Remember when people got excited about an Apple announcement?
 

Remember those days? We're now hours after their big announcement, and nobody has posted about it here. To me (as someone who has been called an Apple hater, yet owns a crapload of Apple gear), the announcement was "meh". More of the same. Yes, thinner, faster and coolerer, but nothing that made me go "whoa". Steve Jobs often had "one more thing" that took people by surprise, and even made it past all the leak sites. But now most of what gets announced has already been leaked, or rumored on for months. Sites like Gizmodo who don't even have access to Apple events manage to nail most of the announcements before they even take place.

When was the last time Apple rolled out something that took the world by surprise?

They can't. Too many leaks out of china.

Check the OMNI thread.

A whole two posts. :D

They could... If they would update that damn Aperture!
Hardware wise you are right though, but I dont really care about that.
Although I had one moment where I had to laught, when i read that the new MacPro will cost 2999.- and this doesn't include a mouse or a keyboard... Was that the same with the old one? :rolleyes:

I will say the Mac Pro is a beautiful piece of computery. A $400 home-built rig has more than enough computing power for my needs, so I won't ever have a need for a $3000 one. I wonder how much a decked-out config will cost.

I think Apple totally shot themselves in the foot with giving both the iPad mini and iPad Air the exact same resolution. I guess they've figured out that enough people are willing to spend an extra $100 for an extra 2" of display to justify another production line. Google, B&N, and Amazon all have differentiated their models with even more resolution on the bigger one.

The urge to keep my two HP TouchPads continues to dwindle. Either a Kindle Fire HD or Sero 7 HD Pro for the kids to share, and a Nexus 7 for Mrs. Swede and I to share.

Yeah I was hoping to be able to configure a MacPro, just to see the price ;)

I don't think it is a bad idea to give them the same resolution. Now, if I would want to buy a iPad, I just have to decide on which screen size is the best... Less technical difference (apart from the pixel density, but my guess is, you cant really see the difference...), makes the decision easier, if you specifically want to buy a iPad.

On a side note, if anyone is upgrading a Macbook to Mavericks and has a additional screen connected to it, either close the display of the mac (have not tried that, but it might work), or just disconnect the additional display... My MBA from 2012 just showed some cricked lines when I tried to install it with a additional screen connected. After disconnecting the screen, it worked...:D

Honestly, aside from the always entertaining (or not) apple-android-PC flamewars, the problem is that the industry has kinda plateaued, where the newest developments are more enhancements than true innovations. Ok, so the whole touchscreen phone and tablet thing had been done in the past in various forms, so the iPad and iPhone weren't truly new, but they were the first ones to have real broad appeal thanks to apple's shrewd marketing.

Now, it's just enhancements to the iPod Nano 9th generation, or iPhone 5s, or iPad Air (aka 5th generation).

Very true. I wonder what kind of truly innovative technologies coming soon will make people go "wow"? (And won't be leaked months in advance.)

The only thing off the top of my head right now would be a 7" tablet with a screen that can fold into a more manageable phone form-factor.

Yeah, its amazing that they sold 170 million iPads all because of shrewd marketing.

The new 15" MacBook Pro looks pretty damn great. 1TB SSD, Iris Pro graphics, Thunderbolt 2.0, faster SSD. I don't really care if it's "exciting" or not. My four year old Macbook Pro has been the most reliable computer I've ever owned. And those improved specs matter to me; it's a powerful tool and I'm happy to drop $4k (tax, Applecare, etc.) for it.

Scott - I'm interested to hear your reaction to the Nokia announcements from Abu Dhabi (especially the 2520 tablet and the 1520 "phablet"):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eg8wBfAdPo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLhT56YjOto

Impressive. Smart to enter the large screen market with a budget phone. The RT part of their tablet is a gamble, but Microsoft needs someone to show faith in it. And, they are the first with an LTE enabled WinRT tablet - something I'm sure the surface team doesn't like :D

Google - did Google Glass. Sure, not mainstream stuff, but smart to show what the future will bring. Also brought a $35 dongle to the masses to do online video. Apple has been treating their living room box as a hobby for the past 6 years.

Samsung - Galaxy Gear. Again, first gen stuff, but it used to be Apple who did first gen, and others followed. Apple had no problems launching something that clearly wasn't as good as it could be (original iPhone).

Motorola - smart features like an always on processor that listens for commands, NFC unlocking.

HTC - front facing speakers, ultra pixel camera

LG - active image stabilization in their camera chips

Nokia - pioneers in wireless charging, excellent sensor tech

Asus - sub $200 tablets with excellent specs.

Some are more successful than others, but all these companies are showing how innovation works.

"Thin" is not innovation. It shows some eye for detail, but hardly shows millions of R&D making its way into a new device. The new iPads don't even have the touch sensor of the iPhone, so as usual, they took one thing they really mastered, and held it back for the NEXT newest magicaler device.

Other things are just plain old - MIMO wireless was in the Kindle a year ago, and the "retina display" is also another generation old - I have a phone with almost the same resolution as their tablets. Others moved on to even higher resolutions.

Agree 100% - amazing machine. But at that price, it'll capture a very, very small market. For their shareholders to stay happy, they need to appeal more to the mass market.

If apple has a phablet I would buy it.

Some better questions: @:-)

When was the last time Microsoft rolled out something that took the world by surprise?

When was the last time that Nokia rolled out something that took the world by surprise?

Many hours after their announcements, no one has started a thread about their latest products. I wonder why. (Not really) :D