A recent article posted in Business Week described how few companies like Apple can maintain such pressure on the market, set such innovative trend, induce such envy from consumers, investors, marketers alike.

So how did Apple manage this?

The first reason is because Apple is a top down company. Decisions are made in Cupertino before they are being implemented properly through the chain of countries.

The second reason is because Apple is a design-to-technology company. Products are not created based on technology limitations but design visions.

The third reason is because Apple has a strong vision and consumer knowledge. Great innovations are created and pushed through the organization.

Having said that, however, the company fails or can miss the mark sometimes. The Newton, the Performa, the iSight and the Apple TV are not as successful as they were supposed to be.

Some other product lines are doing well, but still lagging behind the industry.
Laptops sales, desktop sales are continuously increasing but the overall Apple market share on those segments is far from reaching the perceived brand image value. Should you question people on the street, they would believe Apple’s market share is around 20%-30%. The reality might be closer to 5- 7%. The recent MacBook Air will certainly not change the market share, but it does help contribute to its brand image.

Then comes the “Holy Grail”, or the new success genes of the company – iPod, iTunes Music Store, iPhone… The company created new icons and continues to push forward limitations in designs and innovations.

The company does what’s right: take the consumer’s needs and implement them properly in new products.

Perspectives are positive because iTMS is lacking behind in all other countries as compared to the US. It means that European markets and Asian market have not YET experienced the full scope of Apple’s solutions.

On the other hands, barriers to enter those markets are higher than in USA. Apple almost had a fight with Orange in France and could not find a deal with China Telecom to release the iPhone in China. iTMS is only available in Japan and is not as successful compared to the other regions.

No one can tell you how the market will react to those elements. However, we can give you the right information for you to make your own decision

(c) Apple Computer

Let’s have a look at the summary of MWSF and decipher the recent announcements. All details are accessible on the Apple website.

- Rental Movies
This is maybe the biggest news. After releasing music and video stores, Apple successfully releases the movie rental on iTunes Store.
Many companies tried to adopt an audio renting system for the online market. All of them failed for one reason: consumers want to own their music. They want to be able to listen multiple times to a song/album, artist and do not want to be hindered by the DRM restrictions. However, this model does not applyt ot Movies. Consumers are less willing to watch movie a couple of times. The renting model, as proven by the multiple rental video store has proven to be successfull.

Movies will be available in different formats (news and back catalogs, HD and non HD). You will be able to download a movie, watch it on a computer and upload it into your iPod. GREAT! As you can expect, and unfortunately, it will only be available in the US to start.

The next step the industry should be working on should be to ensure that you can BUY one movie and play it wherever you want. I buy a BRD, HD-DVD, it should come automatically with the DVD version, the iPod version, the .wmv version and the PSP version…. Consumers owns the movie not the format. Imagine if you are asked to buy one car for the highway, one for the town, one for the holidays… No, you buy and own the content, so there should be an easy access to the same file of different formats.

Let’s wait and see how this movie rental store will be implemented, how it will be easy to use, and when it will be available in the rest of the world!

- New MacBook Air
We’ve already covered it. In summary – an ultra thin laptop, ultra light, touch mouse pad, great design, comes at a performance reduction price. Still have not decided to get one for myself or not. Main issue will be the management of the entire media library / overall performance if you are a heavy music/photos user like me.

- Time Capsule
Imagine an AirPort Base station with an HDD included, this is Time Capsule. This product has been designed to allow laptop users to backup their Hard Disk using WiFi. The current Time Machine software is mainly designed to be used with an USB / Firewire connection to a direct Hard Disk. Any connection through WiFi or Ethernet will drastically slow down performances. Wait and see when we can try it.

- Apple TV Upgrade
I was amazed to hear Steve Jobs admitting that they had failed with the first Apple TV. He is right. This first product did not make sense to me. Why would you buy a bigger iPod that syncs with your PC/Mac and put it under your TV?
The new Apple TV is able to sync directly with your computer, AND can directly access the iTunes and of course new rental store. Wait and see whether the ease of use is present and if our internet speed allows us to watch TV properly from the Apple TV box.

- iPhone Upgrade
New features proposed, great. Free downloads with GSM + WiFi triangulation, which helps to locate the next store or shop on your iPhone, cool.

- iPod Touch Upgrade
New features proposed, great, BUT this upgrade comes at a $20 price tag!!! This is really not understandable – why would a consumer have to pay for an update on his iPod Touch? Despite the cool new features, I am not too comfortable with this option.

(c) Apple Computer. click here

OK, forgive me for this cheesy analogy with the famous John Paul Young hit from the 80s, feel free to watch the clip on Youtube… .
There is a chance that I will not be the only one using it over the next few days and you will know the reason why.
Apple has just introduced a new laptop: the MacBook Air.

I will not go into a detailed review of the product. My colleagues, fellow bloggers, IT reviewers will do a detailed review of it sooner or later. Some early reviews can be found at Macworld.com . Gizmodo You will find some great pictures on the site.

In summary, this is a piece of beauty, ultra light, thin laptop, with a 13″ screen, 80GB hard disk storage (or 64MB flash), USB , mini DVI, Airport N, Bluetooth, lighted keyboard and new touchpad features. It weighs only 1.36kg and has a thickness of only 1.94cm.
Of course, it is extremely sexy and well designed. Price starts from $1799 USD.

So, let’s get away from the traditional ultra positive fan-oriented, Apple-geek- in-love review and be rational for a while (at least let’s try).

So, who is it for?

As usual, Mac and Apple fans are the core target audience. You can expect lots of pre orders (2-3 weeks in advance) from this core audience, who are dying to get their hands on the latest piece of Apple’s technology. Being lighter and thinner, it will cater to anyone who needs to travel and carry data around.

However, be aware of a couple of things.

Ultra portability always comes as a compromise. There is always a catch. Evaluate your needs and decide afterwards whether the MacBook Air is suitable to you.

Here are the limitations:
- Up to 1.8Ghz speed. Current models run at 2.16Ghz. You can expect a downgrade in performance if you are an heavy user.
- External drive. Not a big deal, no one really needs to use a drive for 24 hours per day. Just get (extra charges) the new external drive or use the new software to link it to your old Mac.
- USB to Ethernet/modem port. This means you might suffer from speed transfer loss , especially over the ethernet connection

What do I love :
- Design
I did not get the chance to look at it myself, however, the pictures and first shots look gorgeous.
- Weight and size
Extremely light and thin. Finally you can bring it with you all day long with ease. 1.36kg and less than 2cm thick is almost the thickness of your iPod!
- Illuminated keyboard
This is a must have for all those who want to work in dark places / planes / meetings etc.
- Touch Pad gesture control
Imagine you can do exactly the same control with your touch pad like your iPod Touch screen. Rotate, zoom in, and zoom out. Easy and time saving.
- SDD memory
You can decide to get the SSD memory version of the Mac Book Air instead of the internal memory version. Save some time and energy but there is the lost of capacity and huge cost increase!

Too bad for :
- Screen size:
This is a personal choice, but should I go for a thin and light laptop, I would have preferred to have a 10″ screen or 11″ screen to save space. In any cases, you connect it to your Flat Panel display when you go home, so you do not really need such a wide screen.
- Storage capacity:
This is always the catch. 80GB is large enough for students and workers. Should you decide to store all your life inside (photos, music etc) then you might run into a problem. How do I sync my 160GB iPod with a 80GB only laptop HDD?
The multi libraries or content sharing between different hard discs is currently very painful. This is one of the drawbacks of the convergence.
- SDD memory
Great, but I would have loved to see both – flash memory for fast boot up AND the HDD to store all the data.

From a specification point of view, evaluate what kind of work you are doing. If you are a heavy user of Parallel Desktop, or Photoshop, videos, pictures etc, be aware that the MacBook light will be “light” in performance. But this is not what is requested out of it is it? Chances are you might have to go for MacBook Pro in that case.

Back in the time when I used to work with Apple, I remember we used to always explain that there is only “One Pie” available when you buy a laptop. This is the overall performance one. Then it is up to you to balance it: ultra portable and powerful, or portable and more powerful, or transportable and ultra powerful.

There is one for everybody, make your choice. The Mac Book Air is definitively in the first category.

Mine is done: I will get them all..

I recently wrote about how some business people are trying to run their business on a 24h/24h day basis. With the help of the technology, it has become easy to stay connected through mobile phones, emails, push mails, internet, wireless, WiFi , 3G and so on.
This mobility definitively helps to drive the business. A dollar is a dollar and saving a minute can save your business. Attending DigiGen08, speakers will tell you this is about multitasking and it is part of the Digital Generation genes.

However, I am wondering if this is really efficient in a long run.

The world is definitively ’spinning faster’ and one should catch up if you want to keep your head above the water. To avoid drowning, you have to swim faster and harder than before.
The problem now is that when you swim, you are swimming to survive, not to plan.
There comes a risk that your actions are always based on a last minute emergency and you have less time to plan in advance your next step in order to stay ahead of the competition.

As such, there is a chance that you react instead of staying ahead.

The other risk is that you are not allowing your mind to get sufficient rest, which could lead to you getting blurred and confused.

In this fast paced world, my advice would be to take some time to think. This is why I love travelling so much. I am always amazed to see all my business colleagues working 10 hours in a row on a flight. Don’t get me wrong, this happens to me as well when I am in a rush, in need of closing a file or delivering a contract, project etc.

However, the benefit of working on a flight is it forces you to be disconnected.

It forces your mind to rest and suddenly everything become clearer.
Same goes with your new mobile phone with the push mail function. Before you got it, you could easily not check your emails over night. I can bet that now, you check it as soon as you have 5minutes free.

This syndrome has been named as an addiction by doctors. Like any drugs, they are dangerous.

Life is not a 100m sprint but rather is a marathon and we need to prepare and pace ourselves accordingly.
Learn how to disconnect. Lear to unplug and get the bigger picture into perspective.
Your family, your friends, your business and even yourself will be more than happy on the long run.

P.S : I am going back to my PC to check my emails (no one said it is easy to resist… =) )