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iPod Resized; iTunes Becomes Genius!
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Steve Jobs makes the awaited announcements of the year. iPod Classic is now 120GB, iTunes upgraded to iTunes version 8!
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Thursday, September 11, 2008:
One of the most awaited events of September, Let's Rock, really rocked the crowd at San Francisco. Steve Jobs has once again stolen all the thunder with revamped products, further expanding the fan base of Apple products.
Starting with the device which actually puts Apple in a dominant position, iPod, Apple has discontinued the 80GB and 160GB iPod Classics in favour of the new 120GB iPod Classic. This iPod is sleeker and slimmer than the previous generations.
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But was there anyone who was awaiting the monster 320GB iPod? Well, you will have to settle with only 120GB, too bad for those who are hooked to 160GB.
Steve Vs Steve
There are two Steves on the tech front -- one works for Microsoft, which was once God of the computing world and then there is another Steve, who is the God for Apple fans. Well! but then Steve Jobs who was reincarnated after the leaked obituary by Bloomberg, knows better than users do.
First it was iPod which took over the digital music market offering Apple a monopoly in the domain and now it is iPhone doing the second round for Apple by rewriting the rules of the telecom world. It is also emerging as the best device to start the post-PC era. Intel is already eyeing that sector with its Atom processors and MIDs.
While for the other Steve, nothing seems to be working. Vista is a disaster, Yahoo! deal was a defeat, Zune is still speechless and X-Box just started making profit, much is due to delay and pricing of Sony's PlayStation 3.
iTunes 8
Now coming back to what all Apple announced during the Let's Rock event, in addition to revamping the iPod, Apple has also released the latest version of iTunes – Version 8. iTunes is the best network of services anyone has ever built. The integration with different products of Apple through just one iTunes is awesome; whether you use iPod, iPhone, Mac, Apple TV or whatever, everything is controlled through one application, iTunes, and one account. Even Microsoft has failed to reach that level of integration for its services, whether it be Zune Marketplace or X-Box live.
iTunes 8 includes the new breakthrough Genius feature, which lets you automatically create playlists from songs in your music library that go great together — with just one click. Genius helps music fans rediscover favourite songs in their existing music library and suggests related music on the iTunes Store they might want to add to their music collection. iTunes 8 features new ways of viewing your music and video libraries, and adds television programmes in stunning high definition for sale on the iTunes Store.
iPod Touch, Sleeker And Meaner
Revealing the latest features of the second generation iPod touch, Steve Jobs said, “iPod touch is the funnest iPod we’ve ever created. Users can listen to millions of songs, watch thousands of Hollywood movies and now, thanks to the App Store, download and play hundreds of great games on their iPod touch.”
The new iPod touch is smaller and lighter than the original, with the sleek new design that features a contoured metal enclosure with integrated volume control buttons and a brilliant 3.5-inch widescreen glass display. With its rounded edges, flush display and curved, more compact design, the new iPod touch is more comfortable to hold and more portable than ever.
The second generation iPod touch features thin contoured metal design, a gorgeous 3.5-inch widescreen glass display, 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi wireless networking, integrated volume control buttons, a built-in speaker for casual listening, a built-in accelerometer and other advanced sensors, and Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch user interface.
Plot Spoilers:
Well, while everyone was eagerly awaiting for the mega Apple event scheduled for September, Microsoft did try to do some spoil sport by announcing major revamp for its Zune. However, it turned out to be only 'window' shopping. Microsoft's recent move to wash some stains from Vista through an ad campaign featured retired Bill Gates and Seinfeld -- both were not funny. So this is the reason why Mr Gates retired. But the advertisement has nosedived, according to most of the bloggers and newspapers. On the other hand, a 'malfunction' of Bloomberg which released the incomplete obituary of Steve Jobs became a hot news item. So much so that during the event Steve Jobs joked through the giant screen, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated."
Right Time For GNU/Linux?
However, while Apple is sprinting towards increasing its user base, Microsoft is still trying to pull its socks and one of the best contenders, GNU/Linux, is still believing in relay races; only Canonical which supports Ubuntu seems to have guts and vision to take GNU/Linux to home users along with making inroads to corporate.
With Vista reportedly failing, Apple is taking advantage of the situation. Many experts believe it is the right time for GNU/Linux players to hit the nail on the head. But while Red Hat is still busy with servers, Novell along with Microsoft is trying to break into Red Hat's market. It depends much on the strong shoulders of Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu, to take the advantage and further popularise the Linux OS.
Now in the wake of Apple taking over the market from Dell and HP, what would be the next action plan of the duo as the OS they carry, Vista, is not much appreciated by users? The best thing for them would be to use the huge developer base of GNU/Linux and customise Linux to make it more user-friendly. GNOME already has many advantages of both Windows and Mac and KDE is playing with looks. If HP and Dell start offering full support for Linux, Apple will turn out to be what it always was -- loved by some and HP and Dell will become something they always wanted to be -- used by all. Well for Microsoft? It is a huge company and has many businesses -- X Box, Zune, hardware, Live and much more. They can survive well for another 200 years, even if they let go of their OS business.
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