If the early word around the Internet is any indication, Apple hit a homerun with today’s iPhone roadmap event that took place at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, CA.
Apple not only showed off the software development kit for the iPhone, but delivered Microsoft Exchange support to users, showed off the first iPhone/iPod Touch games, announced a $100 million “iFund” with VC firm Kleiner Perkins to spur development of applications for the iPhone, and had a slew of other announcements (our full roundup of the event).
A quick survey around the blogosphere right now finds Farhad Manjoo’s piece at Salon entitled “Why Apple’s SDK finally justifies iPhone hype“. Ephraim Schwartz at InfoWorld writes that “iPhone SDK exceeds developer expectations“. Jason at Signal vs. Noise states that “What we saw today was the beginning of two-decades of mobile domination by Apple.”
These attitudes lie in stark contrast to the generally negative feelings surrounding Apple that have persisted for the past few months (our coverage — you’ll note our prediction as well).
Following last year’s unveiling of the iPhone, Apple has had a series of lackluster events that have failed to live up to the hype. Perhaps no event had more build-up than this year’s MacWorld in January. Yet, after chief executive Steve Jobs put the MacBook Air back in its manilla envelope, the excitement seemed to die down quickly.
The MacBook Air is a great product, but it is under-powered and over-priced. When added to the fact that people have come to expect nothing short of transcendental sublimity from Apple events — you have letdown.
Apple has seemingly been the victim of its own past successes at these events. Today, they got their mojo back.
The strange thing is that it wasn’t even Steve Jobs who was on stage for large chunks of the announcements today. Instead, it was other Apple employees and partners. While there has been much talk of Apple losing steam once Jobs is no longer running the company and giving the keynotes, today may have been a preview of just how Apple will survive — with great products and innovation.
[For those who have no idea what the title is all about, I direct you to a Justin Timberlake music video]
Tags: co:Apple3 Comments
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Marc said:
“Manila” is spelled with one ‘l’; otherwise the iFund certainly legitimized the application portion of the phone. It will be interesting to see how they do with the “rest of the world”, which is dominated by Nokia.
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clak said:
The MacBook Air is underpowered and underpriced, when compared to what? Other ultraportables? The last time I checked most ultraportables have a measly 1.2 GHz processor speed to the MBA’s default 1.6. and they are priced in the same range as the MBA. So it seems as don’t you’re just promoting the popular FUD of the moment.
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adult community said:
great site!
8 Trackbacks
9:00 pm
unitedBIT’s RoundUp » Blog Archive » RoundUp: Major news and analysis from stellar web 2.0 sites said:
[...] iPhone roadmap event brings Apple’s sexy back: Following last year’s unveiling of the iPhone, Apple has had a series of lackluster events that [...]
12:02 pm
If the iPhone SDK is a “joke”, Apple will be laughing all the way to the bank » VentureBeat said:
[...] Generally, massive hype begets backlash, and the iPhone SDK (software development kit) is no different. Unveiled amid a flurry of hoopla just a little over a week ago (our coverage), the detractors are now coming out and calling the SDK “a joke”, as Zac Bowling did over the weekend. Well, if it is a joke, it may very well be on those developers who decide not to cash in on what will surely be a wildly successful platform (our coverage). [...]
12:33 pm
Hype met: iPhone indeed puts the Internet in your pocket » VentureBeat said:
[...] Also, check out our coverage on the reports of the iPhone SDK being a “joke” and Apple getting its mojo back with the SDK announcement. [...]
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Rumor: iPhone SDK restrictions due to impending 3G iPhone with IM/video chat » VentureBeat said:
[...] a new one surfacing may shed light on some of the restrictions Apple is placing on the iPhone SDK (our coverage). Digg founder Kevin Rose on his weekly Diggnation show (embedded below) claims that the [...]
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Ain’t too proud to develop: Microsoft sets sights on iPhone » VentureBeat said:
[...] more of our thoughts on the iPhone SDK here and [...]
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Steve Jobs is writing checks that iTunes can’t cash » VentureBeat said:
[...] company has remained positive. Jobs rewarded the patience with an excellent SDK event last month (our coverage). Apple’s stock is even now finally showing signs of recovering after taking a massive hit to [...]
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What do Jim Cramer, Kevin Rose and the U.S. Patent Office know about IM on the 3G iPhone? » VentureBeat said:
[...] that Apple is restricting developers from creating applications that run in the background with the iPhone SDK, expect some [...]
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Boom! Apple blows past expectations. One more thing: Future outlook conservative » VentureBeat said:
[...] that it would hit its stated goal of 10 million iPhones sold by the end of 2008. In terms of the SDK (software development kit) for the iPhone, Apple says that over 200,000 developers have already [...]