Thoughts after MacWorld SF 2004

After reviewing all announcements made by Steve Jobs at MacWorld SF 2004 as well as some comments from various Mac user forums, I finally came up with some thoughts and bits.

iPod Mini

As usual, this "one last thing" announcement always set the end of keynote into another wave of emotions, this time is no exception. The new iPod Mini is available in 5 different colors, sliver, gold, blue, pink, green - but no white. It costs US$249, casted by Aluminum case, 4GB - using the new 1" Hitachi drive. With only 100g, that is the same weight as my SonyEricsson T610. In Mac forums, there are quite a lot of readers criticize the look and the price. I think their claims may not usually right, as most of them didn't really see the real product and also didn't know exactly the MP3 player market today.

First on its look. Just from the pictures shown on the Apple site, my first impression is that it looks a little bit worse than the old iPod. But I think I would feel better when I could touch the real product in Apple shops. The size, which claimed to be similar to business card, is not as small as we expected, especially when comparing to others flash-based MP3 players. However, the flash-based MP3 is small in capacity, only in 128, 256 or 512MB. The 512MB is even more expensive than the 4GB iPod. In competitive MP3 players market, Apple is now on a tactical move. In $300-400 price range, they are leader with no doubt. But in $200 range, there has been a vigorous competition already, but all competitors are flash-based.

Now, Apple wants to capture this segment. Someone might criticize $249 for 4GB is expensive, as a larger (both size and capacity) 15G is just $50 more. However, when the 256MB player in around $200 or lower, pay $50 more (+25%) and you get 4GB. It is even cheaper than 512MB! Would you consider it now? I think you would. Remember, Apple targets iPod Mini to flash-based market, not to its own iPod market, in which they are already a leader. So, let's wait a see what will happen when it actually arrived in April. With Apple's aggressive involvement, I foresee that MP3 player market will be very interesting this year.

iLife '04

2 good news and 1 bad news. The first good news is, the preformance of iPhoto has enhanced dramatically, finally. It can now can handle more than 25,000 photos with ease. This has been the #1 request from iPhoto users since the day of iPhoto 1.0. 2.0 improved a bit, but I think it was not enough, as long as it runs from my iBook 500 with no difference. The other good news is the introduction of GarageBand, a new music composition iApp. The acquisition of Emagic makes music composition software packaged in iLife possible. Apple is on good moves. iLife in Mac is just like MS Office in PC. One cannot without another to make it valuable and shine. With just $US50, you can have a good enough music composition and video authoring tools, and they are bundled in all new Macs. Where can you find it in PC world? No. However, there is one black dot in this announcement: Jobs didn't mentions the free downloads of iPhoto and iMovie. Checking the Apple web site and press release about the new iLife, I am certain that the free download of iPhoto and iMovie is over.

Final Cut Express 2.0

As Final Cut Express (FCE) 1.0 is a slimmed version of Final Cut Pro (FCP) 3.0, it is not suprised to know that FCE 2 is another trimmed version of FCP 4. In fact, after reviewing some screen shoots and the feature list, my prediction should hold true, especially when you can find RT Extreme, a powerful features that allows you to preview effects and transition in real-time, in FCE 2. While iMovie is for amateurs/consumers and FCP is for professionals, FCE is definitely for prosumer and falls fit into semi-pro category.

Xserve G5

The long-await Xserve upgrade finally arrives. Instead of 4 drive bays in old Xserve, it only has 3. The extra space in front panel allows air to flow along both sides of center bay for effective cooling. This also hints cooling is still very important to G5. It is easily to find that Xserve G5 uses a large heatsink as in PowerMac G5. However, in contrast, the
technical overview PDF indicates that G5 in Xserve is using 90-nanometer manufacturing process. Is 90-nano G5 cooler? This leaves us a myth.

Hopes for 2004

Jobs in the keynote said : "20 Years. We are going to make something of this year. Some incredible new products. Some wonderful things that will be announced over the year. It's going to be a great 20th anniversary year."

What incredible and wonderful things we will see in 2004? I don't want to guess, but these are the most wanted:

• #1 - PowerBook G5, or PowerBook G4 Dual
• #2 - iCube G5, or newly designed iMac - with G5 of course
• #3 - iHub, a real digital hardware hub, for audio streaming, video recording, photo slide show, wireless and Bluetooth.

Will any of these come true this year? But all I want now is a new Powerbook, as my iBook G3 500 is aging, battery is dying.