'Marketing Flop' are the only words to accurately describe the rollout of the jointly developed ThunderBolt high-speed computer I/O interface from Intel and Apple. Months and months after the first ThunderBolt enabled MacBooks shipped, weeks and weeks after the addition of ThunderBolt to the iMac desktop line -- consumers are STILL waiting for something real, anything to plug into their sparkly new ThunderBolt ports. (Well, besides their old DisplayPort monitor.)
With Intel as the sole supplier of ThunderBolt chipsets - few prospective computer peripheral makers have had easy access to the technology. And of those who have partnered with Intel, none have shipped any products as of yet. So the months roll by and the promise of ultra-high speed computer peripherals and ThunderBolt backup drives remains elusive.
Not that it matters much to the average consumer. Because the announced - but not yet shipping - ThunderBolt peripherals have all been rather high-end, Prosumer solutions: Multi-Drive RAID disk arrays from Promise Technologies, Dual SSD external ThunderBolt drives from LaCie and Sonnet, some T-Bolt enabled DAW - Digital Audio Workstation hardware... Announced but not shipping, and likely to be aimed - and priced beyond the wallet of the average Mac (or eventually PC) user wanting to backup data in seconds and not hours.
I blame Apple more than Intel. I blame Marketing more than Manufacturing. Apple really, Really, REALLY needed to introduce those T-Bolt port MacBook Pro's ALONG SIDE SOME SHIPPING ACCESSORIES - so that buyers IMMEDIATELY could experience the promise and immediate benefits that Dual-Channel 10Gbps computer peripherals will bring to our everyday computing experience.
