Let's Get Ready to Rumble!

Apple knows how to do a publicity striptease. There’s no doubt about it. They just issue a press invitation for next Tuesday, 10/23/2012, telling us as little as possible; and the press of all sorts goes into a “what if?” frenzy. Everyone from the Reader’s Digest to Glamour to Macworld speculates on what they’ll bring on to the stage. I’ll point you to some speculation at MSNBC that seems to hitMSNBC that seemsto hit the high points.

All we at MacValley will say is “Don’t buy a 13” MacBookPro or MacBook Air until next Tuesday. Don’t buy an iMac until next Tuesday. Don’t buy a Mac Mini until next Tuesday.”

And try to remember that this new hardware won’t make you write better or create a better movie. If you want a product that can improve your looks immediately, invest in some Spanx underwear.

And as for the other item of today…was it deliberate on Micro$oft’s part to announce pricing on its Surface tablet today and then do an about-face, or is their marketing department just that bad?

Apparently they won’t try to compete with the Nexus 7 and the low-end Kindle’s at $199. No, they’re a “serious” tablet, which entitles them to charge $499 and more for the combination of cover and keyboard. See, it’s got a kickstand!

They better have plenty of apps and media available at launch for the Surface, or these things will appear at Big Lots! after Christmas for $50 with cover. They’ll get a certain amount of purchases from technology early adopters who just have to have whatever’s new and from people who wanted a tablet, but have an anti-Apple bias. After that, waddaya got that the iPad hasn’t got?

I’ll leave you with some good news for Windows 8. Stardock, a small software company that makes customization options for Windows, has a free beta version of its Start8 menu for Windows 8 Preview. The final version will cost $5. PC World predicts Stardock will make a small fortune from people relieved to find a solution to Windows 8 user interface that they can’t figure out.