The Mac universe got off to a slow start this week, with Presidents Day giving a sizable portion of the U.S. working population the day off. However, that didn't stop Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) 
from making a few, albeit minor, announcements.
First, iTunes announced it would sell songs performed on "American Idol," in addition to the shows themselves. Then on Tuesday, Apple announced a price drop for the iPod shuffle, a new 2 GB version in the pipeline, and a new Xsan 2 for managing storage area networks (SANs).
Apple bloggers, of course, quickly jumped on all announcements.
Tiny Tunes
Apple gave its low-end, super-small 1 GB iPod shuffle a sizable price drop -- from US$79 to $49 -- and introduced a 2 GB shuffle that'll sell for $69. Most every blog site quickly noted the news, with most reader comments expressing a bit of joy. "$49! I know what everyone's getting for Christmas next year," noted commenter Galley on Mac Recon.
On other blogs, though, some readers were quick to complain, noting price differences between shuffles sold in the U.S. and the UK, for instance. Some even expressed dismay over possible price cuts on other iPods. An "Anonymous Coward" -- the default comment author tag on 9to5mac.com -- addressed the issue: "Please stop complaining of price drops. If you can accept the fact that technology is moving at an ever-accelerating pace and that price drops can occur at anytime (days, weeks, or months), maybe you shouldn't buy these types of products."
Speaking of buying technology, Piper Jaffray financial analyst Gene Munster sparked a set of blog posts and news stories based on his latest recommendation to his clients. In that advisement, he reportedly noted that he expects to see an uptick in iPod shuffle sales due to the price decrease and that Apple should be able to maintain a 15 percent unit shipment growth through 2009 -- even though Apple's iPod sales growth faltered in the company's last financial quarter.
Van Baker, a vice president of research for Gartner (NYSE: IT) who covers consumer technology devices, told MacNewsWorld that he doesn't see iPod market saturation any time soon. "There are a lot of people that still listen to CDs on CD players, portable and otherwise. This will all eventually convert to digital playback, so I think there is a lot of headroom yet," Baker explained.
"Apple must continue to upgrade the iPod to maintain its margins, as there will be price pressure in the market, but we have seen this already with the iPod touch. I suspect Apple will continue to innovate and continue to sell iPods well for some time," he added.
What's an Xsan 2?
Also this week, Apple announced Xsan 2, an upgrade to the company's enterprise-grade storage area network 
file system software for Mac OS X. The upgrade included a completely redesigned set of admin tools, which Apple said makes Xsan 2 even easier for first-time users to set up and deploy a SAN. Apple introduced other new features like MultiSAN, which lets users on a single workstation access multiple SANs at the same time. Xsan 2 is now fully integrated with Mac OS X Leopard and Leopard Server.
At the same time Apple unveiled Xsan 2, it quietly pulled its aging Xserve RAID (redundant array of independent drives) hardware storage solution and replaced it with a more advanced RAID solution from a third party -- Promise Technology. The new Apple-offered RAID solution is called the "Promise VTrack E-Class RAID Subsystem."
The discontinuation of the Xserve RAID didn't exactly resonate with the pro-Apple masses. "This is one example of why many IT professionals avoid Apple, Apple has a solid history in dropping technology overnight leaving their customers stranded with no where to go," noted suhail on the AppleInsider post on the subject. "Hopefully that wont be the case anymore, but still ... actions like this sends chills down my spine," suhail added.
SDK, SDK, SDK
Most every Apple-focued blogger is aware of that the company plans to release a software developer kit (SDK) for the iPhone in the very near future -- like next week. Earlier this month, The Unofficial Apple Weblog noted that it had received a tip that the company that does television support for Apple's live events and Macworld is "apparently hiring for an unannounced Apple event at the end of February," but also noted that this was an unconfirmed rumor.
There's a lot of speculation that this event will usher in the launch of the iPhone SDK. However, other possibilities are all over the map, most notably a long-overdue update/upgrade/redesign of the MacBook Pro laptop and the shipment of the new Time Capsule WiFi/storage device. MacBook Pro laptops may be in demand, but are they cool enough for a special event? On the other hand, how important is the SDK anyway? Will it change the face of the iPhone world?
"Just writing apps isn't really much of anything," Tony Rizzo, director of mobile software analysis for The 451 Group, told MacNewsWorld. "How do developers find their way to the audience? Who certifies that the apps are safe, well written, etc.? I see a few larger enterprise-focused vendors -- e.g. Sybase (NYSE: SY) -- taking a look to see how they can leverage the SDK, but aside from that I doubt it means anything earth-shaking on either the consumer or enterprise front in 2008," he added.
iTunes may act as a delivery model for iPhone apps, but having Apple "bless" third-party apps may actually work to stifle widespread development rather than foster it.
Whether Apple plans an upcoming media event and what might be announced there is a mess of rumor and speculation, and a tiny line written on a rock band's blog only fanned the flames.
Linked to Linkin Park
Confirmation of the so-called secret event was temporarily thought to have come courtesy of an unlikely source -- the rock band Linkin Park. Band member Mike Shinoda, posting on his blog on Monday, noted, "looking forward to our first show at madison square garden this week (sold out)! also, look forward to a special show that we're doing in NYC in conjunction with apple ... shh ... it's a secret ..."
Shinoda's "apple" reference was enough to spark a storm of comments on a variety of sites. "I'm sure he'll get a friendly phone call from Apple asking why the heck he thought it would be a good idea to mention that...," noted justflie on the MacRumors.com post.
Saul Hansell, posting on the New York Times Bits blog proposed that Linkin Park was involved with Apple because the rumored event would include an announcement pertaining to its music strategy. "At some point, Apple needs to work out deals to get rid of digital rights management limits on all the music it sells. But some labels, notably Universal Music Group, have wanted to give Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) a head start in selling unrestricted MP3 files to build it into a competitor to the iTunes Store," Hansell wrote, implying that one possible scenario for the event was to announce that Apple music DRM is dead.
In the end, though, it turned out that Linkin Park was merely hired to play a private gig for Apple, not appear at a big company press event, according to Apple Insider.
Still, the speculation that the situation produced puts the spotlight on many users' wish to see all iTunes music shrug off the burden of digital rights management technology. Could it happen just like that?
"One thing, keep in mind: This is not news, because Jobs had said in '07 -- when he sent out his famous letter -- that he hoped to have the entire iTunes catalog DRM-free by the end of '07," Mike McGuire, a vice president of research for Gartner, told MacNewsWorld.
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