://www.asymco.com/2010/10/19/60-per ... years-ago/

[Frodo]

Interesting. I heard quite a bit on the radio today-- that Apple really is doing well in net terms, than iPad didn't do as well so far as expected, but that it's not doing at all badly--

--- and the Lion is indeed due by summer, 2011. It's hard to imagine that Snow Leopard is just months away from being history.

Lion-- they've given us so many exotic felines so far that Lion actually sounds funny. I only hope it roars.

Another bit of news today that seemed to rub against the purpose of the iPad is the announcement of the new MacBook Air. It's not entirely clear what the differences are, but there are differences. More to the point, it's not clear what the markets for the new MBA and iPad are panning out to be.

If the differences are the built-in keyboard and a bit of extra CPU power, then there's a certain mindset that still distinguishes an honest laptop and *sort of* thinks of the iPad as a glorified iPhone. Some are finding iPhone and iPod Touch quite capable of a great many things to the extent that they find no need to invest in an iPad.

There's a reluctance with Apple to embrace Flash on i-Apps', which is half the rage and a reality of web info services like youtube, etc. But I wonder about iPad 2.0 (proverbially speaking)--- why the next iPad is not put forth as the new barn burner rather than a new MacBook Air.

Is this some form of Newtonitis?

[billf]

OTOH it was little-reported that Apple missed their earnings estimate today for the first time in two years...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... s.business

Wow, that article is really misleading. This one is better:

Strong earnings were attributable to record sales in the quarter, which leaped 66.7% year over year to $20.34 billion. Revenues beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $19.02 billion. The mammoth revenue growth was driven by an increased momentum in Mac shipments and strong iPhone and iPad sales. International sales accounted for 57.0% of the total revenue in the quarter.

Macintosh -- Apple shipped a record 3.89 million Macintosh computers in the reported quarter, representing a 27.0% year-over-year increase in units shipped, attributable to a double-digit growth for Macs in each of its geographic segments.

http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/41702/A ... ,+In+Depth" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[KEVORKIAN]

Another bit of news today that seemed to rub against the purpose of the iPad is the announcement of the new MacBook Air. It's not entirely clear what the differences are, but there are differences. More to the point, it's not clear what the markets for the new MBA and iPad are panning out to be.

The new Macbook Air is just like the old one except that it's smaller, faster, and has longer battery life. The hard drive is only available as SSD/Flash (mounted to the logic board) and remember there is no multitouch and the OS is not iOS.

If the differences are the built-in keyboard and a bit of extra CPU power, then there's a certain mindset that still distinguishes an honest laptop and *sort of* thinks of the iPad as a glorified iPhone. Some are finding iPhone and iPod Touch quite capable of a great many things to the extent that they find no need to invest in an iPad.

This MacBook is being positioned as a Mac with some iPad/iPhone flavor and that's a pretty genius marketing move. Lion is what will bring a bit more unity to that concept.

Both the MacBook Air and the iPad are being marketed as second computers, but in truth there are many basic users who would need nothing more than what they offer.

This computer is targeting customers who's first mac was an iPad or an iPhone, and who think of those devices as something nearly like a computer... The idea is that this is an affordably nice Mac to step into... Meanwhile if this gets them in the door, they can always grab a MacBook or a 13" MacBook Pro instead.

There's a reluctance with Apple to embrace Flash on i-Apps', which is half the rage and a reality of web info services like youtube, etc. But I wonder about iPad 2.0 (proverbially speaking)--- why the next iPad is not put forth as the new barn burner rather than a new MacBook Air.

YouTube uses h.264 as well as flash so you can watch anything. All the major news sites also offer a similar switch off for iPhone/iPad users. At this point there is very little that iOS users are being left out of that actually matters in a mobile circumstance.

BTW... Apple streamed the presentation today using HTML5 and it was smooth as silk. Better than any Quicktime or Flash-based streaming and my laptop fans never came on. Kind of showed that Apple may be making the right moves in avoiding flash and pushing HTML5.

Is this some form of Newtonitis?

We are so far beyond the Newton now that I'm not even sure Apple remembers they even made one. They have outdone themselves 20 times over in the past few years. Very Impressive.

I also like that they spoke of their commitment to the Mac as a business (something I have been saying). They even went as far as to say that their Mac business alone would be listed as #110 on the Fortune 500 were is a separate company.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/20/apple-mac-business/

Apple is just so many levels beyond what they were in the past that we probably are better off not even comparing them to what came before. Total different ballgame.

[HCMarkus]

Remember the pundits' predictions of Apple's impending demise? Somehow, I doubt they invested in Apple stock.

I like the new Air. An elegant portable computer that I believe is well-positioned between the iPad and MacBook Pro lines. I may end up getting one for my wife. It is all the computer she would ever need, and the 15 second start up time and 30 day sleep are both tres cool. With USB2 ports, external storage/backup would be simple, too. Did I mention I like the new Air?

[mhschmieder]

HTML5 rocks! Smooth as silk, as was said already.

I get tired of the arguments about Flash being superior and how it's Steve Jobs' fault that it sucks on the Mac. The truth of the matter is that it sucks on Windows as well. My work computer, being a software development machine, isn't exactly a crippled PC, and can barely stream through a Flash video. Flash sucks on ALL platforms.

Thanks for posting more accurate reports on Apple's earnings. It always surprises me that sfgate (web portal for San Francisco Chronicle) shows a slight bias against native sons Apple Inc.

[FutureLegends]

I was really disappointed that there was no update to iWeb in the new iLife '11 bundle. Only iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand got updates but the bundle still ship with (the old) iWeb and iDVD...