Kyle LeBoeuf

I managed to catch most of the keynote from Apple’s Press Event today thanks to live stream. I jotted down a few notes from the event. Below my notes are some thoughts on the announcements.

iLife ’11: Looks sweet. Major update to iPhoto. Tweaks to iMovie and GarageBand.
- iPhoto: Fullscreen mode is a very nice addition. Deeper integration with Facebook. Favorite feature is the new e-mail integration. E-mail photos from within the iPhoto app. Nice.
- iMovie: Includes a new tool to build trailers from movie footage. Editing tools have become more robust. Apple’s Video app team is beginning to blur the lines between iMovie and it’s Final Cut family of video editing products. Also includes an interesting feature called “People Finder” to help you find faces in your film. Other tweaks galore, check the product page.
- GarageBand: Biggest additions are two new tools called “Flex Time” and “Groove Matching”. Helps with tweaking rhythm and timing in your GarageBand tracks. Again, Apple seems to be bluring the line between its consumer (GarageBand) and professional (Logic) products.

Mac OS X Lion: Holy cow. Apple dropped a giant bomb with this one. Essentially, Apple is taking some of the major concepts of iOS and integrating it into OS X. Some of the highlights:
- Mac App Store: Apple is bringing it’s wildly popular App Store concept to the Mac.  Works just like it’s iOS counterparts. Browse and download apps in the store, Store application automatically installs apps and alerts you about app updates. This is huge. Will be available for Snow Leopard within 90 days. More thoughts below.
-  Launchpad: Essentially brings the iOS home screen to the OS X desktop. Swipe through pages of apps. Also includes Folders, just like in iOS. Also huge.
- Full-screen apps: The green button at the upper left hand corner of windows in OS X will soon cause your apps to go full-screen. Interesting feature.
- Mission Control: Probably the biggest change to the OS X interface since Leopard, Mission control combines Spaces, Expose, and Dashboard to bring you a summary of everything going on in your system. Multiple windows of a single app are grouped together. Will enchance productivity in a big way for a ton of people.
- Availability: As of right now, Summer of 2011

FaceTime for Mac: Another big iOS feature comes to OS X. Mac users with Snow Leopard can now chat with other customers running FaceTime either on their Mac or their iOS device. Awesome. Beta is now available on Apple’s FaceTime for Mac page

MacBook Air:  They took one of the thinnest computers on the market and made it even thinner. They also made it faster. Includes SSD that is integrated into the motherboard, unlike traditional SSD implementations which involve putting the flash chips into a housing that is shaped like a standard drive. This thing is absolutely ridiculous. Available in 13-inch and 11-inch. 11-inch starts at $999. Apple is clearly targeting the NetBook market with this one, but with a different approach. Maintains the tiny profile without sacrificing the keyboard.

A thought:

The most interesting thing about the announcements today has to do with OS X Lion. One of things that’s commonly discussed in business circles is Apple’s ability to use one class of their products to convince consumers to buy into another class of product. For example, the original idea behind the iPod was to get consumers familiar with the Apple brand and to hopefully get them to consider a Mac when they make their next purchase. Apple hoped that consumers would be pleased with the iPod and therefore expect the Mac to be similarly pleasing.

I think Apple’s strategy with OS X Lion is similar. By adding popular elements found on iOS devices, like apps, the app store, FaceTime, and the “Launchpad” (home screen on iOS), Apple is hoping that OS X will appeal to customers when they make their future computer purchases.

Adding apps to OS X makes sense, as it unifies Apple’s two biggest product lines (iOS and OS X) and will decrease customer confusion when it comes down to how to the two product lines relate to one another.

I’m looking forward to Apple’s future, both in OS X and in iOS. Will be an interesting one, and it starts with Lion.