Community Blog

Completely ignoring the launch of the New Zealand iTunes Store and online Apple store for a moment...2006 was an impressive year for Apple. With the smooth launch and transition to Intel Macs (it seems so much longer than 12 months ago that the first was released) and the promotion by Apple of products such as Parallels on your Mac, Apple is (as ever) evolving beautifully.

Then factor into the mix local news in the December launch of an iTunes Store (finally!), lower prices than we had experienced (thanks in part of the new online store), and it really has been an amazing year of Apple news and of forth-coming promise.

One of the first things I tend to do when writing this annual review, is to flick through the news pages of NZMac.com and see just what happened over the 2006 year. Here's a snippet of some of the things that happened for Apple....

• Introduced MacBook Pro
• Announced iLife '06
• iMac with Intel Core Duo Processor
• Unveiled Mac mini with Intel
• Announced the iPod Hi-Fi
• Surprised everyone with Windows XP boot camp beta
• Introduced 17-inch MacBook Pro
• Nike and Apple Team Up to Launch Nike+iPod
• Debuts the Wireless Mighty Mouse
• Previewed Mac OS X Leopard
• Unveiled the new iPod shuffle and iPod nano
• Announced iTunes 7
• Reports $546 million profit and record Mac sales
• Launched iTunes & Online Apple Stores in New Zealand

2006 is a year that is ending with reports of record iTunes sales, amazing iPod demand and rumours galore over what we might see in the early days of the New Year at the Macworld Conference and Expo, including the much debated Apple iPhone. 2006 has been an incredible year of solid development and continued growth by Apple, both in terms of their product and of their market share.

As open source projects aimed to get Windows XP running on an Intel Mac, Apple surprised everyone with the release of the Boot Camp beta....making running Windows something easily achievable and for many desirable. As someone repeatedly having to use Windows applications that staff make use of (so I can train them on their use in the University) I can't wait to get my first Intel Mac (ever) and work laptop this year and stop having to boot up an old G4 and a very old PC...although they have both kept me warm on chilly days at Massey with the heat they put out.

At the same time, Parallels and other similar products show what a competitive market we're now amongst, with updates and new beta releases competing with each other for new functionality on a regular basis. Being a Mac user couldn't be any better.

Steve Jobs has hinted that we really don't know everything there is to know about Leopard and at the same time, did something Apple rarely does...introduced us to a product that was far from ready for release. I suspect the temporarily-named iTV will have as much impact on Mac users as iTunes or the iPod has had, but whether it captures other users, I'm not sure.

Leopard is shaping up to be a fantastic release even though we don't know everything about it. It will be interesting to see what happens in January. I personally hope that a release date will be named, as I think it too soon to suspect Leopard is ready for release. One of the rumours circulating is that Leopard will feature a new look, because...well, let's face it...Microsoft Vista has stolen so much from our current Mac experience, so perhaps we'll get to see more of those secrets in the next week or so.

NZMac.com in 2006
The site itself has received a lot of attention this year. The move to a commercial template for the design was a superb one and made me a lot of good contacts. The developers of the design have been great to chat to and I've participated a lot in their forum to help others with issues.

Of course, not all attention is wanted and I'm amazed at the increase in spam, the amazingly petty attempts to access the forum and post...well, inappropriate comments etc, that have really kept me on my toes. Even on Christmas day I had noticed a feature (called "Trackbacks") which I never really understood, had generated 23,000 (yes, that is correct) links to porn sites hidden within NZMac.com!! It's complicated how that all works, but needless to say, that feature has now been disabled :-)

Traffic has increased over the course of the year quite dramatically. I'm not one to release figures for hits etc (particularly because people really don't understand that hits do not mean visits or even pages loaded) but all the stats for the site have steadily increased over the year. Unfortunately, here on December 30th as I write this sentence, I've just received my first ever bandwidth warning from my web host and may have to upgrade my hosting plan due to the aforementioned increase in traffic to the site.

There's been some big changes in the year...the new look as mentioned, the Quick Tips section and more...but mostly it is the "tweaks" that I've been happiest with. The new News Bulletin feature is just superb (you can sign up and get an email of any stories posted to the front page - when there isn't a news story you don't get an email) and the commenting system change (after much reluctance by me) to a commercial product (one that people are using) has been good. The radio widget was a completely surprise, even to me...as I just happened to spot one I could use and change and on Christmas day, I was really pleased to be able to add tagging functionality into the content pages (the forum will be next at some point).

As I type this, it has been about 3 and a half weeks since I applied to become an Apple store affiliate. The process wasn't that easy and I didn't really receive any responses from anyone other than auto-replies...but finally got hold of a real person who told me they are still finalising the process. I'm really hoping to become a store affiliate as it will be a way that users of the site can support NZMac.com when purchasing at the Apple online store, without it costing you a cent more.

The decision to move to Joomla (the open source content management system that runs the site) has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. That too has generated a lot of contact from people this year asking the odd question or two, although sometimes they ask without ever taking time to do some investigating themselves (that's frustrating!)...but it leads to a great supportive community and that is what Joomla, NZMac.com and so many other online communities are about.

Affiliate status will mean a bit more advertising, but with increasing costs it will help me....and certainly help if I need to purchase any other software for the site (although NZMac.com runs on open source software, many of its components are commercial add-ins or projects I have donated to). One of the tweaks I hope to see in the future (it may be after a move to Joomla 1.5 which will be a big move, since version 1.5 is a substantial change from the current version) will be to allow users of the site to submit stories. It is possible at the moment, but the implementation is too messy.

The podcasts have been something that I have been happy to continue, but as you are all aware, a struggle to find people to contribute. I really wish more site users (or even non-users who have something to say) would consider getting in touch and doing a podcast.

So what is in store for 2007?
Well from an Apple point of view, I guess we'll know in a few in just about a week. A lot of speculation is about the iPhone. What tends to excite me more each year are the enhancements to iLife. If I could have one wish for iLife it would probably be two video tracks in iMovie...although there are a lot of other things I'd like to see.

Probably the thing that I'm waiting on the most is a full-screen iPod (maybe that is what we'll see in an iPhone?) as although I'm not an iPod owner, that would just be exceptionally cool and very useful for video watching.

In terms of the site, 2007 will no doubt bring new features as I think of them or as you guys offer great advice. I'm always tweaking the site as you know and there are a couple of things I'm quietly working away on...but nothing concrete for now and nothing I can really comment on.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to ponder as we move into a new year is Apple's relationship with its New Zealand customers. I don't think we've quite come to grips with how the iTunes and online stores will impact us. The iTunes store is (I speculate without asking anyone) almost certainly being run out of Australia, with guest celebrity lists featuring Australians we don't even know and Australian podcasts featuring heavily in the podcast area. It's great to see they are slowly adjusting the music store, but there is still a feeling of being a second cousin to the genuine users.

Despite Renaissance having detractors, they have been a nice bunch of people to deal with. They've kept an eye on the site and been in touch quietly now and then to correct errors, comment on a posting or two in the forum (I've always made it clear in postings if it is info they have provided) and certainly had a local focus. We need to appreciate that despite the changes, it's not as though we now have Apple Computer actually in New Zealand and I'm slightly worried things could become a little muddied over 2007. It's also interesting to note (as a web master) that emails to the web master of Renaissance were always answered quickly (as too were any other staff I had contact with), they provided info to help me build up the business directory section etc, but so far a couple of emails to the web master of the new site (basically the Apple Australia web master) and to a staff member have simply disappeared. I'm hoping that isn't an omen of things to come.

There's a feeling there of Apple haven taken over some aspects of 'Apple in New Zealand', but just how they intend to do this, where Renaissance fits in (I know it sounds silly, but just who will be promoting and sponsoring events, and who do you deal with?) as the official distributor and how this will shape up for Kiwis I think is going to be intriguing. If some commented in discussion forums that Renaissance never said much to us, I suspect we may hear less from Apple Australia. That said, I am ever hopeful to be absolutely and thoroughly proven wrong, and will look forward to communicating and working with them to support New Zealand Mac users.

So, we've got an exciting year ahead, although we're not quite sure what it is going to bring us. It makes the next couple of weeks feel more like Christmas to a grown up.....am I allowed to confess I get excited the night before the Keynote!?

Thanks to each and every person that supported the site over the 2006 period.

Here's to great news coming from Cupertino and to a fantastic year on NZMac.com :-)

Best wishes, Philip Roy