Apple's Year-in-Review

[MacBytes]

Category: 3rd Party Hardware
Link: Apple\'s Year-in-Review (http://www.macbytes.com/link.php?sid=20050102211659)
Posted on MacBytes.com (http://www.macbytes.com)

Approved by Mudbug

[Sir_Giggles]

Greatest potential. Xgrid/XSAN
Worst Moment. PowerPC G5 shortages that affected back-to-school sales.

[Wonder Boy]

1/1 on submissions getting posted in 2005!
0/188 on receiving credit since 2003!
:D

Keep it up, Apple. I got a birthday coming, and I need some new toys. 9 days till the SF Stevenote!

[TomSmithMacEd]

Greatest potential. Xgrid/XSAN
Worst Moment. PowerPC G5 shortages that affected back-to-school sales.

Most anticipated product: Powerbook G5

Best Moment of 2004? Too many good moments, and none that affected me very much.

My best memory of the year: Getting up at 4am on a school night (I'm in high school so it is a big deal) to read chats of Steve's speech and the new iMac G5. I just remember thinking it was so ugly when I first saw it. Then it grew on me a lot. I love it now.

[Trowaman]

Best new product of the year: Airport express
Best Software (Updated or new) - iLife 04
Best deal: eMac (1st half of year) middle iMac (second half)
best hardware update: iMac G5

Honorable breakthroughs through the year:
Airport Express
iMac G5
Motion 1.0
Logic 7
Garageband
Xserve G5
iPod mini
iTMS Europe and Canada
iPod Photo (the screen and functionality are great, just not the price)

Anticipations for 2005:
iWork 05
iLife 05
Tiger
Powerbook G5 (betting on WWDC)
3 Ghz of glory (also WWDC)
A cheaper, more afforadble mac.

[mcmav37]

All in all, while it was a great year for Apple (at least for AAPL), I feel like it was just a lackluster year for the Mac. Other than the new iMac G5, things seemed a little disappointing. I really hope that the miniMac rumors pan out as it will be huge for Apple and the Mac community.

2004 was obviously the year of the iPod/music (maybe just the first year of...?), but I want 2005 to really be the start of the Mac coming back. Apple makes enough money off the iPod alone that maybe they shouldn't worry about making as much money on the Macs right now. In any case, I hope to see increased advertising for Mac computers on TV. I see the Vertigo ad all the time, but I don't even remember the last time I saw an ad for a Mac. That, of course, is assuming the miniMac materializes.

Can't wait for the keynote.

[nagromme]

iPod Photo is what I've been waiting years for, so that's the big one for me personally.

Taking a wider view, the iMac G5 would be the biggest news--a deceptively simple-seeming achievement, and one that seems to appeal widely to buyers. And for software, probably GarageBand... a true new iApp, making something complex into something fun and simple and accessible. It excites me less, of course, because I already have Apple Soundtrack :) iTunes/iPod growth is huge, but I think of that as old news getting bigger, not 2004 news.

G5 shortages from IBM were certainly the low. And I don't think they're over yet, but I do think they will be taken care of in the end, and that the G5, G6, etc. is a VERY bright future. (And Freescale isn't going away either I don't think.)

But what I'm personally looking forward to most is Tiger. THAT is what will enhance my CURRENT machines. (And taking a wider view, it would make a heck of a computing package for a lot of people, if it came with a sub-$500 Mac!)