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Present But Unstable (6/24/99)
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Still wondering whether or not the P1 will be ready to show in time for next month's Macworld Expo? It's amazing how much angst has come to the surface since those first rumors of trouble arose early this week, and that should underscore just how important this long-awaited consumer portable is to Apple's continued growth and prosperity. The iMac grabbed everyone's attention, but it's the P1 that has the potential to cement Apple's role as the company with the coolest gear for "the rest of us." Remember, you can show off the iMac when friends come over to the house, but you can show off the P1 wherever you go; it'll be the envy of the whole high school. Assuming it ever ships, of course.
And that's a safe assumption. At this point, pretty much no one is still worried about the project being scrapped entirely; it's more a question of whether it will be finished enough to unveil at Expo and how long it'll be before they hit the shelves. And now the Expo appearance is less up in the air, too, if Apple Insider is correct; they've posted a lengthy summary of current P1 issues, and it appears that the problems remaining are unlikely to prevent the P1 from upstaging Steve Jobs at the keynote address-- though they threaten to push the actual ship date back a bit. The biggest difficulty right now seems to be "frustrating stability problems," which could make for some really embarrassing demo moments if Steve's unlucky.
So now the big suspense surrounding the keynote isn't so much whether or not the P1 will show up; instead, we're left to wonder whether or not the P1 will crash and burn on stage. Heck, that's plenty of suspense for us, so you can be sure the AtAT staff will be there for the first glimpse. Other people may camp out for Phantom Menace tickets, but we'll be queueing up early to get decent keynote seats...
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SceneLink (1624)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 6/24/99 episode: June 24, 1999: You can relax now; P1 isn't being scrapped, and it will show up at Expo-- though it might be looking a bit unstable. Meanwhile, questions about the P1's cost raise some hackles, and CompUSA tries to halt their continuing decline by, er, de-emphasizing computers...
Other scenes from that episode: 1625: RICH Consumers, Maybe (6/24/99) Now that people are pretty clear on whether or not the P1 will actually ship, one of the big questions remaining is, how much will it cost? There are lots of factors that should make the P1 a "consumer" portable, such as flashy style, ease of use, and an enclosure that can take a beating-- but the most important issue would have to be price... 1626: Maybe They Can Sell Ties (6/24/99) Let's say you're a formerly-beleaguered multi-billion-dollar computer company who's recently gotten back on its feet. Suppose, too, that one of the measures you took to improve your fairly dire situation was to cut all your national retailers except for a single chain of computer superstores...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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