Interesting People mailing list archives
Verily, it is written that Apple will selleth you the Air
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 20 Jan 2008 18:47:36 -0800
________________________________________ From: Brian Randell [Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk] Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 6:05 PM To: David Farber Subject: Verily, it is written that Apple will selleth you the Air Hi Dave: I thought that you (and IP if you so wish) might be amused by how the Observer, a leading Sunday newspaper here in the UK, has reported on Steve Job's announcements at MacWorld. Cheers Brian ----- Verily, it is written that Apple will selleth you the Air The (UK) Observer, Sunday January 20 2008 http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/20/apple It's that time of year again. Last week the Church of Apple Resurgent gathered in San Francisco for its annual congregation. The faithful were granted an audience with the Blessed Steve Jobs, who revealed unto them what miracles he had wrought since they were last gathered together. First, he showed them a Time Capsule, which can bring back the past and preserve memories of days gone by. Then he comforted them by narrating the Great Success of his Personal Communicator, the iPhone, of which four million have been sold in 90 days. This heart-warming news was followed by information about a scheme whereby the faithful may hire moving pictures from Steve's Celestial Music Store. But all these were merely the prelude to the greatest revelation of all - Apple is to sell Air. At this, he produced a simple A4 envelope from which he drew forth a magical device, not unlike the blade of an elegant hatchet, ranging in thickness from 0.16in to 0.76in. This is the MacBook Air, and hath no wires or - said the Blessed Steve - any need for them. Many of the faithful swooned, while others waved their wallets in an orgy of technolust and were only quieted by the appearance of Randy Newman, Musician to the Court of Steve, who sang two ditties and accompanied himself on the pianoforte. There is no parallel with the annual Jobs Keynote Address in any other industry that I can think of. But this year's seemed more muted, somehow. In the old days, every new product or upgrade would be greeted by cheers, whistles, cries of 'Yee-haw!' and foot-stomping. But last Tuesday there were just ripples of polite applause from an audience whose members seemed suspiciously well-dressed. Could it be that the Jobs Keynote has become just another hot ticket on the corporate hospitality round? As for the new laptop, it's chic but expensive (£1,199) and technically compromised. If you need to use optical disks, for example, you have to buy (and cart around) an external drive. The battery is sealed in the unit (as in the iPhone), so replacing it involves returning the machine to Apple. There's no obvious way of plugging in an ethernet cable (which means that the Air is restricted to relatively slow wi-fi connections). The hard drive holds only 80GB, and if you want the 64GB diskless version the solid-state 'drive' will set you back another £829. So much for what Apple calls 'thinnovation'. Blogosphere comment was sniffy. One prominent blog held that the name derived from the fact that air is all that would be left in the wallets of those who pre-ordered the machine. And there was a distinct geeky consensus that for all its design virtuosity and aesthetic attractions, the MacBook Air looks like being more of a fashion accessory than a machine for Serious Hacking. But similar objections were levelled at the iPhone, and look what's happened with that. It has captured a fifth of the US smartphone market in its first quarter. So let's see what happens. -- School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/ ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- Verily, it is written that Apple will selleth you the Air David Farber (Jan 20)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re: Verily, it is written that Apple will selleth you the Air David Farber (Jan 21)