Steve Jobs’ Macworld 2008 Keynote
Stay tuned for the latest announcements from Steve Jobs' Macworld 2008 Keynote Address - the event starts at 5PM GMT.
The event starts at 9:00AM PST (5:00PM GMT) and we’ll be live-blogging the major announcements as they happen – check back for regular updates once the keynote is underway.
In the meantime, feel free to speculate in the forums.
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16:39 GMT: OK, we're sat down waiting for the thing to start... the last few people are still making their way to their seats.
16:46 GMT: The lights have dimmed and the music stopped. Pascal Cagini, General Manager and Vice President of Apple Europe, is on stage introducing the keynote.
16:48 GMT: He's wrapping up what Apple has announced in the last four months. iPod touch, Leopard, etc
16:49 GMT: Two million copies of Leopard shipped in the first two days. Also talking about the iPhone launch across Europe in November.
16:53 GMT: Pascal is now talking about Apple's retail strategy through EMEA. Filling time... seven minutes to go.
16:54 GMT: Apple plans to expand to 516 stores across EMEA during 2008.
16:58 GMT: Theme for the keynote is "There's something in the air" - that'll be something related to what is going to be announced. Screen has now switched live to the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Now we're just waiting for Stevie....
17:05 GMT: Still no sign of Steve... People are still walking into the conference room - looks like they're running a little late. The camera is doing a good job of showing off everyone with their iPhones while we all wait here in anticipation.
17:13 GMT: Alright, lights have dimmed... looks like it's going to start any second.
17:14 GMT: Steve's up - w00t!
17:15 GMT: He's recapping what Pascal has just gone over!
17:15 GMT: Steve says "Thank you for an extraordinary 2007."
17:16 GMT: He's got four things to talk about today... first is Leopard.
17:16 GMT: Leopard has shipped more than five million copies in the first 90 days - the most successful OS release Apple has ever had.
17:16 GMT: Microsoft is now shipping Office Mac 2008 - this is the last big app to go native on Intel Macs
17:17 GMT: He's now talking about Time Machine in Tiger
17:18 GMT: Steve has announced the Time Capsule - Airport Extreme (802.11n) and a Hard Drive. Allows you to back up your notebook wirelessly.
17:19 GMT: You can back up all Macs in your house to this device. Two models - 500GB and 1TB at $299 and $499 respectively. Will ship in February.
17:20 GMT: Showing an ad for Time Machine now.
17:21 GMT: "That's Time Capsule - a perfect companion to Leopard."
17:21 GMT: Now the iPhone...
17:21 GMT: Apple has sold four million iPhones since its launch... exactly 200 days ago.
17:22 GMT: Smartphone marketshare after just 90 days - Blackberry - 39%, 19.5% iPhone, 9.8% Palm
17:23 GMT: Reckons December quarter will be even better.
17:23 GMT: New features for the iPhone today
17:24 GMT: Maps with location, Webclips, Customise the home screen (upto 9 and you can flip between), SMS multiple people at once, Chapters, subtitles, languages and lyrics.
17:25 GMT: Maps has a new UI - showing off the locate function. Looks pretty swish.
17:26 GMT: Can also drop pins anywhere on the map.
17:27 GMT: Now showing off the multi-person SMS functionality.
17:28 GMT: Now showing off how to send SMSs to more than one person and then track the conversation between those people.
17:29 GMT: Safari has also changed - showing off Webclips now. There's a plus button at the bottom that allows you to select Add Bookmark, Add to Front Screen. Just touching the icon on the home screen allows you to return right back to the website you've just saved to the Front Screen.
17:30 GMT: You can drag icons around on the home screen. Can create upto nine of these home screens and can flip between them like you'd flick through photos.
17:31 GMT: Now explaining how Maps with location works - it's done with the help of Google and Skyhook. The two have been driving around and mapping out using WiFi access points and Mobile Phone Antennae.
17:33 GMT: You can now navigate through videos with chapters if the information is available. Can also change languages and lyrics (and so on). Available today as a free software update for every iPhone user.
17:34 GMT: "The iPhone isn't standing still."
17:34 GMT: Now is the iPod touch.
17:34 GMT: Five new apps - Mail, Stocks, Notes and Weather. Maps with WiFi location, <missed the last bit...>
17:35 GMT: $20 update for current iPod touch owners. Free for everyone that buys a new iPod touch.
17:35 GMT: Number three is iTunes... sold the four billionth song last week.
17:36 GMT: Sold 20 million songs on Christmas day - new record.
17:36 GMT: 120 million TV shows and 7 million movies
17:37 GMT: Not satisfied with the movie sales figures... so Apple is introducing iTunes movie rentals
17:37 GMT: 11 movie studios supporting it - every major studio.
17:38 GMT: All of the top films from last year, as well as lots of what Steve refers to as "library movies".
17:39 GMT: Going to launch with over 1,000 films in February - will have them 30 days after the DVD release
17:40 GMT: Watch anywhere - Macs, PCs, all current iPods/iPhone... Watch instantly, less than 30 seconds with a modern broadband connection
17:41 GMT: Once you've purchased it, you have 30 days to start watching... 24 hours to finish once you've started watching. Can also transfer to other devices halfway through.
17:41 GMT: Transfer movies via iTunes
17:41 GMT: Library release $2.99, New release $3.99
17:41 GMT: Launches today in the US, Internationally "later this year."
17:42 GMT: Big flatscreen TV on the screen now.... "what about this?"
17:43 GMT: Everyone has missed when it comes to getting TV onto HDTVs via the Internet. Announcing AppleTV take two. No computer required.
17:44 GMT: Can rent movies on Apple TV, HD movies with Dolby 5.1, Podcasts (both Audio and Video), Photos from Flickr and .Mac
17:45 GMT: Now talking about YouTube on Apple TV. You can also buy TV and movies on the new Apple TV. HD movies are $3.99 and $4.99 respectively. Over 100 titles in HD - going to build really fast.
17:46 GMT: Entirely new user interface for Apple TV. Now showing demo on screen.
17:48 GMT: Before you rent, you get a preview/trailer for free.
17:49 GMT; Interface is swish as you'd expect.. simply select "Rent" and then confirm and it starts to download - after about 20 seconds, it indicated that it was ready to play. Can skip through chapters too... Not sure if you can skip back though...
17:50 GMT: Now playing some HD footage...
17:51 GMT: Showing off the Apple TV search functionality now - looks really well polished.
17:54 GMT: He's now demonstrating Podcasting on Apple TV. Some crazy dude Skiing down a mountain and then parachuting off... pretty crazy.
17:55 GMT: Now demonstrating photos functionality. He's streaming a slideshow live from .Mac servers.
17:56 GMT: There's also movies on .Mac... so he's going to show off Apple TV streaming video from .Mac - again, Stevie says it's all live.
17:57 GMT: With Apple TV, there's no computer involved... they can do this all from their sofa on their HDTV.
17:57 GMT: Now showing Flickr functionality...
17:57 GMT: Browsing to some photos and then.... the demo isn't working... Black screen... Brilliant. I guess that's live!
17:59 GMT: To recap 1,000 movies for rental (100 in HD) 600 TV shows, 6 million songs, over 125,000 podcasts, photos from .Mac and Flickr (when it works, heh), 50 million YouTube videos too...
18:00 GMT: Apple TV 2.0 is a free software update - free for every Apple TV owner.
18:00 GMT: Wants to make Apple TV even more accessible... dropped from $299 to $229 in two weeks. Software update will hit at the same time.
18:01 GMT: He's recapping Apple TV and iTunes movie rentals.
18:02 GMT: 20th Century Fox was the first to sign up to iTunes movie rentals...
18:03 GMT: Jim Gianopulos, CEO of Fox is on stage...
18:04 GMT: He's talking about the basic features of iTunes movie rentals...
18:04 GMT: "Homer's on board" - he's referring to The Simpsons Movie.
18:04 GMT: Jim says when Steve came to him with this idea, it was a no brainer...
18:05 GMT: Thinks this will be a transformative version of the movie rental model
18:06 GMT: Jim's now talking about DVD... he said "after that it will be Blu-ray"
18:06 GMT: He's holding Family Guy: Blue Harvest which contains a digital copy that you can instantly move to iTunes and your iPod/iPhone/etc... "and it's free!"
18:07 GMT: He thinks this is an exciting move for the entertainment industry... maybe we're finally going to get back on track?
18:07 GMT: iTunes movie rentals was the third thing he wanted to talk about... Number 4: "There's something in the air..."
18:08 GMT: Introducing a third Macbook - the Macbook Air....
18:08 GMT: "World's thinnest notebook"
18:09 GMT: Talking about the Sony TZ... which is about 3lbs and 0.8-1.2 inches with a 11-12 inch display... compromise on keyboard too (miniature)... Compromise on performance too...
18:09 GMT: Too many compromises... 3lb is a good weight though...
18:10 GMT: 0.76" to 0.16" tick - holy moly!!
18:11 GMT: Fits inside a jiffy bag... LOL... he's holding up a jiffy bag with one inside...
18:11 GMT: THIS THING IS INSANE!!
18:12 GMT: LED backlit 13.3" display with iSight camera and full sized keyboard.
18:13 GMT: Also backlit
18:13 GMT: Multitouch gestures in the trackpad... you can turn on multiple gestures in the options screen.
18:13 GMT: Battery change, brb
18:17 GMT: 80GB hard drive, Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz (option for 1.8GHz)... using a smaller packaging than a standard Core 2 Duo. It's 60 percent smaller than the standard Core 2 Duo packaging.
18:34 GMT: Apologies for the delay... one dead/damaged battery to throw out.
Anyway, to sum up what Steve finished with, he said that the Macbook Air would cost $1799 with 2GB of RAM as standard. It will ship in two weeks. Pre orders are being taken from the webstore already. The notebook doesn't have an optical drive, but it can share another Mac's DVD drive wirelessly. He saved battery life until last - he says that you'll get five hours of battery from the Macbook Air with WiFi enabled.
18:41 GMT: Steve says he's looking forward to a very innovative 2008 - he's now left the stage.
That's all folks... I'm sorry I missed the last few minutes! The Air looks absolutely amazing though - I'm off to see if I can find one to take some pictures!
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108 Comments
Discuss in the forums ReplyAnd wow Tim is updating the site but he isn't at his desk - HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE!?!?!?!
I wonder how?
Those rental pricings are spot-on the pricing for where I used to work. Granted it was 3-day rentals (5 for older stuff) but you did have to worry about stuff being out of stock, etc.
/ninjaedit - HD appleTV? Win!
lol!
It might do, but if you really want to break it, you need to send it via CityLink.
Huh. As usual, overhyped to heck. The Air looks really nice, but all things considered is impractical for me, at least for the price (I still want something smaller than a Macbook, not just thinner). I know a magic way to knock $200 off the price, but even still it's not or me. Xserve it is I suppose (where that same magic knocks $600 off :D)
you say tht but most people do have at least one computer in their hoses these days, we have 4 and two are sitting in my room now!
most of the people on this site probably have at least 3 going right now as well!
Uh yes! I'm the most anti-Apple person in the office and it's so full of awesome even I want one. It would be perfect for trade shows, but at $1700 it's just waaay to expensive - but at least now I can see why and the Sony TZ is just as "bad".
AH
Yeah, it looks very pretty. I don't really care. As someone said on Macrumors forums, "it's cute". It's not an ultra portable, it has zero upgrade-ability, and addresses the wrong aspect of a very portable machine.
Looks like my next decision is whether to get a Mac Mini for $539 or a quad Mac Pro for $1839 along with a base-level Xserve at $2399. Oh well.
Of course, that'll have to be in another couple months as I'm still recovering from that TempurPedic purchase
but with city link i would atleast never get to see just how damaged it is because they built the depot where i would have to pick it up out in the wild instead of an area where people live, so they are definitly worth their insane prices:D
It's not the insane prices I have trouble with, it's the fact that I'm sure they load their vans with a frozen chicken gun at 200 paces.
underfeatured: no ethernet (only airport), single USB port, no optical drive, 2GB onboard RAM (that's right, the RAM is soldered onto the logic board, don't even dream of upgrading!), no firewire (which was standard on every mac since the 350MHz imacs)...
oversized: at 13" it is not much more portable than the 13" macbook.....
overpriced: there's no argument about that...
If "innovation is the refusal to compromise", I don't see any innovation on the macbook air.... They just made way too many compromises in order to achieve a certain look, ruining the functionality and usability in the process!
Give it a year and we'll see a price drop and the essential features we all need. Maybe then I'll consider one, just maybe.
The Wireless DVD is damn cool and I like the sound of it, but all thats doing is stopping people from buying if they don't already have a Mac. That, more than anything else, loses me as a customer.
That would certainly be a cheaper option.
And the best part theres NO user replacement battery so once every 5hrs its recharge time, no ethernet port is a bit of a let down as its wireless only, maybe next time apple.
My tablet has better battery life and firewire, but less processing power and RAM. I use it for office tasks on the go, and it is powerful enough for that.
You are also overlooking the innovation of the product. It is a proof of concept. The trackpad is beautifully intuitive, and Remote Disk, frankly, is seriously cool.
the dell has better battery life, more performance, upgradable, spare batteries, proper inputs/outputs, is the same width/depth, 1cm thicker and ~1lb heavier
i dont see how the Air is so much better considering what you're giving up to gain 1cm and 1lb
the multi-touch trackpad is about the only truly innovative thing on it and i'd have to use that to determine whether its actually any good or not
and remote disk? most apps dont require the disk itself just the files on it, copy the cd to disk on another machine and share that
failing that, ever heard of daemon tools? :p
I was really hoping for something like the eee except not so toy-ish.
and any usb cd/dvd not just the mac one
Pre-ordered mine already lol
Time Capsule is much more appealing to my needs than a MBA.
Good:
Thin, light, Wireless-N
Bad:
non user replaceable battery
only 1 USB port... most external drives want 2
intel built in video
2GB on the motherboard, not replaceable or upgradeable.
4200 RPM drive
1.6 (or 1.8) dual core
Undecided:
no ethernet port
no firewire.
Comments:
This is really targeted towards an ultra portable business user who does minimal graphics and works wirelessly without CD/DVD media or extra drives. Anyone else will probably be better served with the MacBook or MacBook Pro series. The final deal breakers for me are the non user replaceable battery and fixed 2GB. Running Parallels with two active OSes with essentially only 1GB each is really pushing it. Media people (movies, digital photos, etc.) won't have enough storage and don't have firewire drive options (something Apple has pushed a lot) and with the single USB port there won't be many external storage options (unless you are near a power source) that can be used.
I can understand the lower ghz CPU for power and heat issues but again that impacts media usage and leaves pretty much only the "generic" app user base.
But that's just my 2 cents.
Eh, I already have an airport extreme with a USB drive in. I consider it a wholly insufficient solution, especially as the authentication is a bit whacked and it's inside the network only (unless you ssh into one of your machines with it mounted and then navigate to /Volumes/AirportDiskName. As they're effectively the same thing, maybe Apple will release APE firmware 5.2.2 allowing TM backups so to not totally screw me over for buying something that was almost brand new a couple months ago.
Still, I'll probably be getting an XServe. I do enough web development work that I can kind of justify it on that alone, but mostly because 10.5 server should win at life (and my current fileserver can't run it, being a windows box).
Well,
$500 - Apple Developer Membership, which gets me (among other things) about 20% off a purchase once a year, knocking the XServe down to $2400, and a quad Mac Pro to just over $1800. I'll sell the MBP which will probably get me most of that $1800 back, and then maybe get a standard entry-level Macbook for $989. Dunno, contemplating it later tonight as I should be able to offload some of the cost of the server to the family (and then own them with rendering speed for whatever with Xgrid)
Those type of people would, imo, have a laptop bought for them by their work or not be incredibly proficient with systems anyway. Either way, I think its more likely those people would go with a windows system. As others have pointed out, you can get a better Dell for less and get all the support etc that goes with it. If people were really worried about size, weight etc, then they'd probably want something thats less wide too. I can see it being useful in some scenarios - but most of those I can think of, you'd either want a CD drive probably (and not have to rely on a nearby Mac too) or something with a bit more grunt for presentations.
I dig what Apple have done and I bet it'll sell out of this world - but to me it's a massive design failure. It may be thin, but it threw away everything else I'd ever want in order to bring me something I'm not too bothered about.
And those people who just need something for a train etc will only carry it for a short time anyway - I doubt weight would be a major concern for a modern travelling businessman.
Iv just picked up a Dell XPS for £730 and i think its awesome, even though iv hated Dell prior (and still do minus this laptop)
Apple is focusing more on fashion statements than features it seems. A super sexy laptop that does about half of what the compeition does, which do it for almost half the price....hmmm...i dont know but common sense is telling me, just go with value for money and i really wouldnt shell out on that laptop.
I do however want an Iphone. As much of a ripoff as it is, when it comes down in price and more realistic in its approuch, il certainly look to get one as it is "sexy" but im not paying through the nose for it which seems to be apples aim these days and cashing in on the "cool rich kids" that can afford to shell out on their items.
OK, the battery isn't a massive issue, but I can fly across the world and use my laptop for about 15 hours of my flight time without a charge (using one 4-cell and one 8-cell) - WiFi has to be disabled obviously and the screen brightness is turned right down (you don't need it on high when you're on a plane anyway). In normal use, I get around 6 1/2 to 7 hours with WiFi on and a bit of screen brightness from the 8-cell and another 3 from the 4-cell (that's now dead - I'll be getting a replacement soon).
Ethernet is the big issue for me though - the press rooms at CES didn't have WiFi and that's also the case at many other events I go to. It'd suck if I got to an event and there was no WiFi, because the only way I could then connect is to piggyback off someone else's Ethernet if they want to play nice. :)
The Air is a nice model but the things it's lacking just aren't good enough...no DVD drive? This laptop is nice but lacking far too much to be a player for me :(
Yeah, a lot of people feel a bit screwed over but I'm sure Apple will release an updated firmware.
I'm curious to know if the time capsule 500GB models hd can be swapped out with a 1TB hdd. Will be doing so if possible.
15hours on one battery Tim? thats incredible, i was amazed when i got over 7 hours out of my 3 hour Asus battery, and i was running Vista:D
SAm
Two batteries (1x 4-cell, 1x 8-cell) :)
The 8 does about 10 1/2 hours and the 4 does about 4 1/2 to 5 with very aggressive power saving features turned on.
USB to Ethernet... Hmmm.
I don't get why they made it a wedge shape. That makes no sense, they don't look right.. I think it would look a lot nicer if they leveled that off from the thick end.. included an ethernet jack, an extra usb port and bumped it up to 2Ghz with additional breathing space...also losing that hideously thick edge around the screen would be a good idea.
The multi-touch track pad is nice, it's going to be a year till that gets added to the other laptops though. Also since the Intel guy was dragged out I thought they would be announcing this thing would be running the new 45nm chips. Shame it's missed out on that...
I can't see a reason to get one of these over a 15 inch MBP. If you got it you would be sitting happily using it on the train or something and some one with an equally priced MBP will sit next to you and just say "huh.. got one of those did ya" That's gonna smart a bit...
I was hoping that this device would finally be a mac I could get.. alas no... even with a 25% discount. I'm going to have to wait for the 45nm refreshes of MBP's or Macbooks, which maybe soonish.. but I won't be able to get one without the big trackpad! Which means I'll have to wait frickin longer.
I hate computers.
BUT I'm not a fan of the aesthetics of it particularly. Those curved edge that make it look like it floats are just wrong. Should make it easy to grab and pick up though. My head says it's a great computer, but my 'want' sense isn't tingling very hard over this one. Which is really the opposite of what most Apple products do for me.
Well, it seems its for the Air anyway, heh.
Sam
I'd MUCH rather have your Thinkpad than the Air. It's smaller, which is the entire point of the Air, has more connectivity and a more widley supported OS, decent enough specs and more than a single USB port. It's also good enough for some light gaming if I wanted (Fallout 2 for airplane fodder) and costs a hell of a lot less. I could buy a Thinkpad and an EEE PC and still have cash to put towards a laptop bag OR I could buy the Air.
Anyway, Im a PC fan boy... .bring on the windows that dosnt work sometimes!
;)
The TZ has so much more, it's also smaller so it's actually more portable (at least for me), and it looks just as gorgeous.
EDIT: Also Sony did the "air" with its 505 three years ago: http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2004/06/03/Sony-VAIO-VGN-X505VP-Ultra-Slim-Notebook/p1
The TZ Is still waaaay more desirable to my mind.
i tried this a couple weeks ago, spec'd up a dual 2.8 quadcore xeon 1u system keeping all the specs as close to the same as possible
the dell with server 2003 R2 x64 was £1200 cheaper, £1600 if you want to run linux on it rather than windows
and i mean, for gods sake its a server, the only real advantage to Macs is basically negated (the slick and flashy design :p)
That's not the entire point of the Air though... the Air is designed to be an ultraportable (something that is defined by weight, not size) that has a full-sized keyboard and a decent-sized screen. The Air is something that you could almost use day in day out, whereas my ThinkPad isn't... Its 1024x768 resolution is a limiting factor in many scenarios and if I'm doing any serious work on it, it's hooked up to a much bigger monitor.
It will appeal to wanky rich city types who sit in Starbucks drinking super double late expresso`s out of buckets with sprinkles on top. I used to like the design appeal of Apple but it`s super glorified Uber trendy bullcrap has overpriced and now put it as an elitist stylised PoP icon. Blah.
Edit: Just saw a Woolworths home-brand laptop going for £300 that had the same specs of the Macbook Air. I think that says it all.
Does it weigh less than 1.3kg though? Most people would say that the Macbook isn't "that heavy", but I thought about buying one when I bought my ThinkPad and it's a heavy beast... even though it's only about 2.2kg. I hate to sound like a broken record, but you pay more for an Ultra Portable notebook--even despite lower specs--because it doesn't weigh anything.
If you walk around a tradeshow for several days on the trot like I do, you want something as light as possible. At CES, I was walking around 10 miles per day getting between meetings that ran from 8:30am to well into the evening... most nights, I got back to my room around 10pm. Then I'd start work, so there was very little time to sleep.
My notebook is woefully underpowered for gaming, but since when did you need a 3GHz Core 2 Duo to check email, browse the web and edit a few photos? That's what my notebook (and the Macbook Air) is designed for. The Air has limitations--some massive, others unexplainable--but there are some definite attractions to it and, having recently bought a new Ultra Portable (well, earlier in the year), it's not priced too badly considering the spec.
The Air is a little expensive in Britain/Europe compared to America, but that's the case with just about anything. An example is that I paid less than £800 for my ThinkPad in Taiwan and it was well over £1300 here with a slightly lower spec (a CDRW instead of a DVDRW external drive - everything else was the same).
Yep, it's pretty good, IMO... but there are other problems with the battery for me (not user-removable). :)
Did you do any whooping??? ;)
1 USB port is generally enough --for memory sticks and USB drives ("Two USB ports? Not me: I plug in the Freecom Toughdrive and go!"). Else there is such a thing as... (wait for it) the portable USB hub! And for all those who moan about non-swappable batteries --hands up, those, who actually own two batteries for their laptop and actually carry them around to swap. Nobody? Hmmm? Thought so.
I agree it is pricey, a fair bit of style over substance, but it is also well-built and functional. And so caressable it's untrue. Only Sony laptops tend to come close.
The majority of laptop owners in the office. I know I definitely would buy too.
Far too expensive in my mind - especially when its $1000 for an 64GB SSD to add in and you need to send it away to get a new battery.
I just don't understand the USB thing at all - it limits you so, so much. You can't use DVD and USB at the same time without extra hassle. You can't use USB and ethernet. There's just so much you can't do. And the size of it means to me that it isn't ultra portable. It's light, but its too big to be heavy. Those techy people on the go are already catered to by Sony and the EEE PC, so while more competition is welcome, I don't see the big deal.
/hehe
I agree though a beautiful beautiful looking machine.....
It's £1,199 in its default configuration? :?
the ethernet is the biggest gripe for me, but hey, all that means is carrying an extra wireless router with u and ur good to go.