Apple today released two products that, while not entirely surprising to people who read the rumor sites, promise to solidify Apple's position as... well... the only innovative PC company.
First you have probably the single coolest looking computer ever made, the Mac Mini. My friends, it's half the size of the Mac Cube and umpteen times more powerful, not to mention that at a price of $500 it's the cheapest Mac... ever?
Next is a USB flash memory based iPod, dubbed the iPod Shuffle. Since it's lacking a display and has been simplified to do just one thing - play through a list of songs, either in order or randomly - this device is, um, way cheap, with the 512 MB version going for only $99. Even the low end portable music market now has an iPod, and those of us who already have big daddy iPods will likely pick up one of these babies for when that "pack of playing cards" sized behemoth just isn't going to cut it (going jogging, anyone?)
So, you have two products that both smash the #1 anti-Apple sentiment: "I'd get an Apple product, but they're just too expensive!"
Now, these products should ROCK, assuming they aren't lemons for some reason. As of right now, I predict that Jobs has sealed Apple's fate as the personal computer company of the next decade. The timing just couldn't be any better, with the Windows XP/IE "one-two" punch leading to vast armies of zombied, spyware-infested machines that run like crap and are just impossible to deal with.
$500 for no viruses, no malware, for something that looks cool, is tiny, undoubtedly uses less energy, and matches perfectly that kickass iPod everybody's been talking about? Um, yeah?
Use the iPod as bait, get them on your line, and reel them in with the Mac Mini. Oh yes, it's going to happen. Jobs is a true genius, even if he himself is not behind the designs - he at least knows how to recognize genius, and he knows how and when to deliver a brilliant product.
My friends, it's the beginning of the end for Windows as the dominant personal computer OS, and I for one couldn't be happier.
Comments
Edward @ Fri Feb 11 02:48:03 -0500 2005
Ever the faith in the intelligence or choice making ability of humanity. Bottom line computers never appealed to me, and the kind of power I realistically go for in PCs still are overpriced in the Mac realm. People wont generally break their comfort level for quality or something better, imho at least.