“Apple had a lot of extraordinary technology to show off at its big event Monday. Of course the Apple Watch received the most attention – and rightfully so,” J. M. Manness writes for Seeking Alpha. “Also of note was the intro of the new MacBook. The technological innovation here is absolutely phenomenal! (Or am I just too much of a tech geek?) From the screen to the trackpad to the very keyboard keys, the level of new and innovative design is amazing.”
“Another astounding announcement that most likely will have the greatest impact on the world is the iOS Research Kit. This will forever change how some forms of medical research are done, something that goes far beyond Apple and the gadget world altogether.,” Manness writes. “With all the talk about products, one of the most brilliant moves has seen relative little press – yet is very important to the investor.”
“This is the partnership with HBO (a division of Time Warner) for the upcoming launch of HBO Now,” Manness writes. “Why is this so brilliant for Apple? Because this means is that if you do not have access to HBO via your cable provider and want to watch the Game of Thrones series as they come out, then you will need to have an Apple device. And Apple has made this very easy. They just lowered the price of the Apple TV from $99 to $69.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: A three month exclusive vs. the multi-year, multi-dicipline creation of the world’s first truly smart watch? Depends on your definition of brilliance, we suppose. By the generally accepted definition, Apple Watch wins.
Now, Apple does seem to want to get Apple TV into as many hands as possible (at $69 retail, the margins have to be very un-Apple-like (low). So, Apple, how about running some TV ads for Apple TV? Why is Apple so curiously reluctant to actually attempt to market Apple TV?
Related article:
HBO Now standalone service exclusive for Apple devices until summer – March 10, 2015
Brilliant is not what I would call it. How about “overdue.”
The MacBook went a too far with a single USB 3.1 connector. I like the MagSafe power connector. I don’t want to have to buy and carry around a bunch of adapters.
It seems like an iPad with a keyboard and trackpad, but without a touchscreen. If that’s the goal, it didn’t go far enough, to run OS X or iOS. Somewhere between fish and fowl.
The MagSafe was really a laptop saver, no doubt about it and I do mourn its passing. This USB 3.1 connector will pull your laptop to the ground. What can be done? Apparently, Apple is only interested in building super-slim products because it saves on raw material. It must only take about a minute to CNC mill out that skinny case. In a way, they’re really doing things to save energy. It might not suit everyone, but I don’t have a problem with a one-port laptop. As long as they’ve got an adapter for a standard thumb drive, I’m good to go.
When MagSafe was introduced, battery life on a laptop might be 4 or 5 hours, so there was a need to use them while plugged in quite often. With 10 or 12 hour battery life, it will be a lot easier to use the device while it’s not plugged in and charge it while it’s in a safe location, better than the edge of a desk.
At least, I hope that was Apples idea. I do like MagSafe chargers.
Exactly, so many folks are missing the point complaining about one port only. Apple has made a laptop which is designed to move! Only desktops should be tethered to cords. The new Macbook is designed to go wherever you go, when you want to go, all day long!
Good bye cords! And good ridance!
“The MagSafe was really a laptop saver, no doubt about it and I do mourn its passing.”
I do suspect that news of MagSafe’s demise is more than a little bit premature.
Using a single port for charging/video out/etc. makes sense in a product with highly-constrained physical volume, and very low power requirements.
It’s no good reason to pull it from larger laptops with comparative room to spare. I seriously doubt it’s going away, at least not until you get 48 hours of use for 2 hours of charging.
I think Apple is interested in building super-slim products for many more reasons that saving on raw material. Design aesthetics comes to mind…
If saving on raw material was the driving factor, they’d build it using beige plastic.
I half-expected Cook to detach the screen – saying “Now it’s gon”woukd have then made more sense. But the specs of that screen leaves room for nothing else.
Just a few more corners and the base will be both an iPad and MacBook, with the screen a peripheral. There was s no reason that can’t already be done..other than Apple’ incremental-increase tech and maintained revenue flow.
A single port to rule them all. Let the whining begin:
three . . . two . . . one!
Yes, like we are supposed to believe that LESS ports is MORE convenient??? BS!
Yes, fewer ports are more convenient because the Mac Book is thinner and lighter with no ports. That IS more convenient. And since I can’t remember the last time I used the usb port on my MacBook Air, the extra thickness for ports will not be missed.
Btw, you should use “fewer” ports, not “less”.
Remember when people whined that floppy drives were not in laptops? Or cd drives? Good times, good times.
A plus vote to “fewer” vs “less” 😀
(Sorry folks – I am a writer – 50CentFlash.com)
I’d assume he was referencing the phrase “Less is more” in his own words
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/226400.html
“Less is more
Meaning
The notion that simplicity and clarity lead to good design.
Origin
This is a 19th century proverbial phrase. It is first found in print in Andrea del Sarto, 1855, a poem by Robert Browning:
Who strive – you don’t know how the others strive
To paint a little thing like that you smeared
Carelessly passing with your robes afloat,-
Yet do much less, so much less, Someone says,
(I know his name, no matter) – so much less!
Well, less is more, Lucrezia.
less is moreThe phrase is often associated with the architect and furniture designer Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (1886-1969), one of the founders of modern architecture and a proponent of simplicity of style.”
LOVE the gold Mac. Love the new keyboard as well.
1 connection that requires me to carry around adapters for everything….. not so much.
I DO use the USB ports (yes more than one) all the time on my MBP, and yes I use the Superdrive also.
So carry around an external Superdrive… and external hardware so a simple USB slot. (I have not looked yet, probably gives you 1 USB port.. so now carry a hub if you need more than 1 USB port..) Or require EVERYONE to use ecosystem and require everyone to have every aspect of their business online.
I deal with backups that are done to a USB thumb drive, which they DO NOT upload them anywhere online for a multitude of reasons. one of which is zero internet connectivity in some offices. (by design, Government restrictions require these PC’s to have ZERO outside connection for security, you can’t even have a WiFi device inside, phones can’t go inside either)
Still love the new Mac, but carrying around all the needed accessories kinda defeats the thinness of it for me.
… And let the brilliance blind them… 😀
I think the “There is more to come” and “this is just the beginning” comments at the start of the AppleTV announcement and at the recap are the biggest news.
My personal opinion is that we will see TV on a channel by channel option, or at least in small packages, like HBO, Discovery package, History, Sports, Home, etc. I would love to lower my cable bill to $50 and only get the things I want, vs the $100-$150 per month “shove it all on my screen and good luck” method now.
^^^THIS^^^
What’s so brilliant about paying mega bucks to get an exclusive that only lasts 3 months?’
I think Apple’s hope are for as many people to cut their cable. That way Apple can begin to negotiate content from the big boys. TV is 100% content, the rest is just fluff.
Here’s a crazy theory for Apple TV…
Watch the video about the new MacBook, and how small they managed to make the new logic board. Apple could probably make the next Mac mini the footprint of an Apple TV (maybe a bit thicker), using the same Intel M processor. The “Mac TV”; it can still be called Mac mini.
To work as a Apple TV, it just runs the Apple TV app. Like old versions of Mac OS X that have the Front Row app. With an included remote control, it looks and feels like using the current Apple TV box. As a Mac, it runs standard OS X apps, including games. So, this would be the “Apple TV with apps” that a lot of people want, without the need to create a whole new category (and “ecosystem”) of apps. It’s a Mac that is optimized to be a “media center.” The existing Apple TV box, now at a reduced price, continues to exist for customer who just want the media player.
This move “down” in size, pure performance, and configurability may open a spot in the Mac lineup for a new stand-alone Mac that is closer to iMac in specs, without a built-in display. The recent revision of Mac mini even points in this direction.
I think that’s right on for form & function,
–Mac TV probably not. Apple TV Plus more likely. Hard to differentiate ‘Apple’ vs ‘Mac’ in the market though it makes sense to the insiders.
–And, a TV with screen…Apple TV …
I dunno, “Box” might need to be appended to “Apple TV.”
Apple TV Box
Apple TV Box plus
Apple TV (may simply be a large monitor–Apple Panel or Widescreen, Box sold separately or as a package)
If Apple doesn’t do a widescreen, then we have Apple TV and Apple TV plus.
Too bad they couldn’t announce the Sling subscription service for AppleTV.
At least they dropped the price on appletv so it won’t sting so much when they upgrade it with broadwell chips later in the Fall. It will hold you over until then.
As near as I can tell, Apple uses crippled A-series processors to run that low-tech hockey-puck. That thing won’t require any Broadwell processors. AppleTV is a least common denominator device. Don’t look for anything much more powerful and don’t expect a game console. What we all really desire is the content we only want to see and even the current AppleTV could do that much.
Mdn and all.
Dont forget Tim cooks words .. Which he repeated twice during the presentation when issue of apple tv came up !
” … ……. And This is Just the Beginning ”
He mentioned it twice not as a by the way thing but in a very deliberate manner!
That was planned and intended to deliver a message!
Something big is on the horizon !
I’m still waiting for an Apple TV/media center service that is tailored to my hobbies and interests. I want to get daily on-demand video briefings on AAPL, Apple news, tech news, boating news, information pertaining to a few beaches in my area, local (or any area I specify) real estate/home improvement information, stories about space/science, new science fiction movie releases, live bikini/surfing contests on the beach, news about new sport SUV relesses, etc. etc.
The above should be neatly packaged into my own channel and updated as new content becomes available. It should also recommend other content categories that match my content profile. If it is supported by ads then I would also like to help determine the ads best suited for my current needs such as ads about new sport/compact SUV’s, Eurpoean or Carribean vacation packages, local marina specials, boat shows, eye glass specials, new pizza places in my area, etc.
To each their own. I currently get internet through a cable subscription, its the best option in this area, 50 mb (actual is 46.5 down and 12.1 up). Unfortunately internet only is more expensive than the cable internet bundle. With Internet only, once I started adding in new channels at 15.00 a pop I’d quickly start spending more than cable. I would need a fiber solution at $30.00 a month and then it would start to get affordable. If Apple would add the ability to grab local channels, that would help as well. Six different boxes just to watch TV is silly.
Sounds like a bit of a defensive move in all honesty. The device has fallen behind the opposition if anything this past 8 months or so perhaps without Apple expecting it with their concentration elsewhere and/or thinking competitors would be equally reluctant to push new devices in the existing market place and for that or other reasons no new direction or new device to launch anytime soon. So what better alternative than a deal like this along with a price cut to try to bolster sales while they pull their finger out on whatever they plan next. Sounds similar to the Mac Pro in that regard, one can only hope the result is equally dramatic.
As long as they don’t screw up the Mac Book Pro this same way, I salute their brilliance.
OK my iMac has a ton of ports and cords and all kinds of places you can put stuff in, like a CD or a little thumb drive or even a sd card …. Yep I can stick a lot of things into my iMac …..
My iPhone or iPad i have just two spots … Kne for power which can take things like an sd card adaptor or whatever else adapts to that spot and of course headphones ….
To be honest I hardly use any of my ports in any of my electronics, why, I use wifi or airdrop and find no reason to be sticking things into my electronics …..
If they charged by themselves, I wouldn’t have to hook them up at all …. I do that via wifi or airdrop or email or text or post on line!
This article elaborates on my tweets of you are going in with novel new technology. Do not do it in a frivolous way. Show how “queer” changes add up to a much better life at a lower cost and higher convenience and efficiency. Once the proof of concept and networking protocol and human interface are established by powerful medical tools for an apple watch then everything else with follow after in a flood. Eventually apple is going to need to make strategic partnerships as Apple will only want to make high leverage lifestyle center pieces and leave Peripherals like Nest and Honeywell’s other smart gadget capable home “peripherals” to companies to have those opportunities. Now while I am getting ahead of myself I think apple will need to have partners in apparel to. They must know this because they have poached some of fashion’s smarter design minds that also have contacts in the industry so they will know who, where and how to step into this arena.
When Apple introduced the iMac with only USB ports everyone thought the world was coming to an end and nobody would be able to live without a serial bus and parallel port and the beloved SCSI port. I am pleased to announce that it did not cause the breakdown of civilization.
The lightning port replaced the 31 pin on the iPhone and only several hundred people hurled their bodies off tall bridges due to the undue hardship of changing to a smaller port. (jk)
The Thunderbolt port didn’t catch fire as anticipated, but at least Apple is trying. This is innovation. Trying things, not everything pans out perfectly. If it wasn’t for Apple we would be charging Nokia soapbar phones with Serial ports.