Apple kills it with new iPad lineup

[Steven P Jobs]

I think that's more of a halo thing, they're trying to make people who like iOS have an easier time getting started with OSX (which is already quite intuitive for a desktop OS, but that's setting the bar REALLY REALLY low). Notifications.app came about because Growl is a piece of crap and Apple needed a better implementation for their own apps.

Messages honestly looks like a bad beta, not even like something from iOS, just awful period. I hope they do something about the way it looks by the time Mountain Lion ships. Then again FaceTime on Mac has been equally terrible so I wouldn't be surprised if it stayed this way.

Regarding MBA specs, I would be surprised if the next one didn't come with options for 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD. Of course they could wait for the one after, but the upcoming low voltage processor bumps are really unspectacular so this would be a good way to entice customers. I don't think they'll ship an MBA with a redesigned body for at least another 2 years, there's just no reason to. Just like the iPad has pretty much figured out the perfect tablet form factor, the MBA is so close to the perfect laptop form factor that there's not much they can do I think. Maybe make it a bit sturdier.

edit: regarding Messages, the basic layout -- one window, contacts in the left pane, active chat in the right -- is exactly what it should be. The simplicity of that layout makes something like Adium look silly in comparison. It's just that the implementation of it is so poor right now that I can't believe they actually shipped it to consumers at large, even as a beta. It's just as bad as Microsoft not including any tooltips in the Win8 beta for how to get from Classic to Metro, for example. Sure it's not meant for "average users" yet but that doesn't mean devs should get away with showing off a terrible product.