Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Now, it's clear what kind of damage the rumor mill can do to a company like Apple, which relies on excitement generated by its product announcements to propel growth each quarter. In the week leading up to yesterday's presentation of "fun new products," the Apple rumor mill promised the world. Apple would introduce a movie download service, they said. Intel-based iBooks. A true video iPod with a large, wide-screen display. A living room-capable Mac mini with digital video recording features. The list of products was so extensive, in fact, that the Microsoft rumor mill responded with "Origami," an upcoming mini-Tablet PC that may or may not (note: it won't) be Microsoft's answer to the iPod.

Too bad it was all hype and wishful thinking. Apple announced exactly three products Tuesday, and none of them is particularly exciting.