Will Apple scratch Microsoft's Surface?

With Halloween only a few weeks away it's opportune that Apple should unveil new treats, at its notebook event, today!

Despite the credit crunch/crisis (a journalistic euphemism for recession as far as I'm concerned), electronic goods continue to be "recession-proof" and consumer appetite for new MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro products has not abated! I've held off purchasing a new iPod touch (32GB) because of the ongoing speculation regarding new MacBooks!

There's considerable conjecture concerning what the new notebooks may or may not deliver in terms of their form factor (the flair of a MacBook Air) and functionality.

Clearly, Apple is keen to leverage touch screen technology - strikingly showcased in its iPhone and iPod touch - and place Microsoft's Surface ambitions into consumers hands now! In only a few hours time we'll know the answer.

Update
Apple announced the new 13-inch MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro tonight (GMT), which derive design cues from the MacBook Air and current desktops! The new Multi-Touch Trackpad is, literally, as smooth as glass!

In view of the hefty price tag for an entry level MacBook, I'll wait until Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard ships before making a purchase.

WWDC 2008 AKA The Day the Earth Stood Still

The title of this post is somewhat overblown and pretentious! It's not entirely without some merit as an in-joke; Twitter has been electric with, witty, sci-fi references regarding announcements beamed from the Apple mothership, I only needed to mention that Exeter was thundery and my Twitter peeps were inspired to alude to ID4 amongst others.

My initial reaction to Steve Jobs keynote is mostly positive, mostly!

The new iPhone 3G looks most compelling. I'm sold on the 16GB model (in limited edition white) and will be contacting my O2 Shop in short order: as soon as tomorrow. Assuming O2 can offer a good pay-as-you-go plan, alongside the £269 price tag, for an iPhone 3G, July 11th can't come soon enough! An iPod touch 32GB is on order for wireless browsing around the home.

.mac is to morph into MobileMe and e-mail addresses can be transferred, if desired, to @me.com. However, a free service would've been welcomed! Apple's e-mail solution looks like a poor investment against highly featured, and free, services such as Google's Gmail! I'll review MobileMe once it becomes available, from July, and make it known whether or not subscribing for a fee-based service is worthwhile in the long-term!

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard was previewed: “We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world’s most advanced operating system.”

Breaking news: Aliens have invaded Apple Store Princesshay...

The O2 Arena

The halo of geek chic is in full effect and WWDC enjoys a public profile comparable to Macworld!

The buzz surrounding next week's WWDC 2008 is bordering on the feverish! Only a brand with Apple's mindshare could garner such frenetic excitement, from the mainstream mass media, for what is, arguably, exclusively a 'developers delight'!

Not only is there incessant talk of the iPhone 2/3G, there's Mac OS X 10.5.4 (didn't we all just download 10.5.3 last week?), Mac OS X 10.6 codenamed 'Snow Leopard', and a much-needed .mac makeover! The latter holds the most compelling secrets, and may convince me to renew my subscription in October!

Everything hinges on the iPhone 2 and whether or not O2, the exclusive UK network carrier, offers Apple's second generation mobile device at a compelling price point alongside pay-as-you-go deals! If so, I'm sold and it'll be goodbye Orange! Readers who watch Channel Four's Dispatches series will appreciate the pay-as-you-go bias!

Further to the iPhone and .mac refresh, I'm predicting that there'll be an announcement regarding a new portable device called Mac nano...