Product cycles vs refreshes
Apple (for the last 4 years) has pretty much stuck to a 24-month product cycle for major improvements. A lot of times this means enclosure changes, or significant functionality changes. By this I mean the difference between the clamshell iBook and the 'cubeBook' current iBook, or the difference between the Wallstreet/Lombard/Pismo G3 and the TiBook G4.
Sometimes it's a little longer, sometimes a little shorter, but either way, there should be some distinction made between 'refreshes' like speedbumps or incremental changes (even when (or
especially when, like this week, those refreshes come with significant price drops) and real product line changes.
All the talk in recent months has been about when the next refresh will come in given lines, even when those lines (as in the case of the TiBook) are turning two years old. Now I see this as the highest compliment to Apple, since we're not even lusting over imagined new machines so much as we're panting for incremental improvements in Mhz (okay, Ghz) and screen size.
I bought a GigaBook this week because even if Apple came out with new form factors in two months, the TiBook is still the ideal balance between size, screen, and functionality (and now price as well).
Nevertheless, those wanting the biggest surprises come January should go on thinking about the incremental advancements, so the *new* lines will blow you away in the same way that the iMac and TiBook did in 2002 and 2001, respectively.
Kevin Fox
http://fury.com
