So Apple held their much anticipated Back to the Mac event today. Since I made some predictions, I thought I'd follow up to see how well I did on my first attempt and predicting what was going to be shown.
To recap, I made the following predictions. I'll address each of these in turn.
- Sneak peek of OS X 10.7, to be called Lion
- New OS will have more user facing features
- New OS will have over-the-air syncing with portables
- OS will be seeded to developers shortly
- OS will be generally available around WWDC '11
- New release of iWork
- New release of iLife
- New MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air
- Minor speed improvements for new models
- SSD becoming standard equipment
- USB 3.0
- No Blueray
- No iPad
Sneak peek of OS X 10.7
Sure enough, Apple did announce a new version of OS X today. As expected the new release is called Lion. I got this one right. It was a gimme, but I'll take it.
New OS will have more user facing features
In the announcement today Apple talked about a few new things that they were adding to the OS X 10.7. These included Mission Control, Launchpad, and Full Screen apps. These are clearly user facing features but since I was extremely general with my prediction I'm only going to give myself a half a point.
New OS will have over-the-air syncing with portables
Apple didn't make any announcements about whether over-the-air syncing would be available. Even as I was writing that prediction it seemed a little far-fetched to me. That sort of announcement really only makes sense at an iOS/iTunes announcement, not a Mac event. I missed this one.
New OS will be seeded to developers shortly
Apple didn't make any announcements regarding when the OS would be going out to developers. Since it could be released any time I'm going to hold off on saying whether or not I got this one.
OS will be generally available around WWDC '11
According to Apple, OS X 10.7 is on track to be shipping during the summer of 2011. WWDC is typically in June which puts it in (the beginning) of summer. Since I was more specific than Apple, and these dates tend to slip I'll only give myself a half a point on this one.
New release of iWork
There was no announcement regarding a new release of iWork. I flat out missed this one.
New release of iLife
A new release of iLife was announced. I got it.
New MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air
This one's tricky. While a new MacBook Air was announced there was no mention of revving the MacBook and MacBook Pro line. I'm going to give myself 1/3 of a point for that one.
Minor speed improvements for new models
Sure enough, there were speed improvements for the MacBook Air line. +1 for me.
SSD becoming standard equipment
Again, SSDs are standard equipment on the MacBook Air. I got it.
USB 3.0
No USB 3.0. No points for me.
No Blueray
As expected, there was no Blueray announcement. But since the MacBook Air doesn't have an optical drive I'm not going to count this one for or against me.
No iPad
No new iPad was announced. +1 for me.
Conclusion
In total I made 13 predictions. Of those one is pending an outcome in the next few weeks and one I've rationalized away leaving me with a total of 11 predictions that I can grade myself on today. According to a completely impartial jury I got 6 and a 1/3 out of 11 right. That's better than half. Not bad for a first timer.
