I’m not a mac user, but really…is it necessary to bash Apple for it? The argument that they should hang onto it even if it’s not bestselling doesn’t hold water. Do you really want to have extra ports on your laptop or more cables lying around? No thanks. And just as it doesn’t make sense to have 5 different DVD formats, it doesn’t make sense to waste time, money, and space on the parts of developers and consumers. Mac computers fill a niche, so that does make sense, but USB and Firewire (except 1394b) don’t have a considerable enough difference for non-fanatics to care. It doesn’t fill a niche. USB will never die–it’s too widespread, both in onboard ports and peripherals, and many still have 1.1. Firewire, on the other hand, isn’t standard for most peripherals and most of that 80% market share just don’t have anything Firewire.

It had its chance, but the revolution failed. It’s on its way out.

Shuffle only has (standard, non-proprietary/dock) USB + headphone.

The day these have audio in, I’ll be holding a special ‘input’ party here in NYC. Except we’ll have to contend with the hellfire and end of days, so you may have to accept the mark of the beast.

-Carl

This has absolutely no impact on my life as a Mac user or my perception of Apple’s devotion to the Mac platform. In fact, I think there’s no question anecdotally that the iPod is inspiring confidence in the Mac platform again. People all around me who I thought would never switch from Windows suddenly have to have a Mac. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

So here’s the choice. Which is a bigger deal to you:

On one hand, we have a dramatic market share grab strategy with iPod (now with better battery life, shuffle, cheaper iPod photo, etc.), but also Mac Mini, HD video, pro apps, OS X Tiger, etc., etc.

On the other, we have . . . a $20 cable.

Which would you look at to try to tell how much Apple cares about the Mac?

This may not be the iPod you want to buy at the moment (I won’t — I want a new shuffle for the gym, actually!). But why do we have to divine the future of Apple from what is or isn’t bundled in the box?

That means that:

Feb. 2004: iPod mini w/ Firewire and AC Adapter: $249
Feb. 2004: 4gb iPod mini w/ Firewire and AC Adapter: $247.

Apple has managed to reduce the price of an iPod mini by the whopping sum of two dollars in one year.

in February 2004 a 4gb mini cost $249

in February 2005 a mini equipped exactly the same costs $218.

Color me underwhelmed.

IIRC iPod sold millions and become an icon not because it was cheaper or unique but becuase it was superior and made no compromises. And that superiority was shown by the enhanced connectivity FireWire offers. Most people do not care about the extra $20, they are spending more than the competition buying Macs and iPods after all. But they are too proud to be treated as 2nd options by the same company it sold them their desktops.

And while “experts” would apploud Apple becoming Dull and Apple admitting defeat in FireWire (and maybe afterwards in QuickTime, OSX, PowerPC etc) many people would detest it. The computing world needs more Apple not Yazumi.

Manufacturers still haven’t sorted out the best way for us to manage gear; mLAN has some promise but isn’t yet fulfilled by enough equipment.

Keep your fingers crossed.