iPod Shuffle gets color

The iPod Shuffle now comes in orange (a new color for any iPod model) as well as 4 other colors. Here’s a good review by an iLounge.com editor of why the new Shuffles are better than the old, colors notwithstanding. Hint: it’s the earbuds, bud.

If they didn’t lack the bass response of the higher end Nano and iPod Video, I’d have been an owner back in November, when these amazing aluminum Shuffles were introduced.

Vista released… meh

Microsoft’s first new operating system in 5 years was released for retail sale yesterday. Eyes lifted briefly, then went back to television or work. Vista was previewed to death over the last couple years, and released to corporate clients over two months ago.

Many stores that had planned midnight showings were surprised at the lack of devotees queuing up to buy Vista. CompUSA’s premier store on San Francisco’s Market Street only saw a fraction of the 500-plus shoppers its manager had hoped for at the stroke of twelve. And in an unintentionally hilarious piece of irony, many of those who came to shop — including those at the head of the line — were there only for discounts on gadgets rather than Microsoft’s software darling. Similar stories surfaced in other parts of the US.

Suspense had been entirely bled from Vista, so yesterday’s release was a big yawn. Of course, accusations flew that Microsoft’s new OS is a ripoff of Mac OS. It would have been surprising if they didn’t fly. It’s happened with every version of Windows, to one degree or another.

USA Today reports that cell phone carrier had the opportunity to ink a deal as the sole Apple iPhone service provider contract two years ago but rejected it over financial terms.

Among other things, Apple wanted a percentage of the monthly cellphone fees, say over how and where iPhones could be sold and control of the relationship with iPhone customers, said Jim Gerace, a Verizon Wireless vice president. “We said no. We have nothing bad to say about the Apple iPhone. We just couldn’t reach a deal that was mutually beneficial.”

Apple is notorious for controlling its brand and the “customer experience” that goes with it, once having ended Apple stores-within-stores in large electronics chains because the customer experience was sub par. I don’t blame them; I visited some and they were ghetto. Continue reading »

There’s rumors of an Apple event on February 20th, and if it materializes, Apple will unveil new Mac Pro machines, new Apple displays, and the shipping date for OS X 10.5 “Leopard”.

How do I know this? I don’t. It’s a hunch.

New Mac Pros were expected at MacWorld 2007, and didn’t arrive. Same with Apple’s displays, which have grown a bit long in the tooth, having been released 2.5 years ago now.

Look for 8-core Mac Pros to wow the faithful, and new displays to go with them. Makes sense, no?

And a big stage for promoting Leopard is a necessity, and this event would provide just that stage, especially now that Apple’s media attention level is off the scale after the iPhone announcement.

Microsoft’s zany, sweaty, never-boring CEO Steve Ballmer says in an interview that Apple’s upcoming iPhone will be “the most expensive phone in the world”, and that Zune captured 20-25% of the higher end MP3 player market. Huh?

Just 30 seconds of searching in Froogle reveals many phones over $600, for instance this Samsung I830 Smartphone for $899.95.

As for the Zune sales claim, it’s a wacky number from a wacky guy.

As a hard drive based player, Microsoft has already limited itself to 20 percent of the overall digital music player market. Eight of the top ten players were Apple models, with the remaining two belonging to SanDisk.

However, within the HDD player segment, Redmond is actually performing quite well, with about one out of every eight players being a Zune, or 12 percent.

via BetaNews

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Apple has a major announcement due to be aired in a Superbowl ad spot on February 4th.

Touchscreen iPod ala iPhone? Beatles catalog in iTunes Store? OS X 10.5 Leopard shipping?

via Digg