With the release of the new laptops this Tuesday by Apple, I have been thinking about the rest of Apple's product line, and how so far, the design trend is actually following the example set about by the MacBook Air. Although Apple didn't announce it at the time, the MacBook Air serves as a template for all other products announced since January of '08 with a unibody design, and black bordered glass. The iPhone 3G follows this design almost to a tee, as does the new black-backed iMac and the new laptops. I would expect the new Apple Cinema Displays and the Mac Pro to also follow the trend.

Yesterday, Apple introduced a new pair of $79 In-Ear Headphones, which boast some pretty awesome features, such as woofer and tweeter in the earphones, resulting in a better bass, silicone ear tips for a more comfortable fit, and most importantly, a mic and volume control switch. My first reaction to this announcement was one of excitement, as the volume control was something lacking on the standard iPhone headphones, and would have been a much appreciated feature. It was if iPhone owners finally had a good alternative to the $29 headphones that come packaged with the iPhone. However, this elation was short-lived as I discovered that these seemingly perfect iPhone headphones don't work with the iPhone, only the 2nd Gen iPod touch, 4th gen iPod nano and the new 120GB iPod Classic!

W-T-F Apple?!? I mean seriously -- is there a reason why the iPhones can't use this accessory? Is it simply that these devices don't have through-the-wire-controls of volume? With the iPhone3G just being released a month and a half ago, you would think that they would have planned for this accessory in mind, but the lack of compatibility suggests that the technical specs of the iPhone 3G were not passed to other groups within Apple.

Yesterday, I was at the Hillsdale Mall in San Mateo, and saw this black under construction storefront:



Obviously, it's for a new Apple Store, and from the size of the storefront, it appears it should be a pretty big one. When I was working in Redwood City, I would have really appreciated this location, as it would have made it closer than the Burlingame or either of the Palo Alto locations. (Burlingame has an annoying parking situation near the Apple Store, which made it impossible to utilize their Genius Bar, as it made for running out to feed the meter or move the car every so often.) I think at this point, nearly every mall on the Peninsula has an Apple Store -- the notable exceptions are Sunnyvale's somewhat deserted Town Center, and the newly remodeled Cupertino Square (Formerly Vallco). However, given that Apple Stores per quarter bring in on average $8.5 million in revenue per store, it makes sense that they would want to select locations with sufficient traffic; Vallco, even after the remodeling has a hard time attracting businesses.

Simplify Media is free for a limited time as a download from Apple's App Store. This application (which will be $3.99 after 100,000 downloads) allows your computer to stream your iTunes library remotely to your iPhone or iPod touch; this works over WiFi as well as EDGE and 3G; DRM'd iTunes purchases can't be played, but everything else can be. Potenitally, this app may be a controversial one, as it allows users to share their libraries with other people; however, the library is shared via a list of users to be allowed on, so I don't see too much of a problem; the program allows for sharing for up to 30 people, but I'm guessing that performance will suffer before that limit is reached.

A few years ago, I added Pioneer's first-generation iPod adapter to my car's stereo system. One of my original gripes about the iPod adapter was that the iPod cable was hardwired to the iPod adapter box. This is good for a couple of reasons, as it does ensure that that cable won't come loose during or after installation, but it's also a pain the butt if Apple decides to change the iPod cable to something different. The iPhone was just on the cusp of that; for instance, data sync via my iPod's Firewire cable doesn't work, only charging. The new iPhone 3G apparently takes it one step further by disabling the 12V charging through Firewire, which is how most car audio manufacturers chose to power the iPod (this is because the car's electrical system is 12V already, so there's no need to convert it down to 5V for USB).

When I hooked my iPhone into my car today, it popped up a screen I hadn't seen before, which said that the device (Pioneer iPod adapter) was not designed with the iPhone in mind. This is expected, so while I can't access all the iPhone's capabilities through the Pioneer headunit (nor would I expect it to) it does seem to function fine as if it was just a normal iPod. My Pioneer iPod adapter also still charges my first-generation iPhone, which is something it won't do for the new iPhone 3G.

Keeping in mind that the iPhone 3G needs more power than the iPhone, compatibility with chargers seems like it should have been one of those things that Apple would have paid more attention to. Of course, perhaps this was all a clever ploy on Apple's part to be able to drive manufacturers to pay for the "Made for iPhone" logo.

Apple has released version 2.0.1 of their iPhone / iPod Touch software. Apple has simply stated that the update fixes some features and some bugs.

Apple hasn't posted what exactly the changes on this new version entails, but some users have discovered the following changes after installing the update:

• You can now drag an app icon across multiple pages in one motion, rather than having to drag it, drop it, pick it up again and drag it over to next page, and repeat.
  
• Contacts are now more responsive.
  
• After installing 2.0.1, each successive backup is much faster.
  
• Apple may have changed the calibration of the iPhone's reception "bars" while connected to a 3G network to reflect a stronger signal than before.
  
• Keypad loads quicker.
  
• Screen rotation in Safari appears to be smoother.
  
• Some apps may ask to be updated after the firmware upgrade.
  

When Amazon starts handing out $25 - $200 rebates on Macs, one starts to suspect that some new Macs may be out soon. Traditionally, new Macs arrive in early September, just past the end of Apple's "Back-to-School" promotions (in which students can get an $299
iPod Touch 8GB for free). Interestingly enough, Amazon is offering a 5-8% discount on all the iPods as well, which haven't had a model refresh in some time.

The news this morning in the tech world seems to be that Apple has managed to negotiate the same date of release on iTunes as DVD retail release; new titles are 14.99, and older catalog titles are 9.99. Part of the reason this is such a major victory for Apple is that when this was done on the music side, there was a noticeable increase in iTunes sales, and a decline in retail sales of albums. For music, I can understand the appeal; consumers were buying music, ripping it into MP3, and then copying it onto their music player; iTunes managed to save them the work and know-how of putting their music CD into a format their music player could use. For movies, it isn't quite as simple; iTunes Movies aren't a format TiVo or other DVRs understand, and putting a movie onto an iPod takes up a substantial amount of space.

One of the small victories that Apple has won by doing this, of course, is making it easier for consumers to get the latest releases. Apple's rentals business is certainly interesting; most consumers want to pay to own their media, not rent it, and it is especially true for movies, but until Apple can get the AppleTV capturing the living room market, the way the iPod has captured consumers on the go, I just don't see downloadable video replacing DVD sales anytime soon; it may be for this reason that movie studios have gone ahead with this agreement; previously, DVD sales had a 30-45 day head start on iTunes, in order to preserve the revenue stream of DVD sales. I never saw this as much of a problem, as those who download and those who purchase DVDs are two entirely different audiences; the customers who purchase a DVD are different from those customers seeking to download a movie to watch on their computer. Until Apple can get iTunes onto the living room television, iTunes isn't really competition for DVD sales.

In this ad for Numb3rs, they parody the Apple Mac ads pretty cleverly:

It occurs to me that I've been a bad journalist today, and I haven't really explained just why Apple's iPhone SDK is such a big deal; I certainly didn't go as nuts about the Android SDK and spend the entire day writing about it, but it's because the iPhone SDK changes things in a big way when it comes to mobile.

First of all, the iTunes App Store. It functions the same as iTunes, making software downloading and installation a snap. Have you ever tried to install a program on your cellphone? On my previous phones, it was near impossible. Things have gotten better with the inclusion of mini-USB ports so that cellphones can be hooked up to computers, but the process isn't an easy one. For the average consumer, or even a more tech-savvy one, mobile program installation is hard. A couple touches at the App Store, and it's done.

For the developer, things are also complicated -- there are multiple approaches to distributing their software. The first and most profitable means is to get their program bundled with the handset. Developers could also negotiate with the cellphone carrier to have their program on the carrier's website to download. Another method would entail setting up a website from which they can take payments and then send the program to the customer's cellphone. Of course, before any of this can happen, the program must be written and compiled for the proper handset. Apple's App Store simplifies this process greatly -- no need to worry about compatibility, because there's only one iPhone -- installation of the program is a snap for users, Apple sets up the website, so the program is on a central location, Apple splits the revenue with the developer if there's money involved, freeware doesn't cost anything. Most developers are going to be happy with the 70/30 split -- the distribution of software alone is going to be worth it.

The new App Store simplifies it both on the consumer end, and the developer end.

Although the business applications of the iPhone were certainly not nearly as glamorous as their gaming cousins, Enterprise software is a big segment of the smartphone market, and Apple is very smart to embrace their needs as well. One of the things that Apple is going to do for the Enterprise is to set up a App mini-Store just for that business, and that's certainly going to change how things get done.

For instance, an e-mail can just be sent notifying the employees to update their iPhones with the latest version of whatever proprietary iPhone app they're running, and with a couple of touches, they're finished.

Today, Fake Steve Jobs wrote:

"Yeah, we rocked your friggin world, right? I mean 29 June 2007 might be the day the world changed, but today it just changed again. BlackBerry is dead. Microsoft is dead. Windows Mobile is dead. Amazon is dead. Kindle is dead. Nokia is dead. Motorola was already dead but now they are even more dead. Google's Android is dead. Samsung is dead. LG is dead. Sony is dead. UTStarcom is dead. We've thrown $100 million into an iFund so people can build iApps to sell on iTunes and give us 30% of their iMoney. The coming onslaught of new applications will make iPhone the only smart phone that anyone in the entire world will ever want to use."