Trey’s Blog

Anyone who spends anytime surfing the Net is bound to run across an article with speculation around what Apple will release next, but at some point I think the rumors and fakery images tend to skew our expectations leaving us disappointed when we don’t get what we’ve wanted. A perfect example of this is the rumor surrounding a new widescreen iPod. We’ve been through two different product releases and still no widescreen iPod. Does this mean it won’t ever happen? Not necessarily, but what I really want to know is did Apple ever plan on producing a widescreen version of the world’s favorite digital media player, or will they just produce one now to make the people happy? (Chicken or the Egg) At what point do you listen to the people and give them what they want because they’ve asked repeatedly? On the other hand, I think Apple has done a good job so far giving the people what they didn’t know they wanted. I was listening to MacCast, a Mac-centric podcast, and he mentioned that he tries to not put too much stock in the rumors to prevent from setting expectations higher than Apple product development can achieve. Are we, as a geek society, so hooked on these gadgets that we really get upset when a company doesn’t release what we think would be the next big thing?

On the flipside, I’d like to say that while I enjoy a good bit of progress in the world of computing, I find it unsettling that Apple releases new versions of their computers at least once per year. If anyone ever tries to get the best available at any given time, their purchase will only be the best available for another 9 months MAX. I’ve run into this with my Mac Mini where I bought the best available at the time and upgraded my RAM to the maximum allowed (2GB) and now, not even 6 months later, a newer faster processor is now available. Apple has also done this with the new set of iPods, but this time they’ve actually done a major disservice to their customers. They’ve released the new more featureful models at a lower price than the previously better models. In other words, those who bought the best 2 months ago have just had their model depreciate by $100 overnight. Is this the price we pay for style? Don’t get me wrong, I have an iPod and I think it is a great little device, but when I bought mine, I went with the last year’s model at the time just so I wouldn’t feel so bad when the newer new models came out.

I’m not sure where I was going with this post, so it may have been just a brain dump. Getting these thoughts out of my head should make room for more important things.