Apple’s hits and misses for 2007
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Dec 31, 2007 at 5:49am
Overall, 2007 was a great year for Apple, especially money-wise. But let’s not talk about the finances. Let’s look at the hits and misses among its product introductions, at least as seen through my eyes.
First, the hits. Obviously, the iPhone has to be included in this list. It’s been a major success despite a controversial price cut less than two months after it was introduced and the controversial move in making AT&T the exclusive wireless provider in the U.S. I’m not an iPhone user mainly because of AT&T’s crappy service in northern Davidson County (Tennessee) where I live. But the folks I know who have an iPhone love it.
Another hit is the aluminum iMac. The 24-inch version—good for prosumers, heck even some professionals, as well as consumers—is, in fact, my favorite Mac desktop ever. However, as much as I love the glossy screen, the fact that a non-glossy version isn’t offered goes into the “miss” category for Apple.
iWork ‘08, with the addition of the Numbers spreadsheet, continues to improve. Sales are up and it now offers a viable alternative to Microsoft Office for some users.
The revamped iPod line-up is a hit. I love the innovative features of the iPod touch and the great value of the iPod classic, but am less impressed with the 3G iPod nano. However, I’m certainly in the minority on that front.
The updates of Final Cut Studio 2, Logic Studio and Final Cut Express were also welcome. As were laptop updates, though there were no product altering announcements in this area.
On the “miss” list for me is iMovie ‘08. Though I love the other components of iLife ‘08, I find the new version of iMovie (which, to me, is the long-beloved product in name only) to be a downgrade from the previous version.
Also on the miss list is the Apple TV, a product that has yet to find its place. However, I think it has lots of promise and potential—and I think we’ll see that in 2008.
I also have to place the lack of new Cinema Displays and substantial Mac Pro updates in the “miss” category. Heck, Apple, at least put iSights in the former and Bluetooth/AirPort as standard in the latter.
Finally, there’s Mac OS X 10.5 (“Leopard”), which falls into both the “hit” and “miss” lists. I love it and have had absolutely no problems with it. However, I know others who have had serious issues with the latest OS update.
That’s my Apple “hit-miss” list for 2007. What’s on yours
Ken Says:
Overall I think Apple had a killer of a year.
On the “miss” side I believe that Apple is working through Leopard, even as they start working on 10.6 and that we’ll see another update in January - along with another iphone update that ties into Leopard even more than now.
iMovie 08 has been hit on a lot, but I see it as a different approach that will work well with some users. The fact that Apple lets you download a copy of 06 shows that they know more work needs to be done on it, but it’s a good start on a new approach and we’ll just have to wait and see how it turns out.
Apple TV is obviously on hold at Apple, but may advance a bit with movie rentals and other advances. I just don’t see it as a priority for Apple - leaving us to wait to see what their long term plans are.
The winners have all been major winners and I can only see Apple moving forward in all areas - maybe even in displays.
The major advance that I see in 08 is the iPhone/touch platform moving forward a lot - especially after the SDK is released in February. I see iPods shifting to this OS X platform by the end of 08 (or at MWSF 09) and memory expanding a lot. There will, I believe, be a second iPhone form factor, with another touch following it.
On the Mac side I think Apple will move forward with Intel and probably be pushing them a lot.
Overall, an exciting time for Apple and I wish everyone as good a new year as Apple seems heading for!
Posted on December 31, 2007
Steven Anthony Says:
Can you provide a link for all the articles on your site without graphics, adds, or “print this page” options....just one where we can see the article by itself?
Posted on January 01, 2008
Ruhayat Says:
The aluminium iMac and iWork 08 are misses for me. The former due to the many issues that seems to still be plaguing it (and the MacBook). The latter because… why? Why come out with an office suite in this day and age, especially one that’s neither here nor there?
If 2006 was the year of the notebook for Apple, then 2007 must surely be the year of the handheld gadgets. So it’s little wonder that these products are hits (they’d better be, with all the priority being given to them! I mean, pulling people off your core product to complete a weeny gadget! Honestly.).
I’d say Mac users in 2007 were squarely in the “miss” list.
Posted on January 02, 2008
Kevin Says:
Personally owning an AppleTV I really like it, of course I hacked mine early on and made it possible to use a USB drive with it and then programmed my Harmony Remote to work instead of the Apple remote. I used handbrake to move all of my DVDs to the computer and Lostify to make sure they would show up correctly and now from the comfort of my couch I can just choose any of my movies to watch with just a few clicks on the remote. No having to find the movie and then put it in and wait through all the FBI warnings.
As for ArtOfWarfare’s comment about the Magic GarageBand feature, it is pretty weak for most people, but my kids love it. They put movies together with iMovie 06 (iMovie 08 just confuses them) and now can create their own soundtracks with GarageBand, something they would never had tried before. So I think the Magic GarageBand feature is a hit, but just with a certain group of people. But the fact that you don’t have to use it is what makes it even better.
Posted on January 02, 2008
Chris Moore Says:
iMovie 08 is far better for my uses. I know it’s popular to knock it, and it doesn’t have all the flexibility of the old one, but as a dad with not much free time living on a different continent from grandparents who want regular updates on their grandchildren (ie. no special effects required as long as they can see their granddaughters) this one is a home run. Quickly scan through the video to find the interesting bits, put them in order, and burn a DVD. A task that took a day before takes fifteen minutes.
Especially when you add the fact that it imports, properly demuxes/re-encodes, and organizes all my video. The previous version couldn’t read the mpeg-2 video from my camera without a *pay* component for quicktime, after manually copying files from the camera’s built in HD’s strange file structure, and changing the file extension from .MOD to .mpg. Even then, it couldn’t demux the audio and would have no sound, so I had to put together an automator workflow that would do file copying, renaming, and run a re-encoding shell script on each file. It was a pain to figure out in the first place, and not having to do the re-encode saves me lots of my precious time.
Did I mention how nice it is to scan through video to find the parts you want? Yes? Well I better do it again to make sure. Home video is mostly boring, and trying to find the bit in the one file with that interesting part you want to make sure to include has just become a lot easier. It’s also easier to rearrange the clips you added, because they are just put in order, not dragged around on a timeline.
Conclusion: I used to avoid doing home video for my parents of their grandchildren because I dreaded the process of importing/converting/editing and so on. Now I don’t. You want to do semi-professional stuff… buy the semi-pro software. iLife is about empowering home users’ digital lifestyle, and the new iMovie put mine on ‘roids.
Posted on January 02, 2008
Carlos Fonseca Says:
I totally agree with Chris Moore. iMovie is to Final Cut like iPhoto is to Apperture. It’s designed for the home user to make simple and fast home movies. I didn’t edit my movies before iMovie 08. I hope they improve some stuff but it’s very good for my home use.
And ArtOfWarfare, why make movies on Keynote when Apple offers iMovie 06 to download?
Posted on January 02, 2008
Goobimama Says:
iMovie is going to get much better in the next version. This approach to video editing is new and I like it. Still lacks the effects and customizability though.
As for Leopard, it is definitely a hit. And a huge one at that!
iWork 08 has completely replaced MS Office for me. It works really great, and produces some nice looking documents. I really don’t understand what the big fuss of a “Word processor” is all about.
Posted on January 02, 2008
Vince Smith Says:
Hits - the continued innovation, integration and design details on most products - I would single out Leopard.
Misses - the rush to market and the ensuing QA issues both with hardware and software. To have three updates to iTunes in almost as many days is abysmal.
If Apple are to maintain their higher quality, higher design ethos and the accompanying prices then the attention to shipping things that really do just work without needing an update in the first few weeks (eg Leopard) is a must.
Apple must do better in this regard.
Posted on January 02, 2008
Richard Says:
Vince Smith - If Apple are to maintain their higher quality?
You try to sound real smart, yet you obviously have no sense of grammar.
Posted on January 02, 2008
Chuck Says:
Richard Says: “You try to sound real smart, yet you obviously have no sense of grammar.”
Uh, run that sentence by your grammar school english teacher… make sure you run fast!
Hell-o Kettle!
Posted on January 02, 2008
Ruhayat Says:
Not to be anal about it (but I am), “Apple are” is as acceptable as “Apple is”. It just depends which part of the English-speaking world you’re from.
Posted on January 03, 2008
Mattmerk Says:
Grammar! Fun!
Richard Says: “You try to sound real smart, yet you obviously have no sense of grammar.”
Chuck says: Uh, run that sentence by your grammar school english teacher… make sure you run fast!
Matt says: I agree with Chuck.
Ruhayat Says: Not to be anal about it (but I am), “Apple are” is as acceptable as “Apple is”. It just depends which part of the English-speaking world you’re from.
“Apple is” and “Apple are” could be acceptable anywhere English is spoken. “Apple are” is okay because it is implicit. It implies “The people of Apple are...” It is colloquial and English is a living language. It is why dictionaries now accept the sentence “I made a concerted effort.” (I still ask, “With whom wer you in concert when you made this effort?")
Posted on January 07, 2008
Article Information
Comment on this Article Print this Article Email this Article Digg This
Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
ArtOfWarfare Says:
I have to agree that the new iMovie is an obvious miss. That program is absolutely terrible when it comes to transitions and effects. And music. And importing things from old versions of iMovie. Actually, it’s just a terrible program all around. I used to be able to make some semi-professional looking videos without too much effort. Now I can make some crappy video that could only be on YouTube (and look! they offer the ability to put it on YouTube! They know where the crap you make with it should go!)
I now use Keynote to make my movies, it offers better transitions even if it wasn’t intended to make movies. Just drag clips onto your different slides. Drag in some text blocks… add transitions, and you’re done! It’s not quite as flexible as the old iMovie… but it sure is more flexible as the new one! And actually, you can put text wherever you want in Keynote unlike in iMovie.
Keynote is a great hit.
So is the 24” aluminum iMac. It’s so big… and yet at the same time so small… big enough to watch HD videos yet it takes up very little space on my desk.
Numbers is a little weak currently… I’ll say it’s in the gray with Leopard.
Leopard is great and all but my dock is buggy… the icons on it sometimes disappear and I have to restart… I never had that happen in Tiger. I love Spaces though. I now keep things like Handbreak and bit torrents in one space… iTunes in another… and then whatever I’m working with in my main space.
GarageBand’s new “Magic Show” or whatever it is called is really weak…
I like iPhoto’s events things… it is so much easier to find pictures now.
Posted on December 31, 2007