Apple computer?

Last months Macworld Expo was conspicuously missing one thing: Macs. Coming off the first quarter where Apple's consumer electronics were more profitable than the Mac was a near no show at its signature event. The keynote was dedicated to two halo-type consumer devices: the AppleTV and the iPhone. No demonstration and barely even a mention of Leopard to steal Vista's thunder. In an ironic twist, Vista has now been released and we're wondering where Apple's next operating system is at. We haven't seen it since WWDC almost six months back. Likewise, the quad core Xeons that Intel released in November are MIA. Hell, they even dropped computer from their name. While Apple has shown a strong commitment to iPod and it's offshoots, the Mac is seemingly neglected.

The AppleTV for those who don't know is Apple's version of a media center extender, a device that takes the computer's media center interface and extends it to the television using wired or wireless networking. In Apple's case we're talking about Front Row. Apple even managed to add a couple features over the windows side such as 802.11n draft wireless networking and a hard drive. It isn't without it's drawbacks though. First, unlike the afore mentioned windows versions AppleTV lacks PVR capability because the Mac lacks a first party PVR capability. If you're staying Mac, you're VCR or TIVO isn't going anywhere. Second, it requires you a have a widescreen HDTV. Not everybody has quite gotten around to the $700 minimum investment to replace their old CRT televisions yet. Third, it's limited to a 720P resolution. Lastly, it's more or less limited to the same kind of files iTunes plays. If you have windows media files or some other file format that you would like to play on your big screen, it looks like
you're out of luck.

Also introduced was the iPhone. Think of it as a smartphone mixed with elements of OSX and whatever Barry, Sammy, and Big Mac have stashed away in their lockers. It may have to be renamed though as Apple through either arrogance or stupidity forgot to get the legal right to use the name. That's right, Apple does not hold the rights to the iPhone name, Cisco systems does. Whatever it's permanently called, it's a very cool device... if you're willing to pay the king's ransom and 2-year contract it takes to get it. The only thing hotter than the iPhone will be the inevitable introduction of new 30 and 80 gig video iPods using its form factor and technology.

While these are both neat little items, I'm waiting on something a little more usable to such as iLife '07 with EyeTV (make that iTV) 2.0 and the announcement that Apple has purchased Elgato or iWork '07 with consumer level spreadsheet and database apps, a word processing mode for pages, and oh yeah it ships on all new Macs. To be honest I'd just be happy with a proof of life concerning anything Mac related right now.