Re: [NTLK] More MacPad Rumors

Ryan,
People didn't want video on the iPod to be an entertainment center replacement, just an on the go mini "entertainment center". I would most certainly watch a movie on that small screen on a long car/train trip or flight (although I don't fly). You may not be able to see me watching a video on an iPod but I still would and so do would a lot of other people. (I would've watched it on my b&w iPod too)
I think some of apples current tech is cool too but I think its way more important for them to build what people want and need then to come up with some fancy whiz bang feature that no one really asked for and pitch it too people. The new iPod shuffle is a perfect example, people wanted a small oel display for track info, instead apple removed all the buttons (making you need special headphones wtf!) and made it talk which no one asked for (or at least no one asked for in compared to the numbers asking for a display) whiz bang for whiz bangs sake I say. All the time spent on making billet alloy laptops or multi touch glass track pads could've been invested in netbooks, apple tv DVR functionality, magsafe plugs that don't fray (hell they never fixed the old ibook/powerbook plugs either!), figureing out how to do a new Newton etc, etc. As I've said before non-replaceable batteries may be great for a year or two but it's not great for the lifetime of the device which in apples case is usually pretty long. Apple
 making laptops so they can't be resold after a couple years without a trip back (to them) for new batteries is the dumbest thing ever. Just to be clear I'm talking about the average computer user not a 'case opening' super user that would just replace the battery themselves, assuming you can buy a replacement battery. My ibook is over 6 years old (and it didn't need a billet alloy case to last this long lol) and I'm working on my third battery now (and third power brick interestingly enough). Making a laptop to last a long time while at the same time making you have to 'check in' for battery replacements every few years is dumb. Most people talk about switching batteries on the road, etc, but that's not my problem as I've never actually had a 2nd battery on hand, where I see the problem is over the lifetime of the device or if you have a random problem battery even in a new device.
In regard to Woz: if you look at the companies he's started, most were doing ok (maybe not successful compared to apple) until he sold them to other people or let others manage them as they got bigger. Woz has always come up with great things but he never wanted to manage companies or be in charge, he wanted to be an engineer. I was dreaming of some alternate reality in which Woz found a way to run apple and stay in engineering lol yes I like to dream the impossible. Of course if Woz took over way back when we'd probably have a new Newton and way more expandablity on all apple devices (assuming he stopped them from bleeding money and they survived). I don't think jobs is that much of a visionary and any leader that came in (back) when he did would've been credited as a genius for the iMac (as it was already in the works before his return and I believe iPod ideas were also being bounced around too before he got back but I might be wrong about the iPod). The most important things jobs did to save apple were s
top the bleeding of money and spin the iMac to the people IMHO. As we've seen with the iPod shuffle its not always about the product, but how you spin it which makes him a pitchman to me. When jobs tried to be a visionary at Next he only ended up failing, but as a pitchman at apple he is wildly successful. All the histories I've heard about him say the same thing to me, other people have the visionary ideas, but he's good at refining them and pitching them to the people. I give jobs credit just not in the same capacity as you.

Joe Reilly
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Received on Tue Jul 14 23:52:07 2009