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The WAVE Report on Digital Media
3D --- Media Creation --- Shared Space ---Published by 4th Wave, Inc.--- Issue #0906------------------7/3/09 |
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0906.1 Keynote Themes
0906.2 Assessment
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0906 Apple WWDC 2009
By John Latta
San Francisco, CA
June 8-12, 2009
The street was loaded with HD video and satellite broadcasting vans. Podcasters and bloggers were everywhere. The keynote had saturation coverage - so what is new? The Wave Report found a number of interesting developments and trends.
There are 5200 attendees from 54 countries at WWDC 2009. 60% have never been to a WWDC before. This is not like older Mac events populated with “…we will change the world” themes but this is the place where the action in computing and mobility is. This is one of the few opportunity venues in these lean times. At the same time, in spite of the fact that many are carrying around Apple computers and using Apple software, the discussions center on the iPhone. It has spawned opportunities and the sucking sound it creates is evident in Moscone Center in San Francisco.
0906.1 Keynote Themes
The central thrust of the keynote focused on three areas: new OS’s (Snow Leopard and iPhone OS 3.0), new and lower priced iPhones and a refresh of the MacBook notebook line.
Apple remains the underdog in competition with Microsoft and its ads use humor to lampoon the competition, including those shown at WWDC 2009. But Apple used a graph to show rapid growth in the last two years in the number of active users of OS X – now at 75m - distorted by the number of iPhones and iPod touch units sold.
A refresh was announced of the MacBook Pro line which includes the following:
Three standard 15" MacBook Pro configurations are offered:
- $1699. 2.53 GHz, 4 GB RAM. NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, 250GB HD. Firewire.
- $1999. 2.66 GHz, 4 GB RAM. NVIDIA GeForce GT. 320GB HD. Firewire.
- $2299. 2.8 GHz, 4 GB RAM. NVIDIA GeForce GT . 500 GB HD. Firewire.
Additional options include:
- Up to 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo
- Up to 8 GB RAM
- Up to 500 GB HDD or 256 GB SSD
The 17" MacBook Pro was updated with a dropped the entry-level price to $2499 from $2799.
This entry-level 17" MacBook Pro offers 2.8 GHz processor and a 500 GB hard drive. The new 17" model also retains the
ExpressCard slot and begins shipping today.
Apple updated the 13" aluminum MacBook, rebranding the model as part of its MacBook Pro line. The new model
includes a non-user-replaceable battery found in the 17" MacBook Pro and adds a FireWire 800 port and an SD card
slot. Pricing begins at $1199, a $100 drop over the previous entry-level price point, and all models include
backlit keyboard.
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro is an upgrade at a lower price than the original aluminum MacBook it replaces. All 13-inch
MacBook Pro models now include a seven hour built-in battery, an SD card slot, a FireWire 800 port, an
illuminated keyboard and an improved LED-backlit display with 60 percent greater color gamut.
The iPhone OS 3.0 is a significant upgrade and has been covered extensively in the press. Here are some additional details:
85% of the code base is common between Snow Leopard and iPhone OS 3.0;
In App transactions will enable a whole new range of commercial transactions for developers and Apple and
This will be free for iPhone owners on June 17.
Also announced was a new version of the iPhone 3G S, for speed. From a consumer perspective one of the most interesting improvements is in the camera.
The iPhone camera is now at 3mp with auto focus, auto white balance and support of video. Equally as important there is
video editing on the iPhone. This is seen as is a significant expansion of the platform into media.
AT&T was noticeable in its absence at the keynote. It came in for harsh audience response when support for MMS, HSDPA and tethering was announced. AT&T was noticeably absent from the logo charts. The audience caught this instantly. Users have been looking for MMS support since the iPhone was launched and tethering has been widely expected. AT&T, is a less than adequate network provider, and with the new 3G S phone it looks even less so.
But the criticism of AT&T only intensified when its upgrade offering for existing iPhone users was found out.
AT&T will offer the new iPhone 3G S when it debuts later this month at a cost of $199 and $299 for the 16GB and 32GB
models, respectively, to new customers and those who qualify for the discounted price.
AT&T subscribers with an iPhone 3G who are not eligible for an upgrade -- those not near the end of their two-year
contracts -- can still upgrade to an iPhone 3G S, but must pay $200 more -- $399 for the 16GB model and $499 for the
32GB model.
Without a contract commitment or upgrade discount, the iPhone 3G S costs $599 for the 16GB model and $699 for the
32GB model.
Thus, most of the existing iPhone users will have to pay $200 more than a new customer. This has already created a backlash.
0906.2 Assessment
The Wave Report spoke with a number of developers.
There is very little interest in developing for other smart phone platforms. One, a former Palm developer, railed at
the lack of an SDK and Palm’s restrictions. iPhone app development, including the tools, and Apple’s developer
procedures has established a strong following which the other platforms have not been able to come close to. There
has been 1m downloads of the free Apple SDK for the iPhone and this was not surprising to the developers.
With 50,000 applications some are raising the iPhone to a new level of utility. One which came in for continual
interest and praise was Airstrip. They showed a critical patient monitoring application. Using the push technology
in 3.0 the phone allows for Doctors to get real time feeds of patient vital indicators.
The barriers to entry to create an application and bring it to market are low. This enables many to participate in the
ecosystem which Apple has created. There is a snowball effect which has the impact of raising the barriers to
entry for other smartphones.
The pricing of the Snow Leopard upgrade at $29 was seen as a smart move which reinforces buyer loyalty. The family
pack costs only $49.
The MacBook Pro refinements seemed ho hum when compared to the expanse of PC notebook offerings including netbooks and the rapid growth of portable computers below $1,000 and an increasing number under $500. But this misses the point. What Apple has done is to focus on the total user experience. Having control of the hardware and software platforms makes it possible to execute on the user experience on the relatively few computers it offers. The audience response was indicative of this as Apple pointed out the refinements to the I/O ports on these new machines. When was the last time an audience cheered with the announcement of a Firewire port on a notebook?
Apple is also effectively reducing the entry prices of the notebooks. But it does not have to go to $500 to be competitive. Buyers are clearly willing to not pay rock bottom for the user experience it offers.
The integration of hardware and software was reflected in Snow Leopard. We came away impressed with the thought around the support for multi-core, in Grand Central Dispatch, and the potential for OpenCL, which supports the GPUs to enable them to be used as computational engines.
In context, the keynote delivered a message of iterative refinement on both the iPhone, hardware and software, and the same on the Mac notebooks. This may not be very compelling as many are looking for the next blockbuster from Apple. What needs to be understood is that:
Apple has changed the cell phone business and its actions are raising the barriers to any competitor seeking market
share. It is striking how well Apple has been able to execute in a market where it had little prior experience.
Apple is building a new ecosystem around its apps on the iPhone. This will be the long term asset which Apple will
leverage in other platforms and markets.
By using a common code base in Snow Leopard and the iPhone OS, Apple has a huge competitive advantage as it seeks to
extend its user experience delivery to other platforms.
Slowly Apple is encroaching into the core PC business. It uses humor effectively to exploit weaknesses but more
important it delivers on the user experience. This is not just words and buyers are showing they are willing to pay
for the value of a computer which works well and meets needs.
Apple is focusing on expanding market share in both the smartphone and notebook business.
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