Review: The Apple iPad Case

I just posted this on the Apple Store and thought I'd post it here, too:

The Apple iPad Case protects the iPad very well. More so, it actually adds a lot of functionality, believe it or not. It allows the iPad to sit up at an angle while typing. This is great when the iPad is on a desk or when it's on your lap. I'm typing on it that way while on my lap right now.

Also, and this I just realized last night: you can sit the iPad up on the wide edge (when the cover is tucked into the slot in the back) and then the iPad is like a little TV. Great for watching videos on it.

And from a protection perspective, the extra slight protrusion around the edges protects it from damage in the case of bumps or falls. And the flap that covers the screen is perfect.

Lastly, from a style perspective, while the soft microfiber gets dirty looking, it's easy to wipe off and clean. And when it does look dirty, it actually looks kinda cool in my opinion. Has a bit of a grunge look combined with the gray Apple logo on the front of the case. I just love it.

And I wasn't so sure about this case at first. But now I wouldn't trade it for anything else.

Happy iPad Day

I'm at the Apple Store right now, typing this on an iPad. And all I can say is that Newsweek definitely gets it right!

Which iPad to get?

Apple announced the iPad today, and I can't stop salivating.

But which one to get? The 16 GB model, or the 32 GB or the 64 GB?

And regarding connectivity, the model with Wi-Fi only or the one with both Wi-Fi and 3G?

My take: Assuming you have (or plan to have) a large library of videos, photos or music, go as large as you can afford. You'll fill it up. But if you don't have a lot of space-hogging media, 16 GB should suffice.

And regarding 3G or not, I'd lean toward getting the 3G capability, unless your budget is tight. You aren't on a contract, meaning that you can cancel (and presumably restart) month-by-month service anytime. So if you were traveling or somewhere where you'd otherwise have to spend a chunk of change to activate Wi-Fi for a 24-hour period, buy a month's worth of 3G coverage instead.

Launch Day!

Today was the launch day of the iPhone 3GS. My friend Steve & I stopped by the Apple Store over lunch to check out the new phone, which adds the capability of shooting video. Here's a video I took:



And there is a lesson learned here: Hold the iPhone sideways next time when shooting video!

There's something in the air

Apple always seems to have something up its sleeves. This Tuesday is expected to be an opportunity for Steve Jobs to reveal something new and exciting. One year ago, it was the announcement of the wildly-successful iPhone and the not-so-wildly-successful Apple TV. What will it be this year?

Banners hanging at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, home of this week's Macworld conference, provide a clue -- of sorts. The banners tease: "2008 - There's something in the air" followed by the Apple logo.

As undoubtedly noticed by my faithful readers, I'm quite a fan of Apple and its products. I follow the Apple sites regularly -- if not daily! My favorite sites are MacDailyNews, MacMinute, RumorWatch, AppleInsider and MacRumors.

Time to make my hunches. In the past, I've been pretty close, pretty far off and somewhere in the middle. Here are my hunches for this Tuesday:

• 16 GB iPhone (double the memory) added for $499 ($100 more than current 8 GB model, which remains).
  
• iPhone software update previewed; available immediately for download.
• Third-party applications for the iPhone will be available for purchase from the iTunes Store starting in March.
• High-definition movie and TV show rentals available from the iTunes Store.
  
• The Apple TV is replaced with a new device called the AirDisk that can hold and share all your household's media content -- music, photos, downloaded/rented TV shows and movies, podcasts. When transmitted to your TV or computer, that content becomes the "something in the air" that the Macworld banners refer to.  The new device is bigger than the old Apple TV and is expandable.

Leopard

At the Apple Store buying Leopard, the new version of Mac OS X. The store is jam-packed. I am one of the first 500 people to wait in line for the 6:00 PM bewitching hour when the software went on sale -- so I got a free OS X Leopard t-shirt! Okay, I am a geek!

Latest iHunch was an iFlop

Fresh off a round of fairly-accurate iHunches, my latest iHunch flopped almost worse than the Microsoft Zune:

• A new iPhone, to be dubbed the "iPhone 3G." It will be virtually identical to the current iPhone, but run on a 3G cellular network instead of the slower EDGE network that the current iPhone model runs on. 3G is much more prevalent in Europe than in the U.S. The same iPhone being offered in the U.S.
• Price: $599 $542, with 8 GB memory.
• Available immediately throughout much of Europe, and in early-October in the U.S. Available Nov. 9 in the UK.
• Apple stock will go up 10% 1.8% on Tuesday due to the European availability of the iPhone being much wider than anticipated. the federal reserve dropping interest rates.

I have another iHunch

In 6 hours, Steve Jobs will be making a major Apple product announcement in London. I predict this will be the announcement:

• A new iPhone, to be dubbed the "iPhone 3G." It will be virtually identical to the current iPhone, but run on a 3G cellular network instead of the slower EDGE network that the current iPhone model runs on. 3G is much more prevalent in Europe than in the U.S.
  
• Price: $599, with 8 GB memory.
• Available immediately throughout much of Europe, and in early-October in the U.S.
• Apple stock will go up 10% on Tuesday due to the European availability of the iPhone being much wider than anticipated.
  

I can't wait to wake up in the morning and see what got announced overnight!

iSaltine

Stopped by the Apple Store yesterday. The new iPod nano is even smaller in person than it appears in photos, including this one. This thing seems just barely bigger than a saltine cracker. Even in thickness.

If you get one, be careful using it while eating soup.

I had an iHunch about this...

...but I neglected to blog about it:

Grading my iHunches

With Apple having made their product announcements today, it's time for me to grade my iHunches from Monday.

Overall, I did quite good. Each hunch was generally correct, and I even guessed the name of the new "iPod touch" product line correctly. (I should work for Apple marketing!) Some of the details were a bit off, but not terribly so... corrections noted below. The only place I blew it was not having the hunch that Apple would drop the 4 GB iPhone model and reduce the price of the 8 GB iPhone model from $599 to $399.

Here is my posting from Monday with corrections noted:

Hunch #1 -- The iPod touch. Apple expands the capabilities of the iPod but very carefully so -- to not step on the iPhone product line. A new iPod borrows the touch screen interface from the iPhone and has the capability to purchase songs directly from the iTunes Store wirelessly (with an available wi-fi connection). The wi-fi capability is specifically for purchasing songs and for web browsing. Want e-mail or web browsing? Get an iPhone. This new iPod runs OS X, the same operating system Apple runs on Mac computers, the Apple TV device and the iPhone. As with the iPhone, Apple uses flash memory for durability. Apple calls this new iPod line the "iPod touch" and releases it in two models -- 16 8 GB or 32 16 GB, selling for $349 $299 or $449 $399, respectively.

Hunch #2 -- The hard drive iPod lives on. While larger amounts of flash memory are relatively expensive and since some customers (such as DJs) need a lot of storage, Apple keeps the current hard drive iPod product line for now, reducing the price of the 80 GB model from $349 to $299 $249 and adding a 120 160 GB model for $399 $349.

Hunch #3 -- The larger-screen but "even thinner" iPod nano. The larger screen means that photos are now bigger than a postage stamp and also that videos can now be played on the nano. The resultant product line looks like a shrunken-down version of the current hard drive iPod. No OS X, wi-fi or touch interface. Some new colors in the mix. Same storage capacities and prices as before -- 2/4/8 GB at $149/$199/$249, respectively. The 2 GB model is gone but the 4 and 8 GB models remain available at reduced price points of $149 and $199, respectively.

Hunch #4 -- The iPod shuffle stays about the same. It adds some new colors, stays at $79, but goes from 1 GB to 2 GB and stays at 1 GB.

The resultant product line looks like this:

$79 - 2 1 GB iPod shuffle
$149 - 2 GB iPod nano
$199 $149 - 4 GB iPod nano
$249 $199 - 8 GB iPod nano
$299 $249 - 80 GB iPod
$349 $299 - 16 8 GB iPod touch
$399 $349 - 120 160 GB iPod
$449 $399 - 32 16 GB iPod touch
$499 - 4 GB iPhone
$599 $399 - 8 GB iPhone

Some iHunches

Apple announces new iPods this Wednesday. So what can we expect? Based on rumors I've read from here and there and some gut feel, here we go:

Hunch #1 -- The iPod touch. Apple expands the capabilities of the iPod but very carefully so -- to not step on the iPhone product line. A new iPod borrows the touch screen interface from the iPhone and has the capability to purchase songs directly from the iTunes Store wirelessly (with an available wi-fi connection). The wi-fi capability is specifically for purchasing songs. Want e-mail or web browsing? Get an iPhone. This new iPod runs OS X, the same operating system Apple runs on Mac computers, the Apple TV device and the iPhone. As with the iPhone, Apple uses flash memory for durability. Apple calls this new iPod line the "iPod touch" and releases it in two models -- 16 GB or 32 GB, selling for $349 or $449, respectively.

Hunch #2 -- The hard drive iPod lives on. While larger amounts of flash memory are relatively expensive and since some customers (such as DJs) need a lot of storage, Apple keeps the current hard drive iPod product line for now, reducing the price of the 80 GB model from $349 to $299 and adding a 120 GB model for $399.

Hunch #3 -- The larger-screen but "even thinner" iPod nano. The larger screen means that photos are now bigger than a postage stamp and also that videos can now be played on the nano. The resultant product line looks like a shrunken-down version of the current hard drive iPod. No OS X, wi-fi or touch interface. Some new colors in the mix. Same storage capacities and prices as before -- 2/4/8 GB at $149/$199/$249, respectively.

Hunch #4 -- The iPod shuffle stays about the same. It adds some new colors, stays at $79, but goes from 1 GB to 2 GB.

The resultant product line looks like this:

$79 - 2 GB iPod shuffle
$149 - 2 GB iPod nano
$199 - 4 GB iPod nano
$249 - 8 GB iPod nano
$299 - 80 GB iPod
$349 - 16 GB iPod touch
$399 - 120 GB iPod
$449 - 32 GB iPod touch
$499 - 4 GB iPhone
$599 - 8 GB iPhone

I'll be grading my hunches after the actual announcements on Wednesday.

The beat goes on

New iPods are to be announced next Wednesday at a scheduled press conference. What surprises does Apple have up its sleeve?

iPods of the future in a world of iPhones

There is speculation out there about where Apple is going to take its amazingly-successful iPod line considering the crossover between iPods and iPhones.

I found a thoughtful analysis on this by John Gruber, writer of the blog Daring Fireball. Highlights:

[A] defining characteristic of Apple as a company, today: They replace their hit products while they're still on top. Rather than building a lead over their competition and sitting on it, they just keep building. The best example of this was the introduction of the original iPod Nano. At the time, the best-selling iPods were the Minis. The iPod Mini was a smash hit product. And when Apple debuted the Nano, they killed it.

Most companies wouldn't even consider killing a product like the iPod Mini while it was still a best-seller; instead, they milk hit products for all they're worth and ride them out for years. (Exhibit A: Motorola's Razr.) One thing Apple could have done, but didn't, was continue to sell iPod Minis alongside the Nanos. Apple treats its product line-up like a product itself – it is designed to be obvious and easy to understand.

Choosing which iPod to buy is easy: Do you want to carry a huge library and/or play video? Get a regular iPod. Do you just want something small to play music? Buy an iPod Nano. Want something tiny and inexpensive? Get the Shuffle. No matter how risky it might have been to kill the iPod Mini while it was still the best-selling iPod, there just wasn't room for it in the line-up alongside the Nano.

(Compare and contrast to Verizon Wireless, whose chief marketing officer brags that they offer 18 different music-playing phones.)

The simple truth is that the iPhone user experience doesn't just blow away the experience of other companies' cell phones – it blows away the experience of Apple's own iPods. The biggest question, as I see it, is whether Apple plans to introduce iPods that are more or less just the iPod app from the iPhone (i.e. just music and video players), or iPods that are everything but phones, with Wi-Fi networking for email, web, and more.

iPhone: The Music Video

Product reviewer David Pogue of The New York Times ditches his "made-in-hell-phone" for an iPhone -- and sings about it:

Mine doesn't do all this stuff!

Touching is believing

In the 48 hours I've had my iPhone, it has far surpassed expectations. It does so much and is so easy and pleasant to use. It's a tiny computer that you control with your fingertips. It has amazing fit-and-finish (both the hardware and the software) for a brand-new product.

And it's a lot of fun!

Hello, iPhone!

Visited the Apple Store (and the crowds!) both Friday night and Saturday to check out the new iPhone. Pretty nice device. Way more than a phone. I might get one after my contract with Verizon expires in a couple of weeks. To do so now would mean getting socked with a $175 early termination charge -- yikes! Here are some pics of my blog on the iPhone:

T Minus 24 Hours

Only 99 hours to go... take no chances...

As of 2:45 PM Monday afternoon, two people were already in line at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York City for the iPhone, which becomes available Friday at 6 PM...

Also, for some thoughts on the wait, check out a guest post on my cousin Walt's blog, Walt Now.