Alexander Payne has most condense MacWorld news.#

And then continues with thoughts.

Everyone and her sister seems to think the iPod mini is overpriced at $250 for its target market of "high-end flash MP3 players." I'm inclined to agree, but then I remember my initial reaction to the first iPod: absurdly high for something so base as an MP3 player. Well, the iPod turned out not only to sell in droves despite its price but evolve into more than an MP3 player, both practically and aesthetically. Apple will probably dominate the iPod mini's target market with the same gusto and innate cool factor that has kept their brand afloat for years despite seemingly shaky business decisions.

The rest of the announcements were nifty, but not earth-shattering. Clearly, I want a new G5 Xserve and I think you all should start robbing the poor, sick, weak, and aged to help me pay for it.

I was thinking the same thing.

Russell Beattie remarks:

Okay, so what about the future. Well, I'm sticking with my guns: The iPod needs a color screen, integration with wireless technologies and just a general mobile technology rev. Apple's got to get with it, get over the Newton Effect and produce either a mobile phone or a PDA or some other consumer oriented device. The iPod isn't called iMusic or something like that, right? So obviously it's been in the plans for a long time to make that device into something more than just a portable hard drive. Now is the time that's got to happen.

John Gruber on what's so cool about GarageBand.

What's so cool about GarageBand is that it exemplifies the market that Apple is going after. People who want to use their computers to make cool things. People who want to be producers, not just consumers. If it's possible to distill into a single thought what it is that makes Apple Apple, and what has made the Macintosh so enduringly popular, that's it.

That's why Apple's industry-wide PC market share numbers are nearly meaningless. The vast majority of Wintel PCs are used as little more than modern-day typewriters. They're just office equipment.

PC pundits pound their heads against the wall, asking why, if Apple only sells a small percentage of computers, the company receives such a disproportionate amount of media attention. The answer is simply that they're selling the best computers, to the most interesting people. Maybe it is only two percent of the total PC market, but it's the most interesting two percent.