Ok sure, video iPod. Coolio.
But here’s my knee-jerk reaction to Steve-O’s announcements: Front Row. Apple Remote. (Front Row is the software. Mah bad.) The bluetooth remote. (Damn… Daring Fireball points out that the remote is IR.) This is what’s going to have the biggest impact. Sure, every Apple fan and maybe half their friends will want the new iPod, but the thing about the remote is that it has the potential to put the spurs to the sales of home theater PCs.
Apple’s remote will be moderately successful, which will make other manufacturers go, “Hmm,” and they will put out their own bluetooth remotes (Sony, I am looking in your direction). (I know remotes have been around for a while, but Apple has a knack for re-developing an existing gadget, and making people start paying attention.) While these new remotes will not be quite as graceful or well-implemented as Apple’s, they will have a bit more penetration into the mainstream consumer. Average Consumer Man is going to look at it and say, “Oh, a remote. Now I get it.” And he will go buy a new computer and rip all his DVDs to it, and store all his music on it, and it will make sense to him, because he can control it all from across the room. No one really interacts with their components directly anymore, you do it from the couch, with half your attention because you only need one had to operate a remote.
It’s all very interesting.