To quote a coworker of mine, “Apple’s going to make unspeakable amounts of money on these.” I’m especially glad to see the Mac mini, since it’s exactly what I’ve been searching around for as the media hub of a new entertainment center I’m putting together now that I’m no longer in a one-bedroom apartment. Cheap ($499 starting, a little over $600 for the bluetooth & 80G version I want), small (6.5″ x 6.5″ x 2″), and quiet — it’ll be my combination CD jukebox, DVD player and MIDI munger for my keyboard.
As for the iPod Shuffle, I could really see this becoming the satellite-radio killer. If the iPod is your music collection in your pocket and the iPod mini is your jogging music / music wherever you want, the iPod Shuffle is going to be the daily download. Mix it with iMix, Wiretap Pro and/or a Radio Shark and you’ve got a personalized commercial-free radio with a “next song” feature. You miss out on realtime info like traffic reports (which really should go to your GPS/nav system anyway) and breaking news, but how much news breaks between the time I leave for my commute and arrive at my destination? I’d also miss out on Howard Stern if I don’t go with satellite radio, but for me that’s a feature, not a bug.
As is traditional, Apple’s stock is down almost %6 as of this writing. Me? I just put in a buy order…