Regarding the iPad, whilst analysts all predict good things and the mainstream media have been mostly singing Apple's praises, when it comes to some of us long time Apple fans there is a large faction of people who feel that the iPad event was disappointing.
Personally I feel pretty neutral about the whole thing, I think the iPad will be a success but probably in a longer term than we were expecting.
The reason I think so many people are left a bit despondent is because it was always going to be apps that sold this thing, and not just apps but content of other kinds like books, newspapers, movies etc.
Apple knew that, we knew that, the media knows that, so when you think about it the most surprising omission from the event was actually, iTunes was barely touched upon.
The iBook Store is going to be a major addition to the iTunes Store. We don't really know how regular newspapers/magazines are going to be delivered but if there isn't some kind of standard iTunes service to help regulate it all then it's going to be a bit of a mess, so I think it's safe to assume there'll be something to deal with that. Then you have the general reshuffle that will have to be done of the App Store to take into account iPads.
That's all a given, and yet we are also supposed to be expecting a cloud based service in the near future, as well as there being rumours of new deals for TV content, ie. "Best of TV".
Mostly none of this was even mentioned, let alone fleshed out at the event, and it's these things that would really make the iPad shine. If Steve had shown us how we can regularly keep up to date with our magazine subscriptions, how we can access our music via. the cloud on the iPad and announced a new Best of TV service that would obviously work on the iPad too - I think the reaction would be unanimously positive.
So that begs the question..
Where is iTunes X?
We do know Apple has been working on it for a while, iTunes 10 is internally known as iTunes X and we know this because of mentions to it's 64bit architecture in iTunes .pkg files. iTunes 9 is currently only 32 bit.
The iBook Store, iPad management, probably magazine subscriptions, the new iPad aspects of the App Store etc. all, I think, call for a full numbered release of iTunes rather than a v.1 step up - and we know these things are all going to have to come by March.
On top of that your have the cloud and possibly TV features, both of which would definitely require a full numbered release and so we could probably expect them to hit with iTunes X.
There's also the possibility that Apple are still readying an iLife for iPad, probably coinciding with an iLife 2010 for OS X, both of which iTunes X could sensibly be included in.
So... is iTunes X coming soon? Would Apple require an event for it? Will we have to wait all the way until WWDC?
It seems iTunes X is going to be the missing piece of the iPad puzzle and another big bump for AAPL stock so the sooner it arrives the better and I am very surprised, looking back, that we saw no mention on the 27th.
Here's hoping..
While on the topic, what do you guys want to see in v10? Here's an article on the subject with some ideas..
iTunes X Wish List: 10 Things We Want in the Next Upgrade
Personally I feel pretty neutral about the whole thing, I think the iPad will be a success but probably in a longer term than we were expecting.
The reason I think so many people are left a bit despondent is because it was always going to be apps that sold this thing, and not just apps but content of other kinds like books, newspapers, movies etc.
Apple knew that, we knew that, the media knows that, so when you think about it the most surprising omission from the event was actually, iTunes was barely touched upon.
The iBook Store is going to be a major addition to the iTunes Store. We don't really know how regular newspapers/magazines are going to be delivered but if there isn't some kind of standard iTunes service to help regulate it all then it's going to be a bit of a mess, so I think it's safe to assume there'll be something to deal with that. Then you have the general reshuffle that will have to be done of the App Store to take into account iPads.
That's all a given, and yet we are also supposed to be expecting a cloud based service in the near future, as well as there being rumours of new deals for TV content, ie. "Best of TV".
Mostly none of this was even mentioned, let alone fleshed out at the event, and it's these things that would really make the iPad shine. If Steve had shown us how we can regularly keep up to date with our magazine subscriptions, how we can access our music via. the cloud on the iPad and announced a new Best of TV service that would obviously work on the iPad too - I think the reaction would be unanimously positive.
So that begs the question..
Where is iTunes X?
We do know Apple has been working on it for a while, iTunes 10 is internally known as iTunes X and we know this because of mentions to it's 64bit architecture in iTunes .pkg files. iTunes 9 is currently only 32 bit.
The iBook Store, iPad management, probably magazine subscriptions, the new iPad aspects of the App Store etc. all, I think, call for a full numbered release of iTunes rather than a v.1 step up - and we know these things are all going to have to come by March.
On top of that your have the cloud and possibly TV features, both of which would definitely require a full numbered release and so we could probably expect them to hit with iTunes X.
There's also the possibility that Apple are still readying an iLife for iPad, probably coinciding with an iLife 2010 for OS X, both of which iTunes X could sensibly be included in.
So... is iTunes X coming soon? Would Apple require an event for it? Will we have to wait all the way until WWDC?
It seems iTunes X is going to be the missing piece of the iPad puzzle and another big bump for AAPL stock so the sooner it arrives the better and I am very surprised, looking back, that we saw no mention on the 27th.
Here's hoping..
While on the topic, what do you guys want to see in v10? Here's an article on the subject with some ideas..
iTunes X Wish List: 10 Things We Want in the Next Upgrade
