The Let’s Rock event : My thoughts… in pictures
Like most Apple fanboys with no self control, I was unable to wait for Apple’s keynote stream to hit the web, and instead I nearly wore out my “refresh” finger reading the Engadget and Gizmodo feeds.
So, now that it is all done, and I have had 3 minutes to digest it all, how do I feel about the event? Well, let’s find out as we take a tour, via stolen borrowed pictures from Gizmodo‘s and Engadget‘s coverage of the Let’s Rock event.
photo via GizmodoYes, apparently, although I am not sure I would have said “greatly”. Rumors had predicted we would see a much healthier-looking, slightly more plump Steve than we saw at Macworld, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. Of course, “skinny” doesn’t mean “dying”, and it’s nice to see Steve acknowledge the reports and poke fun at them. If anything, I think we can take away that whatever health issues Steve may have, HE does not believe them to be life threatening, because if they were, joking about them on stage like that would be pretty tough for his family, and Steve has more class than that. So I’m taking this at face value, and therefore this is my favorite slide of the afternoon.
photo via EngadgetWow. I take it as a severe sign of mental illness that I want to buy all 9 of these, and just line them up. Anyone thinking of sending me one should send me the orange, and you can contact me here for the mailing address.
Now, as for the nanos themselves, yes, they are very cool, and I like the new design more than the previous fatboy model. Unfortunately, it’s true what they say, and “Once you go Apps, you never go back”, so until I can play app store games on it, I don’t think a nano is is my buying future (but again, feel free to send me one).
photo via EngadgetWell, I don’t really care about the environment – my 6 year old daughter and I are drawing up plans for our own rocket ship and we plan to find a new clean planet to live on in the next couple of years, so while this is nice, it doesn’t really affect my buying decision one way or the other. The only green I care about in the nano is the new metallic green finish.
photo via EngadgetIn all, I would say the nano is the perfect media player for my dad. He doesn’t care about the app store and games, his fingers are too big and clumsy to navigate a touch screen, and all he cares about is music. He might use the video feature occasionally, but now that the touch is thinner and has the Nike+, the nano isn’t really even exclusive for the workout crowd.
On a different topic, I would think a clip from Superbad might have been more current. Apple is so living in 2004 with the Napoleon clip.
photo via EngadgetYeah, I don’t think we’ll be buying those…
photo via EngadgetNike+ integration is sweet. Now, is there any reason it is not built in to the iPhone as well? Isn’t Nike+ just Bluetooth? Here’s hoping the 2.1 firmware update this Friday enables iPhone Nike+ integration.
photo via EngadgetHmmm… now, out of all the pictures Engadget could have turned on its side to illustrate just how thin the new iPod touch is, did they have to use this one? Is the idea that the touch is “so thin, it even makes Steve Jobs look fat?” Or am I reading too much into that?
photo via EngadgetOK, well the good news is whatever weight Steve has lost, Phil Schiller has apparently gained. So they’re keeping it in the family.
photo via EngadgetYeah, it sure looks that way. Although Apple told us all a year ago that the iPhone was the best iPod they ever made, so I think that the iPhone is actually the funnest, followed by the touch as the 2nd funnest.
photo via EngadgetWow. The 2.1 firmware update. It DOES exist after all! Steve says “This is a big update, it fixes lots of bugs. Fewer dropped calls, big battery life improvements. No crashes with Apps. Backing up is faster“.
Nothing bad about that! Of course, it might be cooler if he had been able to say that about the version 2.0.0 firmware, and that 2.1 had “Nike+ integration, copy/paste, tethering, and more“, but we’ll find out Friday just what this bad boy is packing.
photo via EngadgetWell, that’s one way to end a “Let’s Rock” event. Nothing against Jack Johnson, but there wasn’t all that much “rocking” about this event, and AC/DC or Buckcherry or some band with balls might have been nice. Maybe they wanted to give the journalists some relaxing Starbucks music to blog to.
Conclusion
In all, some nice upgrades, but mainly incremental. It looks like the end of the road for the iPod classic. iTunes 8 seems OK, but nothing ground breaking there. We all knew HD would come to the store one day and NBC would bow to the mighty iTunes. As for the Genius feature, basically they borrowed Pandora’s suggestion feature, but without the ability to wirelessly play media from your home computer, as many had hoped for, it amounts to a nice add on but not the killer feature Apple is trying to tel us it is.
The highlight and lowlight of the day were both shared by the touch. The biggest let down was the lack of price drops and storage bumps in the touch, but the biggest boon is the speaker and volume buttons on the touch, so I guess they even out and I will be buying a couple of those in the future (unless some of you guys want to send me a touch, in which case you can contact me here.
I don’t recall how much the 8GB and 32GB Touche’s were but the 16GB was $399 and is now $299. That’s a price drop. . .
yeah i think the heyday of apples “one more thing” is over and any product that apple comes up with now is foreseen from all the apple rumor mills… and then over hyped and then slammed “well its ok but i wish it could wash my socks AND underwear at the SAMETIME”.
i love apple but either im getting old and uninspired or its the other way around.
keep up the good work doc.
I hate to burst your bubble but nike+ can’t work with the iphone. it uses a radio or something like that. not bluetooth. check out macrumors for the info
Bubbles were meant to be burst I suppose.
🙁
-The Doc
Jack Johnson did the soundtrack to curious george, so rocking is a bit out of the question. Next time they should end with GWAR just to leave the majority of America like “?”
I’m pretty sure Simplify Media has an app in the Store that allows you to stream your own iTunes library to your iPhone or touch. I use it on mine.
the notes that come along with iTunes 8 states that only nanos and iPod Touch (2nd Gen) can use nike+.
i was really hoping that since it’s simply built into the software that the 1st Gen iPod touch and iPhone could also use nike+ since you have to buy both shoe and iPod receiver when you buy the sports pack, but i guess we’ll have to wait for someone to hack it to work.
Funny how it was only a few weeks ago that the whole world was saying Apple has lost the plot. It’s trying to do too much. Look at MobileMe and 3g etc etc.
30 days later and now it’s a case of Apple have lost the plot they have nothing new to offer?!?!
People are so.. well I don’t know what.
What the iPod Nano doesn’t have FM? WTF THE ZUNE DOES! If there was anything good on the radio people wouldn’t have an iPod.