The OS will be $19.99, on the Mac App Store, and can update machines running Lion or Snow Leopard. While there is no release date yet, 10.8 will be released in July, and there is a new preview for developers out today.
Year: 2012
Retina
Apple’s got a new high-end MacBook Pro, and boy, does it look like a screamer.
The Glue
iCloud may not seem all that glamorous on the outside, but its aim and role in the overall user experience for Apple gadget owners is still in the foundation stages. I think it’s safe to say that iCloud will be the center point for much of what gets announced today as well. iCloud is the glue that Apple wants to use to bind iOS and OS X together.
I agree with Shawn. As I said last week on the podcast, today’s software announcements will be filtered through iCloud. The Mountain Lion demos will be about what the service is bringing to OS X, and the iOS 6 demo will heavily feature iCloud additions, as well.
On Paying to Cover WWDC
The way I figure it, there are three ways to cover WWDC:
- Re-blog whatever live blog you follow
- Get invited as press by Apple
- Buy a ticket and cover it from the inside, as much as the NDA allows
The first way is the way I’ve always done it. I’ve never been to WWDC, let alone as invited press.
There are reporters whose publications pay for their ticket to the conference itself, so they can blog the keynote live.
(Of course, many of these reporters also attend sessions to learn more about Apple’s plans to be better informed, but just going to the keynote seems terrible.)
Part of me finds this concept sort of icky. Not that most Mac bloggers are what I consider to be unbiased journalists, but paying to cover something certainly doesn’t send a message of being balanced.
From a business perspective, these sites are betting that the income generated from the ad views covers the cost of a WWDC ticket, and I’m sure it does in most cases. However, tickets purchased by reporters are tickets that are unavailable to iOS and Mac developers. Given the explosion of the two platforms over the last few years, and WWDC’s capped attendance, this makes getting in even harder.
On the other hand, I think its great they there are lots of independent options when it comes to coverage of such events. I don’t think any of the bloggers who pay to get in to WWDC are doing so with malice. Hell, if John Siracusa didn’t get to get in to the keynotes, his OS X reviews wouldn’t be as good.
Of course, hearing and seeing the keynote can be done via QuickTime just hours later, with the training sessions available to registered mac developers online available within a few weeks.
Most companies don’t have press paying to cover them. Most companies, in fact, have the opposite problem — no matter what they do, they can’t seem to get the coverage they want, no matter how many press releases they send out to reporters and bloggers.
Apple is unique in many ways, and every one wanting to cover them is no different. But paying to play seems like it crosses a line that might not be crossed.
I’m planning on being at WWDC next year. Whether or not I buy a ticket is debatable.
I think Apple could solve this (partially) by having some keynote-only tickets reserved for press. This would ease the burden on developers, while making the whole thing less shady for reporters.
On UnitedHealthcare
One of the nation’s largest insurers said early Monday it would continue to follow some of the rules in the federal health law that are already in effect, including keeping young adults up to age 26 on their parents’ plans and ending lifetime dollar limits, no matter what the Supreme Court decides.
Sadly, UHC hasn’t hit a homerun here:
United stopped short of saying it would continue to accept all children, no matter if they had a pre-existing medical condition. The federal law says insurers cannot reject children up to age 19 simply because they have a medical condition.
I know I’m biased, but this is the part of “Obamacare” I’m most behind. As a US citizen and parent, I hope the Supreme Court upholds the law, but as a UHC member, I hope the company at least continues to do the right thing.
Keynote Bingo
On Origins
The story behind OS X running on Intel is great, and surprisingly human.
On A New Mac Pro
Apple hasn’t updated its Mac Pro workstation in nearly two years, leaving many pro users wondering if Apple might kill the product altogether. That is an ongoing source of angst to professionals in creative industries and elsewhere who rely on Apple hardware and OS X software to do their jobs. They’ve seen Intel release ever-faster processors since summer 2010, which can feel like an eternity in terms of computer hardware, making some of the older Mac Pros feel positively ancient.
Forseman argues for new Xeons, Thunderbolt, USB 3 and a new case, among other things.
Romney and Scamworld
Sustainable Writing
Matt Alexander, for The Loop:
Perhaps link bait is a short-term solution for advertising revenue and attention, but I daresay that treating readers with deserved respect is a much better avenue to a sustainable audience.
Car Talk Retires
Schiller
Peter Burrows and Adam Satariano at Businessweek:
According to a person who met with Schiller recently to discuss Apple’s future, the marketing executive knows he’ll get more than his fair share of blame if the new products aren’t hits. Schiller has the daunting task of keeping Apple cool. And that’s harder to do now that the company is a $535 billion behemoth, subject to antitrust reviews and labor-practice criticisms, rather than the underdog he rejoined in 1997.
I think that Schiller is one of those guys who was always in Steve’s shadow. Now we’ll see what he’s really made of.