Good morning,
Apple has introduced its new personal computers, laptops and iPads.
It wasn’t exactly earthshaking news when compared to the earlier rollout of the new iPhones. The company chose to make the announcement in Brooklyn, an increasingly popular tech haven.
But for those of us who work on Apple laptops every day, the event generated more than a passing interest.
Apple, by the way, has a few ties to Delaware.
It was Apple board member and former DuPont CEO Ed Woolard who cleared the way for legendary co-founder Steve Jobs to return to the company after getting the boot years earlier.
Under Jobs, Apple was the scene of one of the great turnarounds and became one of the world’s largest companies.
Apple also snapped up a promising Delaware start-up company launched by UD faculty who produced innovative keyboards. Its former owners moved out west and are listed on several Apple patents.
I returned to the Apple fold after a couple of PC netbooks only lasted a year each. I have purchased a total of four Macbooks since that time. All are running after a couple of keyboard replacements and one major repair.
Over those six years, the MacBook Air saw relatively few changes until the Brooklyn announcement that featured Apple CEO Tim Cook rolling out an upgrade of the Air, with a more vibrant screen and a few other tweaks as well as an upgrade of the Mini.
Unfortunately, Apple opted to tack on an additional couple of hundred dollars to the price of the Air and seemed to be readying the iPad as a laptop option.
That brought panic among the easily upset Apple faithful, some of whom might have been looking for an $899 entry level Air I might have snapped up a cheaper Mac. Still, Apple knows we will eventually cough up the money and chose to pad its profit margins, (For now, you can buy a Mac for as little as $899).
Former co-worker Paul Wilke, who runs a marketing communications firm in northern California, has long been an Apple fan and agrees that their reliability is a big selling point.
Paul admitted to a case of sticker shock with the price of the Mini, but admits that he will eventually dig deeper and buy the upgraded desktop computer. He likes what he sees from the new iPad pros that can be used for many of the tasks now handled by laptops.
The news wasn’t all bad on the price front. In recent weeks, Apple has been rolling a new operating system, known as Mojave, free of charge to Mac owners. In the early going, MacBook Airs are running are more responsive and the graphic tricks like the Dark Mode, are impressive.
It’s almost like getting a new computer and Apple knows that sooner or later, we will cough up the extra cash.
Enjoy your Tuesday. The newsletter returns tomorrow. – Doug Rainey, publisher.
