New Products From Apple; And What We Didn't Get

This week we were treated to several new product announcements. As always, the world was firmly focused on Apple, who once again left everyone (or at least me) wanting just a little more. I have to say, they certainly learned something from last year; do not reveal your products all at once. By releasing new products at various intervals, Apple ensures that they are currently in the news. From the constant speculation (what is going to be released, and when), to the pre-announcement buzz (we know the date, but no product specifics), to the actual announcement (yay product!), to everyone’s impression of the product (reporters, go!), to the actual release of the product (now the early adopters can finally buy one), to the announcement of how many Apple sold in the opening weekend (millions and millions), and back to the buzz of the potential next product (iWatch anyone?). This is an endless, and incredibly smart media strategy on Apple’s part. But I’ve gone a little off topic. Here is another one of those ‘impression of the product’ posts I mentioned above.

Apple announced the new iPad Air, following in the footsteps of their greatly successful Macbook Air series, with Air being used to indicate just how thin and light the product is. The iPad Air is barely 1 pound, and 0.29 inches thick. What’s missing, is a fingerprint sensor, which many people thought was an obvious addition after the iPhone 5S. Apple has also stuck with their standard colour scheme of white and black, no option for a gold iPad to match your gold iPhone. The new iPad mini will have retina display and an updated processor, almost literally becoming a mini version of the full iPad. The biggest difference between them? The price. The iPad mini 2 will start at $399, while the iPad Air will start at $499.

Apple has clearly decided not to fight the market share battle, but to focus on keeping their high margins. They announced that they will be discontinuing the 4^th generation iPad, but will continue selling the iPad 2 for $399. For the same price, you can the iPad mini 2 which has a faster processor and retina display. For another $100 you can get the iPad Air. Why would anyone purchase a device that is 3 generations back, especially in an industry where changing is occurring so quickly? The main reason for keeping the iPad 2, is to show the stark difference between it and the new iPad Air. The $399 price for the iPad mini 2 is also surprising, considering that for $249 you can buy the Nexus 7 FHD, which is a wonderful 7” tablet with HD resolution (not quite as good as the retina display), and comes with the newest version of Android.

Apple also announced their new operating system, Mavericks. They are giving it away for “free”, as opposed to the $20 they usually charge. Many have claimed that they are taking a direct shot at Microsoft with this, but clearly people don’t understand the concept of free. To download Mavericks you need to have purchased a Mac (minimum $1000), and at least have snow leopard (3 operating systems ago), or pay to get snow leopard, and then download Mavericks for free. Windows 8.1 was just released and it was also “free” for users who had Windows 8. I certainly don’t think the lack of a $20 fee for an operating system upgrade is going to have any impact on whether consumers choose Mac or PC. Considering there was a lot of backlash for OS 7, we will see what people think of Mavericks.

Apple introduced the Mac Pro, and a new set of Macbook Pro’s, but what I want to mention is what Apple didn’t talk about. They didn’t introduce a cover/keyboard for the new iPads, which I think is a huge mistake considering how wonderful Microsoft’s keyboard covers are. Apple has this whole attitude of integration, yet they are allowing third party companies to continue to make the keyboards, none of which work quite as well with the iPads as they should. Perhaps they don’t believe anyone needs a keyboard to enjoy their iPad, but with the discussion swiftly turning to tablet vs. laptop, people are starting to use their tablets to do more and more. Apple also didn’t mention AppleTV or anything about an iWatch.

Overall, I think Apple once again failed to introduce anything new or different. Perhaps we’ve come to expect too much from them, but you wonder at what point the world starts to look elsewhere for something innovative. The floor is definitely wide open for someone to come in and steal the show.

Let me know what you thought of Apple’s announcement; were you disappointed? Or did you find it exciting?

Twitter TV Ratings, Samsung Round and The Canadian Government Winning

The world’s focus for the past week has been on the ongoing government shutdown (which is now entering its third week), and the fact that the U.S. government will reach their debt ceiling on October 17^th. Unless the Democrats and the Republicans can figure out how to get along, and agree to raise the debt ceiling, the U.S. will default on its debt. This has many economists stating that such a default will result in a severe crash of the U.S. economy, which will likely take the world economy with it.

Others are certain that the government will never let this occur, due to the severe impact it would have on the world as a whole. I read an interesting quote the other day, where the person (who lived in Europe), said that the U.S. is so powerful that the decisions it makes has such a large impact on them, that it is like Obama is their president too. In their opinion, this is unfair because they cannot vote for the U.S. president, and therefore have no say over who is in charge, even if their decisions affect them. I thought this was an interesting point of view. But it looks like people are finally starting to get nervous, with three of the  major stock markets (Dow Jones, Standard & Poor, Nasdaq) dropping this morning.

Now onto the tech world:

- Neilsen, the global measurement company that determines size and composition of TV audiences among other things, has announced a new measurement. Twitter TV ratings. Starting soon, they will measure not only the twitter “authors” but the twitter “audience” who are reading tweets about TV programs. Basically they've determined that the TV twitter audience for a show is 50 times the number of people who are generating tweets about it. This is certainly going to help companies increase their social media, but how exactly is this going to help advertisers? An offshoot of the Twitter TV ratings should perhaps include the number of people who tweeted about an ad, or during an ad, to give the advertisers an idea of how many people did, or didn't watch it.

- Samsung has announced a new phone, the Samsung Round. Available only in Korea (for now), it is a curved smartphone. Samsung has yet to indicate if the phone is easier to hold or carry, or if the rounding serves any purpose at all. But in a world where the smartphone market is now saturated, with identical looking rectangular phones, having something different is never bad. They’ve also built in some features to do with the curve, such as flipping songs by rocking the phone. It will be interesting to see how the phone does.

- Pokémon X and Y were released globally on Saturday, the first time Pokémon is released in all global regions at once. Some interesting changes include, a new Pokémon type (fairy), increased 3D immersion, customizable trainer looks, sky battles (only for flying Pokémon) and mega evolution, in which fully evolved Pokémon can evolve into mega form during a battle.

- Lastly, the Canadian Government has announced that it will require TV providers to unbundle channels, which means, consumers will be able to pick and choose the channels they want. Hallelujah! You have no idea how long I have been waiting for this. This is all part of the government’s fight against industries that are monopolized and consumer unfriendly. This makes me like the Canadian government just a little more.

And on that note, Happy Thanksgiving!

Dell's Buyout, Apple's Cash, and Bill's End?

It’s been fairly depressing news on several fronts this week. In case you missed it, the U.S. Government is now in a shut down. The Republicans are essentially holding the Democrats hostage, telling them that they will only sign a bill to finance government functions (Ex: NASA, parks, museums, visa office, etc.), if that bill also involves removing funding from Obamacare. Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act, has some Republicans screaming that the world will end. Seriously. New Hampshire representative Bill O’Brien said that the law will lead to ‘Armageddon’, and that it is ‘as destructive to personal and individual liberties as the Fugitive Slave Act’. Clearly he has never come to Canada. We’re still here.

To be fair, many say that the price for this health care is much higher than what citizens may have had (it needs to be to give everyone health care regardless of their health), and that negative effects include things such as, businesses dropping their full timers to part time, or removing health care coverage for spouses, due to the increase in health care costs. Regardless of how they feel about Obamacare, someone should inform the Republicans that putting 800,000 people out of work for a while, is not the way to gain favour from the American people or help your economy recover.

Back to what I was saying, not the greatest news this week (although it depends on your point of view), even in the world of tech. Here is your rundown:

-        -   Dell shareholders have agreed on a $25 billion dollar buyout. Michael Dell will now be able to take his company private again, ideally giving him more control and allowing him to enact internal reform more quickly. His proposed plan is to have Dell shift into an enterprise service provider, similar to IBM, and he feels this is best done out of the public eye.

   -  In the world of unreal, Apple apparently has $147 BILLION of cash on hand, which is 10% of all corporate cash held by nonfinancial companies. That’s an insane amount of money. And after a recent dinner with Tim Cook, billionaire investor Carl Icahn tweeted that he pushed for Apple to do another buyback of stock, $150 billion worth. When you’ve got that much cash on hand….why not eh?

         -  In the Microsoft world, apparently 3 of their top 20 shareholders have asked the board to remove Bill Gates as Chairman. They’re concerned that he will limit the power of a new CEO (now that Steve Ballmer is leaving) to change the direction of the company, especially since he has a role on the committee looking for a successor to Ballmer. Gates is still the largest individual shareholder, with a 4.5% share in the company. Interestingly enough, it was due to his suggestion that Microsoft will release a purple keyboard for the new Surface 2.

But hey, at least hockey season started in October this year! And the Leafs are 2-0….?? Let’s see how long it lasts.