Apple never ceases to amaze!

Am certain that most of you out there are either followers or lovers of Apple! And why not! Apple, and Steve Jobs, never cease to amaze us. The company, which literally became the game changer in the global mobile handset industry with the iPhone, came out with a flurry of announcements a day ago — these were more to do with music and entertainment.

First, Apple announced its new Apple TV, which claims to offer the simplest way to watch your favorite HD movies and TV shows on your HD TV for the breakthrough price of just $99. Next, it re-invented the iPod nano with multi-touch interface.

Then, it introduced the new iPod touch. Next came the new Apple iPod shuffle, which features clickable “ring” buttons and Apple’s innovative VoiceOver technology, enabling users to easily navigate their music and playlists without ever looking at their iPod shuffle.

These were followed by the iTunes 10 with Ping, a new music-oriented social network for following your favorite artists and friends to discover what music they’re talking about, listening to and downloading. I’ve seen a post somewhere, which says “Ping — promising or problematic!” Look that up as well.

What does the industry say?
Now, there have been a few interesting observations across the industry.

Suppli feels that Apple TV 2.0 would provide Apple the entry in the market for Internet-enabled living room devices, the fastest-growing major segment of Internet-connected products. According to iSuppli, Apple TV appears to fit right into the new wave of Internet-enabled living room devices entering the market.

However, the device would have to compete against a host of players. As per iSuppli, the field is currently populated by Internet media players with optical drives like Blu-ray players, video game consoles such as Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation, as well as standalone media players like those from Roku, Vudu, and the forthcoming Boxee Box from D-Link. Then, there are Internet-enabled TVs being provided by a number of leading brands.

Elsewhere, Ovum’s analyst points out that Apple TV 2.0 shows a strong focus on the video on demand (VOD) market, which is a different strategy to that being pursued by Google TV.

Okay, here may be a very good case for a television set for every individual in the house! Wonder if this isn’t happening already! Or, even, a small output device beaming multiple screens across the house. I would surely fancy a device that allows me to transmit multiple screens in each room, and then I or whoever’s watching, can flip through channels of his or her choice. Futuristic? You know what, the technology industry’s very capable!

War of the tablets
While on Google, there's this very interesting Samsung GALAXY Tab (model: GT-P1000), launched at the IFA 2010 by Samsung Electronics. Powered by Android Operating System 2.2, the Samsung GALAXY Tab is the first of the company’s tablet devices, representing a new category of mobile products for Samsung.

Comparisons are already being made between the Samsung GALAXY Tab and the Apple iPad. It is likely to carry on till some other device comes along!

Right! There's news coming out of IFA 2010 that Toshiba has debuted its Folio 100, a 10.1-inch, Android 2.2-based tablet computer, which will be on sale in Europe by the end of October! Now, that's called heating up the segment!

For now, let's just enjoy Apple's products!

3G spectrum allotted in India!
Oh, before I conclude, the Department of Telecom (DoT), government of India, has allotted 3G spectrum to AirTel, Aircel, Vodafone, S Tel, Reliance, Idea Cellular and Tata Cellular Services who won the bids through the electronic auction conducted by the DoT spread over a period of 34 days in respect of 3G and 16 days in respect of BWA.

The BWA spectrum has already been assigned to the successful bidders’, which are Aircel, Augere, Tikona, Qualcomm, Infotel and Bharti.

So, that's great news! Finally, we should get to see real 3G in India.

Pics: Courtesy of Apple, USA.