Imagine someone blowing up a balloon, then quickly letting the air escape. Now, imagine them doing it over and over in a seemingly endless cycle. To paraphrase a famous anti-drug commercial, this is your brain on Apple.
I'm reminded of this scenario every time an Apple event is announced. You will hear rumors about products to be introduced at the show, followed by after-the-fact laments about what wasn't announced. Actually, this says a lot about Apple and CEO Steve Jobs' ability to stir up buzz.
Last week, Apple hosted such an event, its yearly update of music products such as the iPod and iTunes. The general response from the online press was a yawn. While no one denied that there were some improvements and price reductions in the iPod line, there were no blockbuster introductions either.
The biggest buzz was that Steve Jobs himself gave the presentation. You'll recall that Jobs had only recently returned from a medical leave for a liver transplant. That was one rumor that did bear fruit.
One interesting announcement was that iTunes is becoming more social, hooking into Facebook and Twitter. This will become the norm as these two services dominate the social networking field.
In a related story, the iPhone is becoming the center of several security concerns, with Apple updating its Quicktime Player and other features to keep problems at bay. As cell phones become more like desktop computers, security will become as big an issue with them as desktops because they run applications as well.
Another company fulfilled one rumor last week, as Palm released its Pixi cell phone. It appears to be primarily designed for messaging, as it has a well-received keypad and many of the Palm Web OS features of the Palm Pre phone. Reviewers are split on its viability and sales potential, probably because Palm and carrier Sprint have gotten mixed reviews on the Pre. Many feel it has not sold well compared to the iPhone, while others state that it's too soon to tell just how the Pre will do over time.
Google is always innovating and experimenting with its products. The company announced last week that it is developing a micropayment service based on its Google Checkout service. Micropayments are sort of the Holy Grail of online payment services, as they will allow users to pay very small amounts for online content.
Google is targeting this service to newspapers and other providers of similar services. They will have their work cut out for them, as micropayments have so far only been truly successful for gaming and similar offerings.
One possible snag in all this is that there have been several problems with Google Checkout reported recently. CNET's Webware reported last week that vendors were having problems with monthly subscription billing through Google Checkout and that many vendors are "getting fed up with Google's automated approach to their concerns." If true, this does not bode well for any service based on this one.
Google also is reported to be experimenting with placing ads between messages in its popular G-mail service. This is a more aggressive and in-your-face approach than they've used in the past. Online advertisers are always trying to strike a balance between user satisfaction and ad revenue, and this will no doubt raise issues of compromise between the two.
Finally, watch for YouTube to jump on the social bandwagon, as it is starting to experiment with connecting users to friends on the service. It remains to be seen how this will work out, as some reviewers think this goes against the basic way most people want to use YouTube. Time will tell.
E-mail Donnie at donniejenkins@yahoo.com
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