There’s no doubt that Apple manage to create a dramatic stir with product announcements, and it is always thrilling to watch the news articles roll in during a MacWorld Keynote. The MacBook Air was undoubtedly the most exciting announcement yesterday, with some expected features and some not so expected. The main question in my mind is who the laptop is aimed at, and who’s likely to buy it.

No optical drive?

At present, there are three ways to get music on your laptop - legal (downloading via iTunes), more or less legal (ripping from CD’s), and completely illegal (downloading from Bit-Torrent or elsewhere). Apple have more or less taken the middle ground out of the equation yesterday in the MacBook Air. People moving to Mac for the first time, planning on ripping their library of CD’s into iTunes to use on their iPod/Apple TV etc are going to be a bit stuck!

£1,199

That’s just ridiculous. Really. If Apple chose to equate the pricing to that of the USA, it should cost £900. That’s a perfect price point - smack between the MacBook and MacBook Pro. As it is, for £100 more than a MacBook Air you can get a base level MacBook Pro. For me, the decision would be a categorical no brainer. Whilst the thinness and weight of the MacBook Air is a huge bonus, it just doesn’t compare in any way to the power and features of one of their Pro laptops.

So, who will buy them?

First of all, I’m sure this laptop will be successful. Not on the scale of their existing notebooks, but certainly to some extent. I think the people who will fork over £1,200 will fall into two categories:

1) Business users, who need a second machine for traveling and working on the go. This is absolutely perfect, has great battery life, and will fit their needs to a tee.

2) People who just love style. Let’s face it, the laptop looks amazing. If you love being the centre of attention and crave others wanting to get their hands on your latest gadget this is perfect.

Much has been said about the recent “drama” around the iPhone price alterations. In case you are completely in the dark, Apple basically knocked $200 off the price of the iPhone, only a month or two after it was launched. This is certainly an unexpected move from Apple but something which isn’t all that unusual in the mobile phone market.

To me, it seems that Apple have found success well beyond what they anticipated in the iPhone. I’m sure they knew it would be a resounding success, but the sales figures must have been even greater than they predicted. They are now benefitting from much greater economies of scale, and are able to produce the phone at a cheaper price. Couple this with the introduction of the iPod Touch which will bring even greater economies of scale and Apple are looking at an excellent financial outlook for the life-cycle of these products.

The price drop will have come because Apple are simply in a position to do so. They’ll be producing the device cheaper than at the outset, and will have decided that it is worth the risk to reduce the price and aim for a higher market penetration with increased sales in the lead up to the Christmas period. This is an excellent business strategy, and is likely to pay off for them. I can see their market share increasing dramatically over the coming months, and no doubt Steve will be reporting as such at the next major Apple conference.

Now has never been a better time to look into buying an iPhone, and I really hope that these price reductions will spread across to Europe around the product launch. If it is introduced over here with a similarly excessive markup, we’ll need to make the difficult decision of whether to buy and be an early adopter, or wait for a similar price drop to the USA.

I’m very surprised at the decision of Apple to offer a $100 store voucher to all those who have purchased an iPhone so far, but feel that it’s a remarkably ethical move from the company. I feel that Sean Sperte summed this up well:

Consider the statement he made during the music event on Wednesday, that Apple is on track to sell their one-millionth IPhone this month. Now consider multiplying that number by 100. Let’s just say, for example, that Apple will be giving away 600,000 store credits in the amount of $100 each. That’s $60M worth of “sorry”, and plenty of “we owe you one”.

Think about that. What other company has ever come close to voluntarily giving that kind of money back to its customers? Apple truly is one of a kind.

They are indeed!

The Financial Times is reporting that O2 will be the carrier of the iPhone in the UK. It’s a debate which has been going on for an awfully long time now, and I would be very surprised if FT would go to press with something they weren’t more or less 100% certain about.

I’m fairly indifferent with O2 being awarded the contract. I’ve had both good and bad experiences with them as a customer, but spent some time doing work experience with them a year or two ago and was impressed with how the organisation is managed internally.

The main thing I’m keeping my fingers crossed for is a data and call package which relates to the one offered in the USA. A sentence which worries me is:

The contract, which was signed by three European mobile operators in recent days, requires that the operators hand over to Apple 10 per cent of the revenues made from calls and data transfers by customers over iPhones.

I hope that the revenue from data and calls originates from the contract, rather than any additional fees for data usage. I feel strongly that an iPhone without unlimited data included would be a serious time waster, and it may even put me off purchasing one.

Let’s hope O2 pull the stops out and set a new standard in carrier service with the iPhone!

Characteristically, Ballmer also laughed at Apple’s iPhone and its premium pricing. “$500 full-subsidized with a plan! I said that is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard which makes it not a very good email machine,” Ballmer said. “Now, it may sell very well or not, I, you know. We have our strategy, we’ve got great Windows Mobile devices in the market today. You can get a Motorola Q phone now for $99, it’s a very capable machine, it’ll do music, it’ll do Internet, it’ll do email, it’ll do instant messaging. So, I kinda look at that and I say, well, I like our strategy. I like it a lot.”

Via iLounge

Despite whatever views Steve Ballmer may have on the iPhone, the attitude shown in that statement above is an absolute testament to why Microsoft are starting to fall behind. Pricing aside, you simply can’t look at a product that’s had a great press reception and an eagerly awaited launch with such a dismissive attitude. Microsoft may well have a great share of the smartphone market - who knows, they may even keep it after the iPhone’s launch! - but they should be analysing the competition, looking for ways to equal and better them.

Innovation from their end with phone technology has been slim to say the least - Windows Mobile is basically ported Pocket PC software from years ago which hasn’t evolved all that much. Improvements have mainly been from the device manufacturers building better, sleeker and faster smartphones. With additions such as visual voicemail, Multi Touch and the iChat style SMS messaging, Apple are at least making headway from a software angle.

I was quite indifferent before reading that quote - I’d choose an iPhone over a Windows Mobile phone any day, but I had nothing against Microsoft’s business model. The complacent business attitude of Microsoft will be their downfall, and I imagine their market share is going to be promptly shattered later this year when iPhone sales kick off.

That’s the lens cap from my lovely new 400d, in all it’s digital glory. It’s an absolutely stunning camera, and it feels so much more professional than my Sony. I’m looking forward to taking plenty of photos with it over the coming months and years!

I’m blown away at how Apple have managed to promote this - from mainstream news media to the blogging onslaught and their own PR activities. I’ve seen the iPhone everywhere over the past 24 hours already, and the reaction seems to have been incredible. People are impressed with this device in every way, with the only real negatives people can pick out being the lack of 3g and a fixed battery. Hardly likely to cripple demand!

Equally impressive is the way they’ve managed to stay so tight lipped on the device for two and a half years. Almost no specs were released pre-launch, and only speculations were made. This article is a really interesting read if you want to know more about how it was all kept underhand - it was obviously a massive operation.

Most impressive? Without a doubt the user interface. The majority of the features have been done in one way or another before - just never executed with this simplicity and ease of use. Functionality was obviously put at the forefront every step of the way, and this is just another incredible piece of engineering which solidifies Jonathan Ive as the greatest product designer the world has ever seen. He had his work cut out here, and has excelled once again.

I love my mobile phone at the moment - the Sony Ericsson K800i is great - but as soon as my contract expires in around 12 months time I’ll be picking one of these up. There’s no rush as far as I’m concerned, but there’s no doubt as to which my next handset will be. Here’s to Apple conquering the mobile phone market as swiftly, effectively and comprehensively as they did the MP3 market with the iPod!