And what of Apple, Inc., itself? The bottom line is that this year, there was no new product that made a big splash, like iPhone did. Head honcho Steve Jobs had flashy gear on hand, to be sure — the sleek, unbelievably slender MacBook Air, for example. The Air, a laptop that starts at $1,799, is light and lovely but isn’t made for everyday folks who only want to own a single computer: it has no CD or DVD drive, for instance, meaning that to install new software you have to either buy a standalone drive or wirelessly network with another computer.

Apple also gave a second push to its Apple TV device ($229-$329), with an update that lets it work without being connected to a computer. The Apple TV was no blockbuster when first introduced, and in order to boost its desirability Jobs touted a new iTunes-based service that lets viewers rent movies (even some high-definition ones) that are downloaded through the internet with no DVD required.

Sadly, those download rentals are awfully limited: Once you start watching a film, you only have 24 hours to finish it, which is a worse deal than a video store’s commonplace 2- or 3-day rental. If restrictions aren’t your bag, software company Elgato was on hand with its newly improved EyeTV3, which offers even more ways to receive and record television programs on your Mac, then watch them whenever, and however many times, you want.

The Mac faithful grumbled a bit about the company’s new announcements, perhaps most loudly about a software update for the iPhone Touch that cost $20 to deliver features fans thought should have been there in the first place. But Apple can’t hit a home run every year — and at least now, with the company’s share of the home computer market growing steadily, there are plenty of third parties stepping in to expand the hardware’s usefulness.

Copyright © 2008 | Distributed by Noofangle Media

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