From time to time, Apple’s special events hosted by Steve Jobs have been less than thrilling. We have been left wanting. This time, our best hopes were fulfilled, and Apple’s September 1 event hit one out of the park.
Apple needed this event to be great. By that I mean that Apple was riding along as a giant company, making a lot of money, throwing its weight around, and irritating some developers. While the iPhone 4 I have is fantastic, the antenna issues, real and imagined, took away some of Apple’s luster.
This event returned Apple to the forefront of great consumer products, great imagination, aggressive design, and a focus on everything that Apple believes in.
These are the coolest iPods ever, and I want one of each. Especially the new nano. (And since my 3G shuffle went through the laundry, it needs replaced too.) The iPod touch with cameras and FaceTime will fly off the shelves this fall. The ability to call other iPod touches and iPhones will make for great conversations between families. This is also a crushing blow to the Android phones because the iPod touch, as Mr. Jobs said, is an iPhone without a contract.
The new Apple TV is awesome — except, as of this writing, it isn’t clear if owners of the original Apple TV can upgrade. We’re still checking on that.
I am not really concerned about the option for movie purchase going away. I never bought a single movie, digitally via iTunes. If it was worth owning, it bought it on Blu-ray.
Clearly, CBS and NBC have their own axe to grind with products like Hulu. That’s fine. Soon, as Mr. Jobs said, they’ll see the Apple light. Of course, it’s a no brainer that ABC would go along, given the relationship between ABC, Disney and Steve Jobs. My hat’s off to Mr. Murdoch at Fox for his foresight and courage to support Apple in this new 99 cent, streaming, commercial-free TV episodes rollout. All in all, Mr. Jobs did a great job. There was no need for apologies or defensiveness. Instead, Apple showed its best side and renewed our enthusiasm for a host of terrific new products.
To everyone at Apple, nice work.