Early last week seemed to be full of anti-climatic moments. First with the Soprano’s ending, then the Apple keynote. Although looking back on them both I can appreciate them both a little more now. I won’t bore everyone with my opinion a belated opinion of the Soprano’s finale (except to say that I don’t believe Tony was wacked), but I will bore you with my belated opinion of the keynote.
First off, of course I’m disappointed there were no new product announcements. I always fall for the rumor mill that there is going to be some sort of revolutionary new product again. But I was at least certain we would see a new iPod with 120 gigs, widescreen, and Coverflow. And I was pretty certain we would see a spreadsheet application (rumored to be named Charts) to complete to the Apple office suite. But that didn’t happen either.
But I was happily re-impressed and excited about Leopard. I sometimes forget how big of deal that is going to be. It’s not like OS X has to improve at all to kick the crap out of Vista, but it’s nice that Apple cares enough to kick Microsoft while their down. While the fact that it’s 64 bit, and has a new look is all cool, what I’m most excited about are things like the new iChat where you can give control over your desktop to someone a little smarter (Russ in my case), Stacks because my desktop is always over crowded (the download Stack is brilliant), and the new Mail system, which needs a bit of a shot in the arm still. Hopefully the RSS reader built into Mail will be better than the one in Safari and more like NetNewsWire.
I have to say that I don’t get the point of Safari for Windows. I would understand it if Firefox didn’t exist, but it does. I think Safari for Windows is about 4 years to late. And the lack of plug-ins make it’s a lot less useful than Firefox.
But on to what really excited me about the keynote….
iPhone Web Apps
I know a lot of people are saying that it’s a cop out and that Apple is keeping the system too closed. But I get their point. We don’t want our phones becoming like Windows machines and crashing all the time. I too am a little disappointed that this means there will likely be no Skype widget for iPhone, at least without a formal partnership. But honestly the move makes a lot of sense, and there are already some great apps in development.
For example, there is an app where you can type your zip code in and find the cheapest gas to your location. How long before we see applications from banks to let you control your account? Okay, the move slow on that stuff. But how long before we see Basecamp and Highrise apps for iPhone? I bet within 30 days of the iPhone launch. Or how about an app where you can type in a SKU while at a store and compare prices online with prices in the store. Or even something as simple as booking your airfare and hotel through an Expedia widget. And oh how I wish I could envision a Texas Hold ’em app for iPhone. But there will surely be plenty of games made into mini Web apps. I’m guessing every old school arcade game will be available through some app. And of course we’ll have YouTube apps.
This is the kind of change a product like the iPhone will bring. I honestly believe that within 3 – 4 years, I won’t have to bring my laptop with me when I travel. I’ll just be able to use my phone, and then when I get to a hotel there may be a monitor and keyboard that sync with my phone and let’s me login to the my OS, and communicate with computer at home through something like the new .Mac syncing in Leopard (another of my favorite upgrades).
Obviously I’ll be first in line at my local Cingular store on the 29th.
[tags]sopranos, iphone, apple, keynote, web apps, highrise, basecamp, expedia, leopard[/tags]
