WWDC Keynote Reactions
Predictions about the WWDC2009 keynote are so yesterday. Today, the keynote came and went. The interesting things weren’t so much in the top level announcements, but in all the little things. Here’s my list of cheers and a couple of boos for the keynote.
Cheers:
- The 13" MacBook Pro comes into its own, complete with a FireWire port. The new SD Card slot is interesting. I’ve mostly got CompactFlash cards, but for most photographers, this will be very handy indeed.
- Safari Plug-in crash protection rocks. Hopefully that’ll help improve the experience a bit.
- Snow Leopard for $29. That seems about right. It’s about the best that Apple can do considering they have a conservative opinion about Sarbox accounting rules.
- Find My Phone via MobileMe. They just sealed the deal on my next year of MobileMe subscription. It’s something that I was hoping would come since last year’s announce of support for remote wipe via Exchange.
- Internet tethering via Bluetooth or hardware for the iPhone, unless you happen to be on AT&T.
- Tom Tom navigation app. Very cool.
- Giving developers at least a small window to test their windows on the official GM release of iPhone OS 3.0. Apple hasn't done this in recent memory with their desktop OS (at least from 10.3 on), leaving developers wondering if their apps would go wonky or not at the last minute.
- The new camera features, including autofocus and macro are SWEET. These were somewhat expected, but the feature set seems quite impressive for a mobile phone now and I can’t wait to play with it.
- Tap to focus on the iPhone 3GS. The interaction to focus sounds perfect and for whatever reason, I figured if autofocus showed up, it’d be automatic. The fact it isn’t rocks.
- Built in iPhone 3GS compass. It’s been on the rumor sites for a while, but I’m really happy to see that it made it in. It’s the perfect compliment to the GPS unit.
- Pricing on the new iPhone 3GS at $199. Perfect. Now, let’s see what AT&T has to say about upgrades. Usually, they’re pretty good about giving you subsidized price again after a year.
Boos:
- AT&T delayed support for MMS. I personally don't really care about MMS, but apparently some people really do. To have flubbed this one up is embarrassing for them.
- AT&T not supporting tethering. Seriously. WTF. Double, no triple boo points for AT&T.
- When you can update from your previous phone or iPhone and how much it’ll really cost you are entirely dependent on your carrier. This is the downside of the subsidized pricing. There are more thoughts about the downsides of the iPhone pricing in the next post.
All in all, a pretty good keynote from where I sit. From what I heard on the UStream feed, Phil, Bertrand, and Scott did a great job with things. Steve is surely happy. Now starts the waiting game until June 19th. Actually, from AT&T’s website, it looks like I may be waiting till July 13th. Guess that’ll twelve months after I bought the 3G. But, with a new camera and faster speed, what’s not to like? Except maybe all that fine print about the contract stuff.
9 Comments
Regarding MMS I have to ask if AT&T is the real problem here. It apparently works just fine in the betas when the feature was unlocked.
MMS is part of the GSM spec and billing etc. is standard fare. So what exactly is the reason why it is not there. Also why is it operator specific.
I have an unlocked – purchased that way – iphone and I am wondering if my european operator is going to be 'supported'. I have the plan for both MMS and tethering but wonder if I am going to be left in the cold for no good reason.
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The real boo is that if you already have an iPhone 3G with AT&T they expect you to pay $699 for the iPhone 3G-S 32GB - a $400 premium to restart your 2-year contract regardless of how long is left.
[)amien
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It seems that's carrier dependent—and the downside of subsidized pricing. AT&T typically lets you update after a year. In my case, that'll be 7/13. But, every carrier is likely to be different in this respect. I'm going to add a bit of a boo on that to the list.
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Hmmm. I have an Iphone 1G, the contract was due to expire on July 9, but Apple's iPhone reservation system told me I could still get the 3GS for $299.
As for MMS, it's a misfeature I'd rather not have on my phone. SMS is already price-gouging compared to email, but MMS pricing is even more outrageous. I can understand carriers pushing it on dumbphones to nickel-and-dime every last bit they can, but on handsets with MIME-capable email clients like the iPhone, it does not make sense whatsoever.
The lack of tethering on AT&T is a bummer, but not surprising considering how they gouge on mobile data plans. I would be tempted to get an iTouch with the Verizon MiFi mobile WiFi router, and use skype for telephony, but I would lose Bluetooth hands-free support in my car if I did that.
One point you missed is the improvement to the camera - it has a proper autofocus lens, not a fixed-focus barely-better-than-a-pinhole, is now capable of macro shots, and claimed low-light performance improvements.
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Fazal, if you're almost done with your original 2 year contract, then you're certainly past the 12-18 month upgrade pricing cliff most are seeing.
You're right that I should have cheered the improved camera. It's a super big deal. I guess I missed doing that because I expected it. Adding.
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I feel a bit guilty for not giving the Palm Pre a go instead. I am fed up with AT&T's lousy network, price-gouging and Apple's lockdown on apps, including those you write yourself. I guess I have until June 19th to change my mind...
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Internet tethering in the UK is a big joke. It's £14.68 a month for 3GB, which is £0.01 less than what you would have paid to get the same service via those mobile broadband modems. The way I see it, it's just another gimmicky way for them to make easy money off of you.
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"Apple has never done this on the desktop OS"
Actually, Apple always did this for Mac OS (classic & X) releases until very recently. I forget which final release was first withheld from developers, perhaps 10.3. Testing against the final release has always been very important to developers and only very recently has Apple's desire to prevent the GM from leaking onto the internet trumped its desire to help developers provide the highest compatibility.
-Rob
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Rob, I guess I should have said, I can't recall when last they released a GM seed earlier than release date. :)
I can verify that from 10.3 on to 10.4 and 10.5, the GM was held by Apple until the general release date of the system. In Panther's case, specifically, I was on a release train for a book and remember it vividly. I seem to recall 10.2 was the same way, but since it didn't effect me the same way, I can't say for sure.
I'm updating the post and removing the absolute.
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