Lots of news at Steve Jobs' keynote speech today, although we missed
a fair bit of it due to Internet access problems - this was not a good
day for our ISP to move. :-(
Hardware
Apple sold 1.35 million
computers in the last quarter and now has 11% market share in the US
portable computer market.
Jobs announced that the iBook was the best
selling portable computer in October and November, the only months for
which data is currently available. Among iBook buyers, 11% were buying
their first computer, 17% were Wintel users, and an astounding 56% were
buying their first portable computer ever.
The new iMac has also been a resounding success, and Apple has been
unable to keep up with demand for the graphite iMac DV Special Edition.
Latest figures show 30% of iMac buyers are buying their first computer,
14% are Wintel converts, and 2 out of 3 did not seriously
consider any other computer.
Jobs apparently prefaced this with some information on the Power Mac G4 and PowerBook G3, but due to
connection problems, I missed it.
Software
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 was announced as 50% faster and
available for download in February. AppleWorks 6 will also debut in
February, including a presentation module.
Peripherals
Steve was pretty excited about a USB microscope, a VST portable RAID
drive (100 GB, four removable drives, FireWire, and the ability to run
off a PowerBook battery), and AirPort - which is now supported on all
Macs.
Digital Video
Already 10% of all iMac DV owners have created at least on iMovie -
and a lot more plan on doing so in the coming months.
Beyond the Box
I expected Jobs to announce new hardware after showing the
four-product grid and saying Apple was moving beyond the box. Instead,
he talked about Apple's internet strategy, which is already rooted in
QuickTime, the Mac OS, apple.com, and The Apple Store. He also revealed
that the entire Apple Store is run on Mac OS X Server (Microsoft, take
notes!).
Apple will be building on that strength with three new items on
their site: iReview, iCards, and iTools. These are available on
Apple's site now.
iReview
Where's a web user to go for the best information on ____? Start at
iReview, Apple's resource that already has reviews for over 250 web
sites and will add about 250 per month. Visitors will be able to rate
reviewed sites and add their own comments, but only if they have OS 9
and iTools (below).
iCards
The internet greeting card thing is apparently quite big, but the
quality doesn't compare with Hallmark. Vowing to run "the Apple" of
online card sites, Jobs showed the quality images Apple will be using.
And, unlike most services, the cards will be sent via email - the
recipient will not need web access to view them.
iTools
The third new section is the most ambitious. it's also the most
disappointing to those who haven't yet upgraded to Mac OS 9. (Count me
in.)
Four new features will be available from Apple exclusively to Mac OS
9 users: KidSafe, Mac.com, iDisk, and HomePage.
KidSafe integrates with the multi-user capabilities of OS 9
to create a child-safe web not by filtering out bad sites (since
some are always missed), but by working with an approved list of sites.
The list is created by teachers and librarians and already contains
over 50,000 sites. Apple expects to add 10,000 sites per month to
KidSafe. (Hope Low End Mac makes their approved list!)
Mac.com is Apple's free
email service. Unlike many free email services which can only be viewed
with a web browser, Mac.com is fully POP compliant, so you can use your
favorite email client. (I'm not sure why this would require OS 9.)
iDisk provides 20 MB of online storage you can access from
home, work, school, or any Mac with OS 9 connected to the Internet.
This includes a public folder where anyone who knows your logon ID can
access files. Personal photos on your iDisk, which mounts just like a
folder on your desktop, can be used for iCards.
Finally, HomePage is your own personal website, complete with
templates for photo albums and iMovies. You can share photos and movies
from your iDisk using your HomePage.
All of these are free to OS 9 users.
Internet Service
Apple has 25 million customers - that's even more than America
Online! So their decision to choose an internet service partner will
mean a lot to Earthlink, who is now the default ISP for all new
Macintosh hardware.
Second only to AOL, Earthlink already works hard to support the Mac.
Apple's partnership should only strengthen that.
OS X Client
Better late than never, Jobs vowed that OS X Client will be shipping
on all Macs in one year. The beta will be done this Spring, and users
will be able to buy it (like Windows betas?) this Summer.
Killer graphics are a core component of OS X Client, including
OpenGL for 3D graphics and PDF as a native file format.
The new user interface is very fluid, so Apple calls it Aqua. You
will be able to resize icons, the dock (like the application bar or
HoverBar), and do a whole lot more.
Email will be a component of the OS, so you won't need Emailer,
Outlook Express, Eudora, or any other email client. (That said, you may
still want a different email client.)
The new Finder has been improved, but not changed to the point of
feeling alien to Mac users. Adopting a feature familiar from browsers
and many applications, Finder windows will have a few icons - which I
couldn't make out clearly and missed the explanation.
All Together Now
A few years ago, the experts were saying Apple should split itself
into software and hardware companies. It was the last vertically
integrated computers company and wouldn't survive.
Instead, as Jobs noted, that has driven Apple's comeback. No other
computer company can claim 100% responsibility for the user experience.
Microsoft may create the OS and specify what the hardware needs, but
that's the extent of their control.
Apple, on the other hand, can jump ahead with things like USB,
iMovie, and FireWire because they create both the hardware and the
operating system. This is why Apple is the leading innovator in the
computer industry.
Interim No Longer
Steve Jobs announced that after 2-1/2 years back at Apple, he is
dropping "interim" from his title. But because he loves the title iCEO,
he'll keep using it, seeing himself as the Internet CEO. :-)
Reflection
Cool, a word Jobs used repeatedly, describes Apple. With the new
iTools, they have finally created a compelling reason for Mac owners to
upgrade to OS 9. In fact, iReview will make you feel like a
second-class citizen without it, since you won't be able to provide
feedback (just like Windows users who use iReview).
But the big shock was the complete lack of new hardware
announcements. Steve didn't unveil Pismo, a faster iMac, an iBook with
more memory, or a more powerful PowerMac G4.
Everyone knows they'll all come eventually, but Steve didn't even
hint at new hardware, other than his comment that all current
hardware support FireWire. (Lombard, the current PowerBook G3,
doesn't.)
Other Reports
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