OS X Mountain Lion

Apple has made available the latest version of the Mac operating system. The upgrade is available for $19.99, exclusively from the Mac App Store.

Apple has selected a path of constant refinement in this latest OS release. Anyone familiar with OS X Lion, will immediately feel comfortable with the new release. What you'll notice is that everything has a more refined look and feel. It's noticeable everywhere from the Finder window to the renamed Calendar and Contacts apps. These refinements to bring the OS X apps more in line with their iOS counterparts, along with the increased strengthening of iCloud, will make this upgrade particularly attractive to iOS device users exploring the Mac as an option for their next computers.

Taken as a whole, it's a pretty compelling case.

Apple Q3 Results

Apple announced their 2012 Q3 earnings today after the close. They exceeded their guidance, but only slightly, and nowhere near their usual margin. Wall Street was expecting much better, and the stock was punished with a 5% decrease in after hours trading.

There's much to say about this quarter. As disappointed as Wall Street was with the numbers, if you listen to the earnings call, you get the sense that Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer and CEO Tim Cook were more disappointed.

There's much to say about what the numbers mean in a larger context, and I'll be devoting an extended post to my thoughts this weekend.

Finally!

MG Siegler made my day with this post. It's been a long time coming.

Apple's Accidental(?) Strategy

Rian has an interesting post about Apple and their entrance into the enterprise. Steve Jobs spoke often about Apple's lack of success in enterprise being a result of only a few people (IT managers) making decisions for the masses. In today's world, that doesn't happen as often. To Apple's benefit and Microsoft's detriment.

Hat tip to The Loop.

Illustrating the Need for the iPad Mini

Here's a beautiful post by Ryan Jones which illustrates with great simplicity the need for the smaller iPad. I can't add anything to his post other than to ask that you check it out.

Hat tip to Daring Fireball.

The Future of Apple

Here's a great video at Asymco of a conference held in Aspen on the future of Apple.

On Amazon Shipping

This video may be the best thing on the internet today.

Hat tip to Marco.

A Very Early Apple Tablet

The information gathered in this Network World piece may be one of the only good things to come out of all the patent lawsuits flying around the globe. It's really interesting to see how Apple iterated their tablet design as the available technology improved. What's perhaps more revealing is how little the basic concept actually changed.

Hat tip to iMore.

A Relevant Yahoo!?

Here's Fred Wilson's take on the Yahoo! hiring of Marissa Mayer. I don't know a lot, but from everything I've read, this is a great hire. How does Google feel about losing one of their top people to a rival? What could be in store for future Apple - Yahoo! partnerships?

Hat tip to The Loop.

He Likes It, He Really Likes It

The he is MG Siegler. The it is the Google Nexus 7. He's been using it for a week and has posted a review.

Surprised? I'm not really. If Google can't build a competent tablet with zero profit margin, what hope is there for the rest of the industry to compete with the iPad? I'm anxiously waiting to see if this is market Apple wants to play in. We should have the answer in a couple months.