WWDC

It's an ecosystem.

Contrary to popular wisdom, the iMac didn't save Apple, the iPod did. The iMac spoke to the faithful, however disenchanted they may have become. The iPod spoke to newbies, who didn't think they cared. Then they joined the reinvigorated faithful and became an army.

You might have read about the introduction of the new MacBook Pro with the Retina display. But yesterday wasn't about hardware, but software. The integration of all of Apple's products, from the iPhone to the iPad to the Mac. Suddenly, you need all three, because they speak to each other. And so far no one is even competing, certainly not Google, and although the moribund Microsoft has introduced a decent Windows phone, there's no uptake, there are no apps, there's no reason to buy it.

Yesterday was all about sync. They didn't call it that, but that's what it is. Syncing your phone with your tablet with your computer, so they're all up to date, automatically, from the documents you're working on to the photos you're shooting to the music you're listening to. No one else has a complete solution, and as a result they're going to be lost in the dust.

iMessage and FaceTime work on all three products. And if you're not a Mac user, you're out of the loop. And if you think this is insignificant, you're unaware of the power of BBM (BlackBerry Messenger), which kept the BlackBerry alive longer than it should have been.

You want to play with your friends. And now, you can do this wirelessly, with said friends, who might be on an iPhone while you're on your computer, watching the action unfold on your TV, wirelessly. But even more you don't want to be disorganized yourself, you don't want to waste time syncing all your machines. But now that's done seamlessly.

What Apple has done is bring its operating systems together. Lion and Mountain Lion are all about making the Mac more like the iPhone and iPad. Now you can control your Mac with gestures.

And the notifications and sharing built into Mountain Lion are staggering. You think of your computer as being discrete programs, now they're all operating together, like life.

And what's great about Apple, unlike the music industry, is they're ahead of the customer. Most people not only didn't watch this presentation and have no idea of the capabilities, they don't believe they even need the capabilities! Just like they thought they didn't need e-mail on their phone, just like they thought they didn't need apps.

Call me a fanboy, but that's missing the point. Apple is making an end run around the entire technology business. And neither Wall Street nor the mainstream media are catching it. They keep looking at today's numbers, at Android penetration, hell, they couldn't even foresee the death of the BlackBerry when it was self-evident.

Android is hampered by multiple handsets running multiple generations of the operating system, with most people not upgrading to the latest, if that's even possible. Whereas Apple is unified. You can check the slide. Almost everybody upgraded to iOS 5. Which then ensures adoption of the latest gee-whiz functionalities. And there is no full-fledged Google computer, hell, there's not even a hit Google tablet.

Apple's stock is going to go through the roof. Adoption of the iPhone is in its infancy. The integration of all three devices will make Windows domination laughable. Because Apple is not only going for the desktop, it's going for hearts and minds. It's invading your home, your car, it's with you everywhere. And what's going to sell Apple is not the company's advertising, but the fanbase, the same way it spread the word on the iPod and then the Mac.

Please, please, please don't have a knee-jerk reaction. Don't think I've sold out to Tim Cook, et al. Please be dispassionate about this. Imagine if your CD spoke to your CD player and your car radio too. That's what this is about. And imagine if this aforementioned integration could even speak to your buddies. Yup, you can now share your photos with friends, seamlessly.

This is so big, and seemingly everyone missed it.

Sure, the hardware is up to date, shiny and flashy, but it's what you can do with it that counts.

Your life is about to change. You just don't know it yet.

The keynote: http://bit.ly/MCoRnB

P.S. Tim Cook was more relaxed, but he had the great sense to let others do the talking. The keynote was not disconnected from Steve Jobs, but part of the continuum. As for the vaunted Apple television, watch closely and you'll see they're already introducing so much of the functionality, without any hardware involved. The key to Apple's resurgence has been software, oftentimes hidden under the packaging of shiny hardware. Unfortunately, its competitors in the consumer electronics business can make their products shiny and new on the outside, but inside, functionality is still positively twentieth century.


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