Like most observers, I witnessed the WWDC from my office chair. There was a lot of ooooh and aaaaah moments of course, but I couldn’t help but be less than impressed with the showing from Cupertino.
That is one expensive computer.
Admittedly, the new computer line up looked great, the sleek got sleeker and new features were added like an HDMI port on the MacBook Pro . But, there wasn’t much to justify the, in my opinion, exorbitant cost. The aforementioned MacBook Pro reportedly starts at a staggering $2,199 USD. What do you get for the price? A 2.5GHz dual-core processor, 4 GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive. Now, that is a SSD drive, which naturally will be expensive, but man! That’s a lot for what it is. But, I remain skeptical, not doubtful, that it is worth the price. It’s supposed to have a retina display, but reports still mention a remarkably glossy screen.
But hey, iOS6 is what this thing was really all about, right?
iOS6 was debuted, with a suite of 200 new features and a new level of usability in an updated Siri. Apple has made the use of their phone and tablet even easier with advanced integration in the form of consolidating a user’s Apple ID, making an iPhone and iPad more synchronous. Also, big moves into integrating with Facebook, like voice updating statuses by voice. It also seems like Apple could be moving to abandon its iTunes based social media platform “Ping” in favor of allowing a Facebook user to “like” movies and apps in Apple’s iTunes store. And it seems Apple resents the mere presence of Google on their devices and have moved to create their own Map application.
Yeah, but still – SmartGlass!!!!
But is that enough? I kinda feel like Microsoft has more to offer this year with SmartGlass and (the hotly debated) Windows 8. And even despite the arguments over how good Windows 8 will be, you can’t deny it is a move that shows the company from Redmond is appreciating and implementing some significant changes. In a weird twist of irony, Microsoft is the innovator this year, as Apple curates its image and refines established paradigms.
