New iPod Shuffle

Apple released a new iPod Shuffle this morning. This impossibly small device now comes with 4GB for only $79. The coolest feature of this new iPod is its Voiceover feature. With the press of a button, it tells you what song is playing and who’s performing it.

Apple has done it again!

You Can Upgrade from Win 7 to XP

Microsoft announced today that they will continue to offer XP for the netbook market for the foreseeable future, even after the release of Windows 7. Why might they do this one might ask? Market analysts believe that netbook users would rather use Linux than anything reminiscent of Vista.

Perception is reality!

Director of Cybersecurity Resigns

Rod Beckstrom, the U.S. government’s director for cybersecurity resigned yesterday. He criticized the excessive role of the National Security Agency (NSA) in countering threats to the country’s computer systems.

Where has Mr. Beckstrom been? The NSA has led signal intelligence in this country since November 4, 1952. Nothing has changed.

Apple Holding Its Own

My post a few days ago mentions the record drop in PC sales. Market analysts at Fortune have pointed out that Apple is doing well so far. This is largely due to their higher asking price. PC makers, led by Dell, have been racing to the bottom on prices for some time now. That is one of the reasons that their customer support is so deplorable. It is difficult to be a loss leader and provide good customer service. Their is just not enough margin for that.

Apples higher average sale price bodes well for them. While its sales might be slowing along with the rest of the industry (though not nearly as badly; the company’s unit sales rose only nine percent in the December quarter, down from a 44 percent increase in the year prior), its price points and profit margins are holding nice and steady.

Macs Are Not More Expensive

If I have heard that Macs are more expensive than PCs once, I have heard it 1000 times. To prove that this is indeed a myth, an Oppenheimer analyst compared the new iMac, Dell’s XPS One 24 and Hewlett-Packard’s TouchSmart IQ800t. The conclusion was that, spec for spec, the iMac offers a better value (see the above chart).

So much for that myth!

New Macs Announced

As I predicted yesterday, the new Macs are out today. They came out even faster than I thought they would.

There is a new Mac mini, four new iMacs, and a new Mac Pro. They all have more feature than previous models and are cheaper. How often do you see that happen?

Yes, I ordered one :-)

PC Sales Crashing Like A Windows Computer

Gartner projects that PC sales will fall faster this year than anytime in history. In addition to the economy taking its toll on technology sales, netbook computers are replacing desktop computer sales for the majority of consumers.

One interesting note is Apple sales. While flat last quarter, several new Macs are slated to be announced on March 23rd. Most Apple enthusiasts wait for new models to arrive to replace their machines. As such, this will be an interesting time to watch how the economy affects Apple's sales.