In the US Open tennis tournament taking place in New York, Rafael Nadal and Gaels Monfils squared off in a match that had more action and superb rallies in the first two sets than I have seen in a longtime – and that includes the superb Federer – Roddick Wimbledon final. But the match lacked the sustaining power and suspense of the Roddick – Federer match. Ditto for Apple’s announcements today. There was the on stage presence of Steve Jobs to a long standing ovation. There were price reductions, selected video+voice recording+pedometer add-ons plus memory enhancments to half a dozen iPod models. There were new software features for iTunes. And Steve Jobs made it official – the number of Apps for the iPhone had reached 75,000 [- take that for developer enthusiasm and support Steve Ballmer]. But….
But most disappointing, there was no iTablet announcement. This means no vision yet on a super-touch pad/standalone media device/”Netbook” from Apple that plays games, displays movies/TVs, and/or acts as a Macbook add-on. No further Snow Leopard to iPod or iPhone software tie-ins. No pricing changes for the Mac or MacBook line of computers to leave a wide price performance opening for Windows 7 powered PCs. So I find myself agreeing with Bloomberg: IPods [only] Disappoint Investors at Jobs’s Comeback Event. Apple’s buildup and announcement was like Gaels Monfils in last night’s tennis match, both Monfils and Apple just ran out of steam and faded away.
