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Is Apple trying to bury Microsoft under a product avalanche?

That Apple product rollout frenzy today seems a bit over the top.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
Apple's product pileup today may have something to do with Microsoft and Windows 8.
Apple's product pileup today may have something to do with Microsoft and Windows 8. Apple

Can Microsoft crawl out from under the stack of Apple products announced today?

I don't think I'm the only one stunned by the crush of new Apple products. What, a fourth-generation iPad already? New Mac Minis? Then the new iMacs on top of the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro?

Apple seemed to throw everything but the kitchen sink out there today. But that's only because the rest of the kitchen sink -- the new iPhone and iPod -- was already out there.

Maybe Apple just felt it was time to do a mega-upload of new products. Or maybe, just maybe, Apple wants to crush Microsoft and Surface and Windows 8.

So far, though, that's not happening. As I look at my news feed Tuesday evening, Windows 8 product news is dominating. (Though Microsoft Surface reviews are not very positive).

And count me among those just as focused on Windows 8 as Apple. Products like HP's Envy x2 hybrid or laptops with gorgeous touchscreens like the Spectre XT TouchSmart have got my attention.

Not to mention Microsoft Surface. (I'm holding out for the next Surface, i.e., the Intel-based Surface Pro.)

And, come to think of it, my "new" Retina iPad -- as CNET's Roger Cheng aptly pointed out -- is now obsolete, thanks to the newer fourth-generation iPad.

October 26 is almost here.

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