Oh Jesus. Does this mean another 500 entries about whatever the hell doo-dad Apple is making? Interesting my arse.

The iPod's killer app was portable music. Scads and scads of music, much more than the Walkman could ever dream of playing. Eventually, portable music became portable pictures and portable tv. Some of us are happy with the music. If you were waiting for the next iPod, it was the iPhone.

The iPhone's killer app (as you pointed out, Farhad) is near-constant access to everything. Including music, tv and home-made music and tv. The music industry shot itself in the foot by trying to control distribution instead of delivering a product people might want to pay for. Newspapers do not practice journalism and are being replaced as a source of information by blogs. Television (and movies) have too many commercials and appeal to the lowest common denominator, whereas the net can keep you up to date with the latest. No more "must see tv". The phone book has been replaced, travel guides can't be personalized as easily as Google, etc etc.

Those who have been waiting for an upgrade to the iPod are generally happy with the iPhone's techno-flashery. The iPhone is roughly the same price as a high-end iPod, plus phone connection. I don't know if it has changed the world or even if it will, ultimately, be successful. But where Microsoft is making personal computers that are more like personal computers, Apple is changing the very paradigm of human interaction.

I've been a Mac guy for decades, and at the moment I say: Whee!

Sometimes it seems like the only thing this page talks about is Apple. You know that when you see an article on Apple's financial statements. Uh, this is a technology page. Apple's putative financial strength is important to technology only to those who are in an imagined fight with Microsoft. How many articles were there on Steve Jobs back dating his options?

"Uh, this is a technology page. Apple's putative financial strength is important to technology only to those who are in an imagined fight with Microsoft."

With all due respect, I think you're missing the point. It's not so much about the financial/money side as much as it is about numbers. The fact that Macs are going through a form of resurgence changes a tech landscape that - at least as far as personal computers go - had been pretty stable for a very long time. It means a shift in what consumers are looking for. It means a subtle stirring of what has been an almost completely monolithic culture for the past 20 years. It also changes the type of products that will be added to the ecosystem in the near future - more demand for Macs means more software and services geared towards the OS (something that's been apparent ever since the arrival of Unix based OS X).

The same is true for the iPhone. We can argue for eons about functionality but the fact remains that this is about form. And yes, it matters (see Robert Scobble's blog on how he's selling his Nokia N95 after using an iPhone. Not because the iPhone does more; just because it does it better, as in one click to access Google Maps versus eleven!). Consumers who have been forced into using unwieldy devices with convoluted UIs are now slowly becoming aware of the alternative and are voting with their wallets. That's what "Apple's putative financial strength" is telling us.

Ford's assembly line had nothing to do with car engines. But it changed the landscape a little...

... the point about my previous reply (got lost in my thoughts there): Apple's success usually means competitor emulation is bound to follow. That's a direct impact on the tech landscape. It has nothing to do with MSFT - that was last century ;-)

There's an obvious reason for this: Apple hasn't refreshed the iPod line in some time, and it's likely that many people put off or delayed their purchase in anticipation of the iPhone or Apple's next iPod model.

That's my damage. My old 60 GB iPod died on me about 4 months ago, and I've been using my wife's old iPod Mini (while her shiny new Nano mocks me). But I haven't bought a new iPod since we're about due for a refresh, either in size or hopefully look.

Personally, my money is on an iPhone like iPod by Christmas: one large screen, and instead of the electronics for the phone bits, it's got the hard drive. I'd love to see it with Wi-Fi, but since that would likely cannabalize the iPhone's sales, I'm not going to hold my breath.

But yeah, I'm waiting for a product refresh. Hopefully it will be announced soon.

Is there anyone else dropping bombs on the industry like Apple?

Aside from the iPhone -- what are the OTHER ground-breaking devices that are radically transforming the landscape?

I know!

Let's talk about Vista!

Er, um, well. Not a lot to talk about with Vista, is there?

What about the revolutionary Zune?

Um, can we really call the Zune revolutionary (or even interesting) at this point?

What about the latest smart phone?

Again, basically the latest smart phones, currently, are just more of the same old same old. Nothing new really.

The reason Apple seems to be on everyone's lips is because they are actually doing NEW and BETTER things -- whereas everyone else just seems to be pumping out big old steaming piles of "more of the same."

... for that product transition:

1. The new iMac design. Seems the most likely, and the most uncertain in terms what kind of effect it will have on the bottom line.

2. This has already been mentioned: A touch-screen video iPod that can be turned on its side for full-screen viewing. Basically an iPhone without the phone and wireless. Seems inevitable, but when?

3. A 'MacBook Nano' notebook. No sooner than October and Mac OS X 10.5, but likely somewhat later. This is the most interesting machine in terms of technological trends. No hard drive? Flash-memory array instead?

4. A 'Mac Midi' semi-pro. Half a Mac Pro, more or less. The lack of something like this has long frustrated a subset of Mac users, but now that the Intel transition is complete and running Windows (think games) is an option on Macintosh machines, it seems like Apple could decide to enter this arena.