MAC BLOG SAFARI
Mac Bloggers Toast iTunes, Probe Penryn Processors, Sweat iPhone SDK

The announcements set the Apple-focused blog world on fire, with some commenters noting they were just happy to see the MacBook Pro holdouts finally get something they could spring for.

As if new laptops weren't enough, Apple became the No. 2 music retailer in the United States.

Then on Wednesday, the company sent out invitations to reporters for an event that will unveil the company's iPhone software road map.

Intel's Penryn Inside

The new MacBook Pro and MacBook laptops come with Intel's (Nasdaq: INTC) latest 45 nanometer Penryn processors, bigger hard drives, and a new 2 GB RAM (random access memory) standard in most models. The MacBook Pro doubled the RAM in its GeForce 8600M GT Nvidia graphics processors to 256 MB in the entry model and 512 MB in beefier models. Plus, the MacBook Pro now has the touchpad gesture feature that Apple introduced in its MacBook Air earlier this year.

The casing for the laptop lineup remains unchanged, and Apple's standard pricing is the same -- the entry-level MacBook starts at US$1,099 while the entry MacBook Pro comes in at $1,999.

Some speculated that Intel pushed Apple to use Penryn processors rather than previous generation processors, which explains the MacBook update that came much sooner in the product cycle than Apple has historically delivered.

On the MacRumors.com site post covering the new MacBooks, asdavis10 noted, "Intel pushing Apple to use the Penryn chip isn't a good thing. Yes, the MBP was due for an update, by Apple product standards, but it was still comparably better than anything else in its class. Instead of getting a major revision in specs and design, Apple was forced to introduce a marginal upgrade. Yes multi-touch was something everyone wanted in the new MB ad MBP, but even that is minor."

Muzzway responded, "True, but a minor update is better than no update. Those waiting for a redesign will certainly get it eventually, and this refresh may be thought of as acting sort of like a stepping stone before getting to the next overhaul, whenever it may be ready."

Only a day after the new MacBooks were announced, speculation had already turned to another major update -- June 2008, when Intel releases its next generation of processors.

Reasonable Expectations

"I think the new MacBook Pros met all reasonable expectations. Now that Apple uses Intel processors, what's possible is pretty well laid out ahead of time. Intel is very public about their processor plans, and everyone knew that Apple was going to be using the newest mobile Penryn processors in the new MacBook Pro," Arnold Kim, MacRumors.com editor, told MacNewsWorld. "I think most of the people who were waiting got what they expected, including slightly faster processors and the multitouch trackpad. The only possible disappointment was for those who were hoping for a redesign of the MacBook Pro case.

"The MacBook bump was a bit of a surprise because it came ahead of Apple's normal refresh cycle. With the narrow range of processors Apple is using, it does cause some overlap between their high-end and low-end machines," he added. "It seems that Apple is using the multitouch trackpad as another differentiator for their MacBook Pros."

On the Way to No. 1?

Apple was quick to brag about the latest findings from the NPD Group this week. The research firm ranked Apple's iTunes as the No. 2 music retailer in the U.S., second only to retail giant Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) . Apple said it has more than 50 million iTunes store customers who have together purchased more than 4 billion songs. Plus, Apple bragged, iTunes sold 20 million songs on Christmas Day of 2007.

Many commenters started musing about the likelihood that Apple's iTunes would soon become the No. 1 music seller in the U.S. Others weren't as fast to jump on the iTunes bandwagon.

"There is no guarantee that Apple's lead will hold up," commented melgross on an AppleInsider post on the subject.

"We don't have figures as to sales after Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) started selling 256K DRM (digital rights management) free songs. It's possible that there is a good deal of inertia involving Apple's iTunes customers, as well as many not really knowing about Amazon's new sales model, which, by the way, makes it very easy to buy, and put their songs into iTunes on your computer," melgross added.

iPhone Software Road Map

The coming unveiling of Apple's iPhone software road map -- and, maybe, the software developer kit (SDK) for third-party developers -- finally has a date next week, and for many, it's none too soon.

Eric Zeman, posting on InformationWeek's Mobile Weblog Over the Air, noted, "Waiting five months for details about the SDK has been akin to torture."

Apple also hinted at "some exciting new enterprise features. That's all though -- just a hint. No word if the features are better security , Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Exchange support, or Lotus Notes for the iPhone. Either way, the promise of third-party applications for the iPhone finally arriving in the near future is the key. The question is, how will the third-party world react?

"I really think that Apple's biggest challenge is getting developer buy-in in the mobile world," Vidya Drego, a Forrester analyst, told MacNewsWorld.

"The mobile landscape is known for its device fragmentation, varied standards and difficulty successfully developing for a wide range of devices. While that has been improving some in the last year or so, it's still a tough medium to develop for," she explained. "While the iPhone has really captured the hearts and minds of a lot of the public, it's still a niche device, and developing an application for it is still something that developers will be doing on top of developing for other phones and platforms."

Apple will need to make the iPhone both an easy and profitable platform for development in order to reach widespread success, she noted.

For Tony Rizzo, director of mobile software analysis for The 451 Group, the real challenge will come post-development.

"How will Apple ensure and certify that the apps that are developed meet a certain level of quality? For example, badly written apps can quickly drain battery life, which would make the iPhone look bad, not the application," Rizzo told MacNewsWorld.

"What sorts of liberties will developers be able to take in terms of UI? Bad UI design will also reflect badly on the phone first and the app second," he added.

Apple, of course, is a company well-known for tightly controlling its end-user experience. At least some of the third-party application answers will come next week.