Well, the keynote is over and we've seen the future—her name is Intel. What does this bode for Apple this year and for the future? Will commodity chips weaken its immune system? Will Rosetta refuse to run FileMaker Pro and ask only for MS Access?
Read our ENTIRE live-blog of the keynote after the jump and tell us what you think of all this heady news.
10:38 But back to the MacBooks.
The 1.67 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US), includes:
— 15.4-inch widescreen 1440 x 900 LCD display with 300 cd/m2 brightness;
— 1.67 GHz Intel Core Duo processor;
— 512MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 2GB;
— 80GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion
Sensor;
— a slot-load SuperDrive(TM) (DVD+/-RW / CD-RW) optical drive;
— PCI Express-based ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
— DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included,
Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
— built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
— built-in iSight video camera;
— Gigabit Ethernet port;
— built-in AirPort(R) Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
— ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
— two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire(R) 400 port;
— one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both
optical digital and analog;
— scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
— the infrared Apple Remote;
— 60 Watt hour lithium polymer battery; and
— 85W AC power adapter with MagSafe magnetic power connector.
The 1.83 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:
— 15.4-inch widescreen 1440 x 900 LCD display with 300 cd/m2 brightness;
— 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo processor;
— 1GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 2GB;
— 100GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion
Sensor;
— a slot-load SuperDrive (DVD+/-RW / CD-RW) optical drive;
— PCI Express-based ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
— DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included,
Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
— built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
— built-in iSight video camera;
— Gigabit Ethernet port;
— built-in Airport Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
— ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
— two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port;
— one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both
optical digital and analog;
— scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
— the infrared Apple Remote;
— 60 Watt hour lithium polymer battery; and
— 85W AC power adapter with MagSafe magnetic power connector.
Shipping February, orders start today.
"If you want one I suggest you get your order in early."
Asking employees who worked on the new stuff to stand up. Kinda pointless, because the rest of the audience is standing up too.
10:35 MagSafe a new power plug!
MagSafe connector is a power connector that is magnetic. If someone trips over the wire, the wire comes flying out—not the laptop.
10:33 MacBook Pro
It adds Intel's dual core in it. There will be dual processors in every Mac laptop. Four to five times faster than the Powerbook G4.
"Oh God," hyperventillates the guy to my left.
Thinner than 17-inch Powerbook. 15.4" widescreen LCD.
It's got an iSight camera built in. Tiny, tiny, tiny lens. You can have videoconferencing out of the box.
"Let's see now, who can I call?" Steve calls Phil Schiller, VP of marketing.
Phil is working in the audience with the new laptop, giving a demo with the video conferencing. He twirls holding the laptop in the middle of the audience.
"We got an IR sensor and an Apple remote. We got Front Seat built right in."
Some idiot by me is giving commentary aloud.
10:29 ONE MORE THING.
"You know there's been this pesky little problem with the PowerBooks." Have been unable to shoehorn a G5 into the powerbook. We've consulted every possibility (showing picture of Pope).
Oh, Steve... Please unload your off-white goodness on us. Skeet, skeet, skeet.
10:28 The Intel/Apple ad. Open inside Intel chip fab plant.
"For years the Intel chip has been trapped" Funny shit. Audience laughs, loves it. Whooping calls. Extended applause. Claps.
"Starting today, the Intel chip will be set free." Wild applause. Yes, just an upgrade to new universal Intel version.
Jobs looking oh-so-pleased. "Well, I'm glad you like it."
10:25 Two new models of iMac.
The new 17-inch 1.83 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US), includes:
— 17-inch widescreen LCD display;
— 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo processor;
— 512MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 2GB;
— 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL / DVD+/-RW / CD-RW);
— PCI Express-based ATI Radeon X1600 with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
— built-in iSight video camera;
— built-in AirPort(R) Extreme wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
— 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
— mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold
separately);
— built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
— the infrared Apple Remote, Mighty Mouse and Apple Keyboard.
The new 20-inch 2.0 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,699 (US), includes:
— 20-inch widescreen LCD display;
— 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo processor;
— 512MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 2GB;
— 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL / DVD+/-RW / CD-RW);
— PCI Express-based ATI Radeon X1600 with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
— built-in iSight video camera;
— built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
— 250GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
— mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold
separately);
— built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
— the infrared Apple Remote, Mighty Mouse and Apple Keyboard.
Ships today. First in a new gen of iMacs.
Entire product line transitions in 2006. "This ushers in a new generation of iMacs based on Intel processors using not old technology but Intel's new core duo."
"We are going to be transitioning our entire product line this calendar year."
"We've made an ad just to let people know what we're doing." Cue video.
10: 21 Steve is inviting a Microsoft Office employee on stage to talk about how it's going to work on Intel. Roz Ho, general manager of Mac business unit, Microsoft. She swallowed helium before coming on. Makes a weak joke about not wearing a white suit. Spewing something that should just be in brochures. No wonder Jobs likes to hog the presentation.
There is a commitment to ship new versions of Mac Office for, "a minimum of five years."
Ho: "This official commitment should show that we are here to stay and in it for the long term."
Steve: "Rosetta is going to be a great bridge until we get all apps universal."
Now demoing apps running on Rosetta. Photoshop demo on Rosetta running pretty fast. Steve is moving shit around screen pretty fast.
While it's not going to be good enough for professionals, Steve says, it should be good enough until it's running natively.
10:20 Crossgrade You can trade in latest version for $49 now. It's called "Crossgrade."
10:18 Intel Dual Core processor "Each of these processors is faster than the G5."
- The iMac G5 and the iMac Core Duo (2.0 Ghz).
- specint_rate2000 is 10.2, Core duo is 32.6 (break it down, Steve-O!)
- "Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.4 is running entirely natively on the dual Core." Applications too.
"Everything Apple is doing will run on PowerPC and Intel." He did all the demos on Intel machines. Tricksy, Steve!
Pro apps will be universal in March.
Quark is announcing the next verision of its product and it's going to be universal (will run on PowerPC and Intel).
Until all developers get their apps universal, Apple is shipping a technology called Rosetta that runs PowerPC apps. One of the applications that's going to run on Rosetta will be Microsoft Office.
10:17 IBM goes pee-pee.
10:14 "We're going to put an Intel processor inside a new iMac."
"We're going to offer it in the same sizes, 17 and 20 inches."
"We're going to offer it in the same design." Same features, iSite. Offer it for the same prices.
"How do we make something this good even better?" Oh, Steve... You are so humble.
What's different? "The new iMac is two to three times faster than the iMac G5."
10:10 Now on to the hardware... finally.
Cue the smoke machine. Paul Otellini, Intel CEO, walks on stage wearing a clean room monkey-suit (just like in the ads). He is holding a wafer.
Paul: "Steve, we wanna report Intel is ready."
Steve: "Well, I can report to you that Apple is ready, too."
Wild applause. Catcalls.
A little ahead of schedule.
"Today we're going to roll out the first Mac with an Intel processor." It's the iMac.
10:07 iWeb joins the rest of iLife but the price is still $79. Or you can buy the family pack for $99 and put it on five computers.
Now about .Mac. "I'm pleased to report we have crossed a million subscribers to .Mac."
"We have a new version of iWork."
- 3D charts
- advanced image editing
- image reflections
- Freeform shapes & masks
- tables with calculations
iWork will sell for $79, $99 for the family pack.
10:05 Trying to get just one blurry, long-distance picture of Jobs, and the security guy is warning me to stay in my seat. Is it worth getting kicked out of Macworld for a photo of Jobs on stage?
10:00 Of course there is a module that points readers to iTunes. Now he's making a blog. A true Jobs blog would read like the journal of a Brave New World soma fiend. Where is the app that auto-deletes ugly people?
He drops a Podcast into his blog. He's done things in a few minutes that I've spent hours trying to build. What I really need is a chance to hire Steve to re-design my blog, or Gizmodo maybe.
9:55 Introducing iWeb. We're introducing a new app that will allow us to share our photos, movies and video Podcasts, our taste in music. And we call this new app iWeb. Use Apple-designed templates, use the other apps in iLife to quickly put together a website and publish it on .mac. It's a blogging tool, PodCast publisher, web page builder.
"Create blogs in seconds and update them whenever you like. The same with Podcasts. All the RSS stuff and all the subscription stuff is done automatically for you."
"Anybody with any browser on any computer can look at your website." (Works in IE, Firefox, Safari.)
"We have a photo browser that uses AJAX that can do slideshows."
The templates look a lot like a default Wordpress template.
9:50 Weird iChat demo starting. "Hi, I'm Steve, and welcome to my weekly podcast, super-secret Apple rumors."
"I have some pretty good sources."
iChat records direct to Garageband for remote interviews.
So, that was a spoof of a ThinkSecret podcast. Will Jobs sue himself now?
The point? There is a new Podcasting studio app within Garageband
9:45 Magic iDVD Fancy captions scroll by in a surfing video. Drop in photos, albums, movies. One button to create pro effect.
Hey! Jobs is putting the guy next to me to sleep. He's totally nodding off. Alert! Alert! Apple Magic not working in row 5.
9:41 iMovie update. Export directly to iPod for video podcasts. Wow, someone's got serious home-moving making skillz with iMovies. Jobs is showing off a family vacationing in Italy. I wish my home movie turned out this good. The frame has a scrapbook theme.
9:40 Droning on about iPhoto and photocasting. Oh man, at this rate, if he's going through all the apps in iLife, we're gonna be here until noon... tomorrow.
He's uploading photos for grandma to demo Photocasting. "Let's use fast user switching and pretend I'm Grandma Taylor." Hahahaha. Oh, Steve... you are funnier than Jon Stewart. Apple should host the Oscars.
9:35 Damn security bastards! Every time we get up from our chairs to get closer to the stage to take a picture of the mock-turtle neck man, a goon rushes up and pushes us back to our seats.
9:30 Introducing Photocasting. Podcasting for Photos.
"This is podcasting for photos. We want to all share our photos. Increasingly we'd like to share them over the Internet. Wouldn't it be great if every time I updated an album, other people would get the updates automatically?"
In iPhoto, hit a button when you are in a folder of photos. It uploads the folder to .mac (password protected). Then people can subscribe to your photo album (like RSS), and the photo album in their iPhoto list will be auto-updated.
"It's like magic"
"You take away the machinery, it's just like magic"
Oh, Steve... Are you the Wizard of Oz? Nothing huge has been announced yet, but his presentation skills have kept people riveted. I can't imagine anyone else talking about RSS and have 5,000 people paying attention and clapping.
9:27 Let's talk iLife (can we please cut to the hardware already?)— Starting with iPhoto. In this release it is incredibly fast. The old limit was 25,000 photos. The new limit is 250,000 photos. It is just beautiful and it scrolls like butter. It will have full-screen editing. The effects panel, wow, it has Sepia tone! Never seen that before. Apple has the power to kill sepia, why don't they? All the effects will be on one palette. Clicking quickly through the different effects.
New photo albums. The quality is dramatically better. And they will offer calendars. Drag photos onto dates. Also added postcards/greeting cards.
Photocasting! What's that?
9:25 A new release of Tiger comes out today. 10.4.4— it's free.
9:22 Video demo of Aperture.
Widgets: There are now 1,500 of them. We decided to create a few more of our own. We created a Google Widget (how is that new?). We got a new front end to Address Book. We got a new widget for the ski season. We got a new calendar. We have a new sports widget.
9:20 Update on Chrysler. Chrysler is the first of the big three auto makers to introduce major iPod integration. Over 3 million cars will have it this year. In 2006 over 40 percent of the cars sold in the U.S. will have iPod integration. The last thing I got is a new iPod ad. An ad with Wynton Marsalis, silhouette style with Wynton and his band.
We're gonna spend the rest of the day talking about the Mac (big applause). Starting with apps.
9:17 "We're also introducing a new accessory, a remote control and FM tuner." You can plug this into your nano, your fifth-generation iPod. A radio menu will come up (showing picture of FM frequency). $49, goes on sale today.
9:10 Total number of iPods sold: 42 million. 32 million sold in 2005. Oohs and ahs from audience.
850 million songs sold on iTunes—3million per day. The number one video on iTunes: The Rose Bowl.
Live from New York, It's Saturday Night Live on iTunes soon. Jobs shows the John Belushi samurai deli skit, Coneheads, Blues Bros. "All the great skits you're onning to be able to buy today on iTunes."
9:07: Lights dimmed. Steve Jobs walks on stage. He's wearing the same damn outfit: black mock turtle, jeans sans belt and sneakers. He looks hung. Seriously, guy's got a chubby going.
Air smells slightly odd. I bet they're pumping in a slightly higher oxygen concentration to get us buzzed.
Starts off with an update of Mac stores. "I'm really pleased to announce that we had 26 million visitors to our retail stores. This is more people than people who live in any state in our union other than California."
The retail stores had a $1 billion quarter for the first time. 14 million iPods were sold this holiday season.
People are taking photos like it's an NBA Finals game in here.
8:53: Al Gore is escorted back stage. "Please turn off your cell phones..." The guy in front of me: "Does anyone have any bourbon?" Lady in front of me is on MySpace, wtf? Its like a terribly sedate rock concert in here. Applefolk are dressed in sky blue.
8:50: We made it into the hall with a crush of reporters. For a minute in the panic to get seats, we thought we might be caught in a media stampede. After a few stubbed toes and apologies to Japanese reporters, we made it to our seats.
We're told to walk through some corridors to the keynote, but many people ran. Gorillaz and Beck are playing.