MacMost Now 494: 2010 Apple Year In Review

Take a look back at 2010 Apple news. The year saw record financial quarters, sales growth, the launch of the iPad and iPhone 4 as well as controversy around App Store policies and the iPhone 4's antenna.

You can also watch this video at YouTube (but with ads).

Video Transcript: Hi this is Gary with MacMost Now, on this episode let's take a look back at 2010. So there's no doubt that 2010 was a great year for Apple. They saw increased sales and market shares for just about every product line. And they started off the year with an introduction of a new product the iPad it would be a large screen iPod Touch and would come out in April, Earlier in the year there was also a lot of controversy about the working conditions in the factories in China used to make Apple products as a result there was a lot of investigations, a lot by Apple and some changes to the working conditions. 
So March saw an interesting announcement of the Mac developer program to accompany the iOS developer program already in place, now we know of course this was the precursor to the release of the Mac App Store which we hope to see next month. 
So in April the iPad came out and many of us waited in line to get ours. There's no doubt that the launch was a success and the product overall was a success, and many other companies are trying to imitate Apple but none, so far have gained much market share, in addition in this month we also saw new Mac Book Pro's. As a matter of fact in 2010 the entire iMac and Mac book pro product lines moved to use the new i5 and i7 Intel Processors.
So in May we said farewell to two characters we've gotten to know over the years. The Mac and the PC from the I am a Mac ads, Apple decided to discontinue the ads and move on with new campaigns. 
June saw another big product launch, this time for the iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 featured an external antenna, also a retina display, and a front facing camera for video chatting. 
So July saw new imacs and Mac pros it also saw a new input device, the magic track pad as an alternative to the mouse, but the month was dominated by news that people were having trouble staying connected with their iPhone 4's because the external antenna. If you gripped it wrong sometimes a phone call would drop and Apple eventually relented and gave out free cases for anybody and the cases helped alleviate the problem. 
In August, Apple released a new cinema display to replace their older models and it worked really well with laptops.
September saw a new iPod nano, the flag ship model for the iPods. Featured a touch screen but removed some of the features of the earlier iPod nano like video recording. In addition we also got the new Apple TV, and as of the end of the year looks like Apple will sale about a million units of those. 
One story that ran through 2010 was the restrictions Apple placed on developers for using the iOS store. Apple would ban certain types of Apps, change the rules very often, and in April they actually banned apps that were created with Adobe's Flash technology which allowed you to not only make web based applications but also create them for the iPhone. They banned it and then in September they changed the rules not only allowing flash apps in the store but also a whole set of different categories that had previously been banned. 
So in October we go two new products, we got new Mac book air including a smaller even lighter version than before and we also got the new iLife suite, iLife 11 which updated iMovie, iPhoto, and the rest. 
So November saw the release of iOS 4.2, a major update for both the iPad and iPhone, and also we finally got The Beatles on iTunes, one of the last large groups to hold out in distributing their music in mp3 format. Apple not only got them on iTunes but landed a one year exclusive. 
At the end of the year we started hearing a lot about the new Mac app store which should be released on January 6th and present a unified interface for downloading new software to your Mac similar to how you do it on the iPhone. 
Next week I will be taking a look at what we can expect from Apple in 2011. Until next time this is Gary Rosenzweig, with MacMost Now

Comments: 11 Responses to “MacMost Now 494: 2010 Apple Year In Review”

Kaleb

14 years ago

I don't suppose you could have waited until....I don't know...new years was closer and...call me crazy...Christmas was already over with before you did a year-in-review.

Gary Rosenzweig

Well many (most?) news outlets have done year-in-reviews already. I'm actually late compared to a lot of major tech publications. Apple doesn't usually announce anything big over the holidays anyway.

Steve

Hi Gary, Thanks for all the great info! Just wondering why you didn't mention the updated iPod Touch?

No reason. I tried my best to make it comprehensive, but I didn't want the video to run too long.

Thanks Gary. I always learn something from your podcast; much appreciated!

Chris M

Gary,
I really enjoy/appreciate your podcasts. Your clear, concise explanations really simplify the problem at hand. Do you have a contribution option for your site?

Contribution? You mean like a donation? No. I don't do that. If you like the site, you can support it indirectly by buying the book (http://macmost.com/book) or some of my iPhone games (http://clevermedia.com/iphonegames/). Other than that, just help by spreading the word about the site. I get paid by the advertisers, so the more people that visit the site the more reward I see for doing MacMost. Thanks.

G Tyler

Nice job as usual. I just ordered your book for a relative that will be switching to Mac soon. Amazon is selling it for $13.59 right now. How about an episode on video chat options? Facetime vs. Skype vs. Fring, etc. Skype doesn't have mobile device support, Facetime doesn't have PC support. Fring is the only one with mobile device support (Droid) but who wants to get all their relatives to install that bad software? Maybe Skype will finally get their act together when the iPad 2 launches...

Thanks! I don't use video chat that often. When I do, it is between two Macs, so we just use iChat. I've done FaceTime a few times too. I suppose if Skype gets video chat on the iPhone it will be the clear winner. A lot of people use Skype.

Guess what just happened a few minutes ago? Skype released video support for the iOS devices!! What a coincidence. Now I can video chat with my parents without running to the computer. The iPod Touch in my pocket means that I'm always available - well, if I'm on WiFi.

I use iChat too between Macs (usually over Bonjour at home), which brings up a question - why Apple hasn't created an iOS version or it?

My mom is not on a Mac yet and Skype was the only client I could get to work. I tried AIM with iChat and MSN Messenger but it wouldn't work.

brian

Got Apple TV as a gift over Christmas, blew me away, amazing product, if you have netflix.

I have bought another one as a gift since its so inexpensive.

Comments Closed.

MacMost Now 494: 2010 Apple Year In Review

Comments: 11 Responses to “MacMost Now 494: 2010 Apple Year In Review”

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