Yesterday marked the release of Mac OS X Leopard from Apple Inc. The release brought with it over 300 new features and enhancements to an already solid operating system. Having spent a lot of time reviewing the massive list of 300+ Features on Apple.com it’s obvious why Steve Jobs only highlighted 10 of these features in his WWDC keynote speech.

There is so much information in the list that it could easily be a full web site in itself. With that in mind, this is the official launch of the Mac OS X Leopard Voting Center. The objective of this site is to present the list of Leopard features to the Mac community in an interactive and fun way. The site was developed to encourage Leopard adoption, community participation and find out what the world things of the latest version of Mac OS X.

To make the site as easy as possible to use, every feature has sorted into various categories. Some of the categories that have already gotten a lot of press coverage include iChat, Safari, Time Machine and Spaces. In addition, the entire site is searchable to help you find exactly what you are looking for.

If you are interested in participating, create a free account and get started today!

The November 2007 issue of MacWorld contains a long article about the slew of new Apple iPods to hit the market in recent weeks. For those who haven’t checked out the new iPod lineup here’s a quick summary:

• iPod Touch - an iPhone without the phone, double the storage capacity and no activation required
• iPod Classic - massive storage capacity bump in the form of 80GB and 160GB models
• iPod Nano - wider design, twice the screen resolution and video playback capabilities
• iPod Shuffle - now available in four new candy coated colors

Despite the main focus of the article being iPods the most interesting part was the iPhone insert article which discussed the $200 iPhone price cut. That very same topic was discussed in a recent article about the potential of seeing an iPhone 2.0 Christmas release.

According to the iPhone insert article, the 2007 holiday season has been on Steve Jobs’ mind too. In response to why Apple Inc. decided to lower the price of the iPhone, Steve Jobs was quoted saying, “We want to put iPhones in a lot of stockings this holiday season.” He went on to add, “We want to make the iPhone even more affordable for even more people this holiday season.”

Obviously, those comments by CEO Steve Jobs give no indication that there is an iPhone 2.0 on the way. Even still, it is interesting follow-up to our Christmas 2007 predictions article.

While still one of the most popular mobile devices on the market right now, the Apple iPhone is already old news. The new iPod Touch is everything the iPhone is except it has more capacity and fewer annoyances. As a result, it makes perfect sense for Apple Inc. to drop the price on the iPhone. Even with the price drop though, the iPhone has lost a lot of it’s momentum and it seems drastic measures are in order. Enter the second generation iPhone (iPhone 2.0)!

The holiday season is fast approaching and like clockwork, Apple is busy pushing new products out to consumers such as the iPod Touch, the new iPod Nano, sleeker iMacs, upgraded MacBook Pro’s and even some new software packages. There is no doubt that Apple has had one of it’s best years to date but even with all these new releases it seems like something is missing.

So what does Steve Jobs have up his sleeve to close out a stellar 2007? Only time will tell but it’s certainly seems feasible that the iPhone 2.0 could easily be that smoking gun product that everyone is waiting for.

Jobs and his team of engineers know what people want in the second generation iPhone and they’ve already delivered some of those features in the iPod Touch. It seems fair to predict that they could push the iPhone 2.0 to market just in time for Christmas 2007.

This is of course a prediction, or perhaps wishful thinking but is it really too much to ask? Even without and iPhone 2.0 it will be interesting to see how Apple tops a stellar 2007 performance in 2008.

Since the release of the highly anticipated iPhone by Apple Inc., consumers, hackers, columnists and critics have all had their sites set on the device. There is plenty to rave about and things to complain about as well. Many reviews have mentioned the lackluster performance of the AT&T network, the built in battery, the small storage capacities and the lack of support for third party applications. This article is not a review of the iPhone and (for the most part) the flaws mentioned in dozens of other iPhone reviews will not be covered here.

This is the Apple iPhone 2.0 Wishlist for Geeks and the objective is to help make the second generation iPhone even better.

Secure Shell (SSH) Client
One of the great things about the iPhone is Mac OS X and the command line sitting underneath the hood. Despite how cool it would be to have access to the iPhone command line, it could also be a security nightmare for Apple. Adding an SSH client is much more feasible and would allow system and network administrators to access servers directly from the iPhone. The added convenience of not having to carry a laptop everywhere is just icing on the cake.

Remote Desktop
This one is a bit tricky. There are web based remote desktop services available on the internet and while very effective, their support for mobile devices is poor. With an amazing track record of clean and minimalist user interface designs, Apple would be an excellent candidate for tackling the complexities of remote desktop access from a mobile device. Because the iPhone sports a multi-touch screen, some of the hurdles of displaying a large desktop window on a small mobile screen could be resolved with the “pinch” zoom capabilities.

Automated .MAC Syncing
The decision to allow syncing through iTunes makes perfect sense because iPod users are already familiar with this process. Additionally, not everyone has a .MAC account so only a select number of iPhone owners would benefit from automated .MAC syncing. All that aside, the bottom line is that automated wireless syncing is still more convenient than wired syncing via iTunes.

Skype (VOIP)
The biggest reason cell phone manufacturers and service providers do not offer VOIP compatibility is money. Most cellular service providers make money when their customers go over their minutes. Free VOIP would mean fewer customers going over their minutes. Apple Inc. is good at breaking the mold and the iPhone is a perfect candidate to have Skype or a similar VOIP service built right into the phone.

MicroSD Slot
There have been many valid complaints about the limited storage capacity of the Apple iPhone. While a larger capacity would be nice, a convenient work around is a built in MicroSD slot. At least with a memory slot consumers could buy memory to match their individual capacity needs.

Video Capable Camera
There’s no debate that sharing personal / amateur video is one of the most popular ways people use the internet today. Apple is fully aware of it’s popularity as both of their latest media devices, the Apple TV and the Apple iPhone, come standard with YouTube viewing software. It seems a natural progression for the iPhone camera to support video. That would allow iPhone users to record, submit and watch their videos all from the same mobile device.

3G Compliant Network or Choice of Service Providers
AT&T is hard at work upgrading their network for faster data transfer but that will take some time. The Apple iPhone is here now so where does that leave consumers? It leaves them with a state-of-the-art mobile device and the browsing capacity of a dial up modem. Fortunately, when the iPhone detects a Wi-Fi hot spot it automatically knows to jump onto the broadband connection. Unfortunately, being bound to Wi-Fi hot spots defeats the purpose of having a mobile device. Contracts aside, having the option of choosing your own service provider would be a welcome change.

It’s no surprise that Apple has successfully penetrated a new market with the release of the iPhone. Their engineers are probably already hard at work on second generation iPhones. Hopefully Apple will listen to it’s users and deliver an even better second generation device.

What are you looking for in the second generation Apple iPhone? It would be great to see this list grow over time so your comments are welcome and encouraged.

When Apple Inc. announced the delay of Mac OS X Leopard in favor of an early iPhone release back in April 2007, many OS X users felt let down and for good reason. While not as hyped as the iPhone, there are many loyal Mac users eagerly awaiting the new operating system. Anticipation aside, Apple is in the business of selling products and it’s decision to push the iPhone out first seems to be a strategic marketing decision on their part.

According to a survey released in June 2007, 19 million Americans were interested in buying iPhone and most of them had never even seen one in person. With that kind of momentum behind the iPhone and the release of several other key software packages (Adobe Creative Suite 3, Final Cut Studio 2, etc.), it should come as no surprise that Apple reported record numbers in it’s Q3 2007 earnings report.

Steve Jobs knew that Apple had a stellar product in the iPhone and with stellar products come media frenzy, high demand and uncontrollable hype. That kind of attention is exactly what Apple needs going into the second half of their best sales year to date. So how do you capitalize on all the attention? You put something equally appealing in the spotlight.

A good marketing strategy doesn’t stop after a successful release. Generally, the goal is to convert one time users into repeat customers and that is where Leopard comes in. Many iPod and iPhone users have never considered owning a Mac. The success of those products could lead many consumers to Apple for their personal computing needs as well.

Apple raised the bar with the iPhone and then put their focus back Mac OS X Leopard. To sweeten the deal they boosted the performance of their MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops (and in some locations offered a 5% discount on all of their hardware just in time for the “back to school” shoppers).

In marketing and technology, timing is everything and right now Apple isn’t missing a beat.

The release of Mac OS X Leopard (10.5) is fast approaching and it’s clear that Apple Inc. has once again pulled out all the stops on it’s newest operating system. Steve Jobs has spent time in the spotlight talking about the new eye candy and performance enhancements in Leopard but behind the scenes, Kevin Van Vechten and his team, have been focused on something a little less flashy.

With OS X Leopard, Apple has joined the the short list of companies who have achieved UNIX 03 Certification and while the story hasn’t been in the news headlines it could mean very good things for Apple, particularly in the server arena.

Since it’s initial release in 1999, Mac OS X has had great potential as a server operating system but it’s been overlooked by many system administrators as a novelty. After all, why use a UNIX clone when you can get the real thing in the form of Solaris or HP-UX? With their successful push to achieve UNIX 03 Certification, Apple has settled that argument once and for all and their answer is Leopard.

For the first time ever, Mac OS X is officially Unix and their timing is perfect. So what does it take to achieve UNIX 03 Certification? The short answer is some good old fashioned hard work. If you are interested in the long answer, I’d recommend reading the Guide to UNIX 03 Certification.

When Leopard is released later this year it will be interesting to see if these efforts pay off in terms of adoption rate among system administrators. In 2008, it would be nice to see some of the big dedicated hosting companies offer some Mac OS X packages to compete with the plethora of Windows and Linux hosting packages currently available.

In the meantime, Apple continues to polish Leopard in preparation for it’s release and Mac users around the world wait in eager anticipation.