Got an email from the folks the Apple Re-seller on Sep 10th about the availability of Snow Leopard. I saw the mail only at around 9pm, yet made a call to their store at Forum Mall. I was told it is available. The next day I was all set to lob up at their store. Thankfully, I called before I left and was told that it was sold out. Hmm? They were courteous enough to ask me to try their at store at UB City. I bolted like Usain during lunch break and got myself one. I was told that the store at UB City received 30 copies and were all sold out and had to order more. The buzz around Snow Leopard was pretty good and Apple fans were looking forward to it. But a measly 30 copies made available for launch? That too at the re-seller’s most prestigious outlet? Strange, baffling. Proof, if required, that Apple marketing in India sucks. As an aside, I was told that iPhone 3GS is being launched October 1st week.
Anyway, the installation on my Macbook took about 45 minutes and was a breeze. I was doubly sure to back up my stuff but all the documents and settings were in place. You’d wonder what has changed since everything looks the same. Under the hood, you notice a lot of goodies – those ‘oh, that’s nice’ moments as David Pogue said in his review. Prior to installation, I had 10GB free on my Macbook. After installation, I have 18.7 GB free. For a lay consumer that would feel great. But did one save space or Apple has begun calculating differently? Doesn’t matter to me. What is noticeably different is the startup time – fast as hell. What I liked most is the way Expose is integrated with the Dock, making navigation easier. You can preview contents of folders and files open in an Application, from the Dock.
The biggest interface change is on Quicktime, which handles the window mode and the controller differently. Read full reviews here and here. I also downloaded iTunes 9 and the interface is a lot more pleasing to the eye now. The irritants? The pre-launch hype touted this as a big feature – out of the box Microsoft Exchange support. But I couldn’t get that going in office. I remember reading about the ability of iTunes 9 to copy a song from a shared network but I couldn’t get that going (maybe I got it wrong).
Anyway, forget the features for a minute. Just the way the icons are designed , is good enough reason to drool (the Quicktime icon is close to being my all-time favourite) on Snow Leopard. The detailing on each icon is amazing.
Overall, as an upgrade for Rs.1800 it is great value. Get yourself one, but hurry – the stores should get um..er.. 35 more copies today.
8 Comments
Snow Leopard flying off the shelf in Bangalore http://www.lbhat.com/apple/snow-leopard-… #snowleopard #bangalore
@bhatnaturally did you had any problems regarding compatibility with some drivers on snow leopard? Does time machine work properly?
Yes. I am suprised too. Unfortunately I can’t upgrade as SL are out of stock (forum)
Looking forward to iPhone 3GS release as well (if any).
I finally got it. But only a family pack. Single user pack still not in the stores in Mumbai. Pretty ridiculous – the delay – if you ask me.
Snow leopard, however, works smooth.
Shocking really. Should we put it down to leadership issues in Apple India or plain sloppiness? Planning to write to TUAW or Macnn about this.
Well, the i-store in Mumbai blames the distributor in India…
1) Well about the microsoft exchange support, well if you couldn’t get it to work, I think its because your office might have an older version. Snow Leopard only supports Exchange 2007 or later (not sure which year)
I read in one of the reviews that most offices still use older versions as there is no real advantage in newer versions. I guess the same goes for your office.
About the songs copying thing, I think its only supposed to work for songs downloaded from the itunes store, though I’m not sure.
Also WERE YOU ACTUALLY TOLD IPHONE 3GS IS COMING IN THE FIRST WEEK OF OCTOBER?????
Been dying waiting for it. I’m really shocked with Indians for shunning it so outright, they don’t see the value in it I guess. But leave them a few days with it and I know they’ll get hooked. My dad hated the phone. Then I got an ipod touch and he was hooked. He loved checking his mail on it! Now he wants an iPhone, though he’s also waiting for 3gs cuz of me.
But anyway, I was told apple people in delhi that it’ll be lauched in early November.
Naman, we use Exchange 2007, yet no luck with getting Mail to work. Even on Entourage it was complicated I had to really scout the net for solutions. Turns out that Entourage Web Services Edition is required and I also had to download all the updates before getting it to work. It could also be the way my IP is configured to connect in the office network (auto IP vs static IP etc.) Yeah, guessed so much on the iTunes thing. The Apple guys (whose showroom is in the same building as Apple India!) that it’s coming in Oct. I doubt it. With the iPhone launching in China, my guess is that efforts will be focused there.