DealsOnTheWeb Daily Deal: OneCall's Weekend Sale - 20 Great Items at Great Prices All Weekend Long
Forbes Finds the Nits Some Apple Fans Pick
by , 2:10 PM EST, January 18th, 2008
While all seems good in the land of Apple, there are a few nits that some Apple fans are picking, and Forbes managed to find a few of them at Macworld Expo in San Francisco this week. Chief among the concerns found are the seeming lack of attention paid to Apple's professional Macs, Steve Jobs' inability to understand that with celebrity comes attention, the MacBook Air's non-user-replaceable battery, and the downward tick in Apple's stock in Calendar 2008.
While the first third of the article sums up some of the many good things Apple has accomplished in the ten-plus years since Steve Jobs returned to the helm of the company, Mr. Caulfield noted a story from a blogger named Violet Blue. Ms. Blue wanted a picture with Steve Jobs, but when she asked him, he told her she was rude, and literally shunned her by turning his back on her (that's at least her version of the story).
"That's the first time I've ever 'fangirled' anyone," she wrote. "And it'll be my last." Ms. Blue's blog, Tiny Nibbles, is of an adult nature -- Open Source Sex reads the landing page -- so treat the link accordingly.
Mr. Caulfield also found Newton Munson, formerly of NeXT and now with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, who voiced his concern over the lack of attention Apple's professional Mac Pros received during the Macworld keynote.
"If Steve Jobs isn't interested in it, it might not survive," Mr. Munson told Forbes. "We want to make sure they keep making 'real' computers."
You can find the other nits in the full article. We should note, too, though it may seem like we are picking our own nits, that we haven't run into very many people complaining about much of anything on the show floor. The few complaints we have seen at The Mac Observer concerning the show have mostly come from folks not here to see the goods in person.
Observer Comments
"If Steve Jobs isn't interested in it, it might not survive," Mr. Munson told Forbes. "We want to make sure they keep making 'real' computers."
While I'd like to think this person either knows better or is joking I get the feeling he isn't. I'm not sure what it is in Apple's Mac line-up that isn't a "real computer". If this is a dig towards the iMac, requesting more attention for the Mac Pro's as suggested in the article then I would say that Apple are making it clear that they are taking the "professional" market very seriously.
Not only are all the machines Apple sells suitable for the "professional" market (depending on their usage requirements), but the iMac is getting quite close to the Mac Pro in terms of real world performance for more and more "professional" needs. The MacBook Pro's and Xserves have also come on a long way over the past years.
If we are talking about sheer attention then I would say that Apple is firmly setting it's public attention on the "consumer" market for sure. That said, MacWorld has mainly been used for this purpose in terms of publicity in the past. The Mac Pro had a decent slot at WWDC for it's original announcement. This makes sense to me as it is a high end machine being demo'd in a setting with high-end users present. Further more, being that WWDC is also well covered by the media for expected OS updates, it seems likely that a Mac Pro update will also be covered by those journalists.
As I said, I am simply not understanding this comment at all.
Fri Jan 18, 2008 3:49 pm Subject: Was Steve Job on the floor at the Expo?
This Violet Blue incident, did it really happen? Go read the article on her web site, warning the site contains nudity so caveat salutor. I am very suspicious, sounds like a hoax. She has one photo of someone who looks like Steve Jobs from the back, his face is hidden.
I did not attend the Expo this year. Can anyone who was there on verify that Steve Jobs was in the exhibit halls. I would think that if he was in the halls that there would be more photos of him and people bragging how he stopped by their booth to check out their products.
"...the MacBook Air's non-user-replaceable battery..."
Actually, the battery is user replaceable:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/01/18/sources_macbook_air_battery_replacements_take_only_minutes.html
You know, Stevie has always been touchy. And if you knew much about him, you'd know he maintains an inner sanctum of friends and colleagues. He is not a gregarious person and such people tend to be offended by unwelcome intrusions.
Even so, his response seemed unnecessary, though I think blowing her off was probably a good idea. While he might take some heat for the way he handled himself, can you imagine the challenging damage control necessary if a pic of the two of them ended up on her site?
Headline: "Apple boss endorses porn site"
That would be worth avoiding.
Mon Jan 21, 2008 12:22 pm Subject: Okay he was there
Okay Violet I guess he really was there looking at stuff. Next time wear a wire so you document the dialoge 
QuoteGuest wrote:
as you wondered, here are other images of Jobs hanging out on the floor the same day I was:
http://flickr.com/photos/scarls13/2195601877/
http://flickr.com/photos/jimgoldstein/2197204314/
http://flickr.com/photos/jimgoldstein/2196416405/
as compared to mine:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/violetblue/2197331032/
aaaaand, I'm over it. for me he's just some guy I met that I now know I'd *never* want to be friends with. I could have been the chick who waited for the iPhone for 35 hours in line or the rep with $950K to spend for my company, and he snubbed me. I was just being a normal person, despite what some people think of what I write about. I still like Mac products and love Mac users/community, so whatever.
-VB
Recent Headlines - Updated Friday, July 18th, 2008
- Fri., 4:30 PM
- iPO Apple Store Spotlight - Bloomberg LP - Financial Information on Your iPhone
- 2:50 PM
- iPO Just a Thought - Seven Days (and Counting) Trying to Get an iPhone
- 2:15 PM
- AAPL Drops 3% in Afternoon Trading, Deferred Revenue Accounting Earning Attention
- 12:05 PM
- iPO Review - Jensen JiMS-525i
- 11:05 AM
- Apple in Art
- 10:40 AM
- iPO Free on iTunes - AtomTV, Black In America, Strange Days on Planet Earth, & More
- 9:15 AM
- TMO's DealsOnTheWeb.com - JBL On Stage II Speaker System w/RF Remote Control: $67.99 Delivered
- 8:20 AM
- StrangeCharm - Particle Debris and a New iPhone (2G)
- 7:30 AM
- TMO Quick Tip - Build Your Own Twitter Client
The Mac Observer Reader Specials
- Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com
- Other World Computing has the Upgrades, Enhancements, and Accessories for getting the most from your Mac. Quality Products, Competitive Prices, Expert Support Staff - www.macsales.com
New iMac 800Mhz Memory 4GB $98, 2GB $50. Click to Maximize your Macs...
Mac observers can now play Party Poker for Mac as well as Mac casino games by going to MacPokerOnline.com.
RamJet Memory: MacBook 1Gig $39, 2Gig $78, 4Gig $195! Mac Pro 2Gig $115, 4Gig $189! 500G Seagate SATA II $139! Click hereFor the latest Apple products use Ciao a comparison website to find laptops like MacBook Air. Then find the best prices on MP3 players and use our comparison tool to evaluate cell phones.
Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.
Apple 15-inch MacBook Battery: $75 
New iMac Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz 20-inch Al with Wireless Kdd & Mouse: $1199 
Overstock.com: $1.00 SiteWide Shipping - This Weekend Only 
J&R ComputerWorld's Weekend Sale - Save on TVs, Digital Cameras, Games & Tons More 
OneCall's Weekend Sale - 20 Great Items at Great Prices All Weekend Long 
