w0rd.ca

[Note: This was originally published on jeffhiggins.ca on September 24, 2008.]

Yet another Apple event has come and passed, and along with it, yet another wave of disappointment from the blogosphere and Wall Street. The “Let’s Rock” invitation, which was uncharacteristically basic, seemed like an attempt to set expectations of an event more limited in scope than usual. The strangest thing about Tuesday’s event was that we had a pretty good idea about what we were getting before going in. Kevin Rose’s predictions nailed it. And you would think that after two months of certified fail (3G launch, MobileMe, major iPhone problems), people would be willing to take it easy on Apple and give them a chance to polish things up. But no. Give us a new game-changing gadget with each announcement or give us Steve’s head. But maybe there was a game-changer announced on Tuesday, or at least the first baby step towards it. As is typical with Apple’s announcements, there’s more here than meets the eye.

1: Steve admitted failure.

2: No huge price drops on iPods, as some predicted based on Apple’s mysterious “product transition”.

And finally:

3: Why the hell did Apple add a microphone to the iPod Touch?

Let’s begin.

An Apple Apology

“2.1 software update is a big update. It fixes a lot of bugs. Uh, you’ll get fewer call drops, uh, you will get significantly better battery life for most customers, uh, we have fixed a lot of bugs when you have a lot of apps on the phone, you’re not going to get some of the crashes and things that you see. Backing up to iTunes is dramatically faster, and so just a lot of bug fixes. [Applause and woots.] And there’s some great new performance enhancements as well.”

This a tantamount to an apology coming from Apple. Send Dear Leader out on stage, in front of the world, and admit to a laundry list of problems with their flagship product? Apology accepted, Steve. It was good to hear you acknowledge all of the problems that have plagued the iPhone 3G since it’s launch. And 2.1 seems to be doing what you promised. One step backward, one step forward.

Same Old Song

The iPod line got its usual fashionable fall update, with virtually no surprises. Many expected some steep price drops on the entire iPod line, but that didn’t happen. My guess? New MacBooks, and maybe a complete refresh of the Mac line (minus the iMacs, perhaps), priced to actually be competitive with the rest of the industry. $700 PC laptops with 3GB RAM and 250GB hard drives can be had at Future Shop, but the cheapest MacBook, with 1GB RAM and a 120GB hard drive is $1149! The reality distortion field can’t be that strong, can it? The Mac line is ready for a large update and a new, true entry-level MacBook.

The iPhone Killer

During this event the iPod Touch got its first refresh since its launch. The original Touch was a bit lackluster when compared to its bigger brother, the iPhone. Many features were removed, to presumably differentiate the Touch, as well as lower its cost (an iPhone would have run you $600 at the time of the original Touch launch). Now it’s a year later, and it’s time the Touch started to come into its own.

Three features were added to the iPod Touch last week that are baby steps toward fulfilling its ultimate destiny – to become the iPhone killer.

Those features? Hardware volume buttons (yes, the original Touch was missing volume buttons), an internal speaker, and support for a new headphone accessory that features a microphone (which mysteriously and inexplicably don’t work with any model of iPhone) for taking voice notes.

Note to Self

Wait a minute, voice notes? Who takes voice notes? Do you know anyone that owns a voice recorder? Or uses similar functionality on another device? I doubt it. You look like a fool when you take them, and the notes are next to useless after recording (unless you’re using a service like Jott) since the only meta data available is usually a date stamp. Note to self: voice notes are a cliché from the 80s. And the 90s. Back from before the world was blessed with the iPhone. Why would Apple add this old tech as a highly visible new feature to this year’s iPods?

The answer is that the latest Touch is a baby step toward Apple’s noble goal of killing off the cell phone industry as we know it.

Simple Math

iPod Touch + a microphone + an internal speaker (every phone needs a ringer) + VOIP software (outgoing-calls-only apps are already available from the App Store) = the future of the mobile telephony.

If Apple could have built and sold the iPhone without a wireless carrier, they would have. The reasons for this are obvious. But this wasn’t possible in 2007, and it’s still not possible today.

But in 2009? 2010? Maybe. And Apple wants to be ready for when this day arrives. How do you do that without alienating your current wireless partners?

Baby Steps

AT&T would have taken notice if Apple built a microphone directly into the iPod Touch. Then they would have thrown a tantrum, because they know what that means. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were clauses in their contract forbidding Apple from doing such a thing. Maybe Apple is exploiting a loophole by putting the mic into an accessory. Who knows.

So make it an accessory now, see how the market reacts, then merge it in with the hardware when the time is right.

A Better Tomorrow

Wouldn’t the world be a better place without wireless carriers, or at least one where they’ve evolved into simple wireless ISPs? Give me an account, let me bring my own device, and bill me by the gigabyte. Phone calls and text messages and Internet access are all the exact same thing – bits going through a tube – and people shouldn’t be paying as if they were all specialized services.

It’ll take a while to get there, but that’s a better future I can believe in.

Tell me if I’m right on the money, or totally full of shit in the comments.