Apple recently launched its new all-in-one iMac line of computers, complete with its iLife ’08 software suite and iWork ’08 solutions and aims to market these releases as simplistic alternatives to traditional Windows systems and applications.
During a media briefing held Wednesday at Apple’s Canadian office located in Markham, Ont., the company unveiled its summer launches including, the new iMac, iLife ’08 and iWork ’08, solutions that are all currently available and offer users ease of use, functionality, as well as flexibility.
A great selling feature of Apple’s iMac, according to Willi Powell, strategic development manager at Apple, is that iMac integrates the entire computer system into a single aluminum case which helps to substantially free up desktop space.
“When looking at other systems and components, you see a lot [of other wires, etc.] going on before you even plug in anything else,” Powell said. “With the new all-in-one design, we’re keeping it simple.”
The desktop comes available with either a 20 inch or 24 inch monitor, with a custom order option of up to a 1 TB hard drive and 4GB of memory space. In addition, the keyboard is newly designed with new hot keys including controls for brightness and iTune options.
Pricing for the iMac starts at $1,299 for the 20 inch and $1,899 for the 24 inch monitor.
With the purchase of every new iMac, the iLife ’08 software suite also comes included. The suite consists of lifestyle applications which include, iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, iDVD and GarageBand.
ILife ’08 is a photo management tool that organizes photos based on events, which are then organized by date. Some features include an estimated compression rate of about 50:1, with the added ability to hide, rather than delete photos. Powell also says utilizing iLife is a huge time-saver since users can rapidly scroll through thousands of photos inside event folders by simply dragging the mouse from side to side over the event.
IMovie ’08 is similar to iLife and helps users manage videos from both internal and external drives with the same scroll and view capabilities. Using iMovie, voiceovers can be recorded, colour corrections can be made and music can be added to create a unique movie making experience.
With iWeb ’08, users are able to easily add web content to their Web site and can choose which ads they wish to use to help generate traffic and business.
And rounding off the iLife suite is GarageBand, a fun tool for the audio engineer or novice musician to create and play with music in a virtual and real-time environment.
Lastly, Apple’s iWork solutions offer its users flexibility and creativity. Powell says using the included Keynote ’08 application, users can create voiceover recordings to use in presentations. With Pages ’08, page layout, change tracking and template options are also included. And new this time around with iWork, is Numbers, a spreadsheet-like tool that targets Microsoft Excel users. With Numbers, multiple sheets can be open within a single document to make deleting, adding and sorting data easier. This application also supports the importing and exporting of Excel documents as well.
“Excel has thousands of features,” Powell said. “But they’re hard to find and get to. With Numbers, these options are easily accessible and are really easy to use.”
When purchased separately, iLife and iWork solutions are available at retail prices at $79, or can be purchased separately as a family pack, which includes five licenses per household for only $99.
Mary Percat, national reseller sales manager at Apple, said the company’s channel strategies when it comes to bringing these new solutions to the market place will be more aggressive than in year’s past.
“We have an existing channel in place which includes everywhere from the small independent dealer to national retailers,” Percat said. “We’ve been aggressive in the retail space working with our key national retailers and the reseller community as well. We do everything from large scale big customer tent events to online training for both our channel and their customers.”
Percat says one of the main differentiating features of Apple and their products is that because they use the Intel chip, there’s a greater flexibility and compatibility option when it comes to users in the Windows space.
“Our expansion plans are with Windows resellers,” Percat said. “Our solutions are far easier to use and are a more simplistic option. They’re an alternative to Windows and Vista. A benefit for resellers is they’ll have lower support requirements because the Mac doesn’t have as many security and system stability issues that a PC has.”
