14 DAY TRIAL // Tuesday was thought by many to be the day when Apple would rock the world? it wasn't.
It's strange how the media and the analysts and the users themselves get all worked up over potential Apple announcements. They speculate and rumor and extrapolate and then build upon it until it grows so huge that even if Apple were to release the initially speculated product they would still be disappointed.
Then, after the letdown people are always angry and vengeful for being let down and view the Apple products that were introduced negatively. After some time, they cool down and start forgetting and looking at the products with less spite and then the incident is forgotten altogether. Until the next announcement comes up, then it starts all over again.
It is strange, comical and sad at the same time? and recurring. Apple has their own plan, it has had it for some time, outsiders to the company are not privy to this plan and only see a small part of the bigger picture. But people seem to forget that and take it personally.
Tuesday was considered to be a disaster by many, and there have even been journalists who stated their opinion that Apple should not call them until they have something big to announce. This is sad, because Apple actually had something big to announce, very big, only they were just too blind to see it.
People are expecting Apple to come out with great BIG things, but Apple has changed its strategy, it is taking the low road. The iPod was small in itself, iTunes was small in itself, the iTunes Music Store was small in itself, but together they formed the bigger picture that led to the roaring success it is now.
The same thing is happening again, only this time it is with video. First it was the video capable iPod, and the TV shows on the iTunes Music Store, now it is the Mac mini. There is still a component missing, but that is because it is not yet time. Apple is taking the low road, they are letting you do all the hard work for them. Media Center computers have not been a big hit, and Apple is playing it smart. The mini has at no point called a Media Center or a Media Hub computer by Apple. It can certainly be used for that, but they are not marketing it as such. They are letting the user take that step, in integrating it as a media hub. It is still a computer, and can be used as such, but it is also silently educating the user in the ways of the Media Hub.
People have to not see computers as alternatives to DVD players or VCRs or whatever other device. The public's perception is that they are two separate types of devices, and we are talking about Average Joe here, not the geek who has more wires crisscrossing the room than neurons. Average Joe is slow and lumbering, and very set in his ways, and Apple is playing it smart and letting him discover the product, instead of forcing it on him.
The new Mac mini was a huge landmark, but only a few saw it as such. The rest saw it as a huge letdown, because there was no flashy new device, no new service, no new anything, just a mini. It is a lot more than that, and it will be a lot bigger than anyone thinks it will be.
Perhaps if journalists and analysts stopped acting like pubescent adolescents on their first date, thinking of everything that would happen, imagining every possible conversation and witty line, they might actually be able to open their mouth and make some sense, instead of just babbling and feeling letdown when nothing happens.