WWDC musings
This year's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) seems to be a back-to-its-roots kind of affair. While the new Cinema Displays -- especially that new 30-inch jobber -- made quite an impression, a lot of people outside of the development community were left feeling disappointed by yesterday's announcements. More precisely, they were disappointed by yesterday's lack of announcements. Some were expecting a new iMac to be unveiled. Others expected a new PowerBook G5 to make its debut, even though Apple has said quite clearly that it won't happen before the end of the year. For some reason, Tiger and its 150 improvements left them wanting more than just a mere operating system upgrade. I guess I can understand, given that previous WWDCs have seen Apple unveil the original iMac, the Power Mac G5, and other wonders.
They forget, however, that WWDC is for *developers*, so it's only fitting -- outside of the token monitor announcement -- that the announcements were focused on developing software for the Macintosh, instead of using Macintosh hardware and software.
I think a lot of people expected that, with Apple's avoidance of Macworld Expo Boston this year it would use WWDC to roll out snazzy new consumer-oriented products. But Apple's got a lot of trade shows on its calendar this year -- including Apple Expo Paris, which is coming up at the end of August.
Comments
Don't forget that Apple (in the past 18 months or so) has moved away from doing big announcements solely at expos too.
Posted by: Rura | June 29, 2004 04:37 PM
I've also pointed out on some forums that it's a little early to be making Tiger purchase decisions when it's several months from release and we've been shown just a few features.
Posted by: Alphax | June 29, 2004 07:11 PM