Apple Core: iPad’s Halo Shines Bright on New Products

Apple’s new product releases demonstrate a seemingly unstoppable drive to dominate the computing industry.

This morning, the company launched a new operating system with OS X Lion, updated its MacBook Air and Mac Mini lines, and announced the integration of Intel's Thunderbolt I/O technology, the world's first. These announcements come in the wake of the iPad and iPhone’s success, evident in the new product’s design and functionality. Here’s a first look.

OS X Lion is the biggest change to Apple’s operating system since OS X Leopard in 2007. Priced at only $29.95 and available as a digital download on the App store, Apple hopes to maximize the amount of people that upgrade. Those that make the jump will be reward with over 250 new features including a new Mail App, better security, AirDrop, an Autosave feature, and a launchpad very similar to the iPad. Once the iOS 5 and iCloud come out in the fall, information sharing between multiple devices will become synchronized. All these features under the sleek hood of the Apple logo make the yet-to-be-released Windows 8 already seem like a thing of the past.

The new MacBook Air is as sleek as laptops come. Already available online and soon-to-be in stores, this ultra-thin device gives hope to a laptop market that is threatened by the rise of tablets. Weighing in just under 3 lbs, this laptop has the latest Intel technology powered by Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processors and integrated with Thunderbolt I/O capabilites. However, this launch comes with the retirement of the iconic white MacBook.

While the new system and design may lack the touch features of the iPad and iPhone, the company makes up for it by giving “its Mac portables some of the roomiest touchpads in the business, and it sells touch-enabled Magic Mice as well as a desktop touchpad called the Magic Trackpad.”

Beyond the impressive execution and design of their products, Apple shines in its numbers. Apple shares jumped today following an explosive earnings report, with 20.3 million iPhones and 9.25 million iPads sold in the last quarter.  Sales of this magnitude surprised many analysts yesterday. 

Further proof of Apple’s success comes from the fact that while some customers chose an iPad over a Mac, even more customers chose an iPad over a Windows PC. (Additional proof? The three rip-off Apple stores spotted by a blogging American woman living in Kunming, China.)

With so many carefully differentiated brands under the Apple core, product integration has never looked so good.