3/26/09 UPDATE: Today Apple finally announced the dates for WWDC 2009: June 8-12. More information can be found on Apple's WWDC Web page.

By this time each year, Apple usually has announced the dates for its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. Why the delay, I wonder?

Two weeks ago I posted a prediction that WWDC would occur June 7-12, with the keynote – and the concurrent release of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Monday, June 8. Since then I haven’t found any evidence to the contrary.

While researching that post, I discovered that in the previous four years Apple has announced the dates for WWDC no later than mid-March.

Even in 2007, when Apple delayed WWDC until August to coincide with the release of new Mac Pro and Xserve models – which completed the transition to Intel processors – the dates were announced March 7.

Last year Apple announced the dates March 13, and we’re already a week past that.

What’s up with that?

Maybe Apple wants to keep up the steady drumbeat of positive news. Note how in the past several weeks Apple gave us Safari 4.0, a complete refresh of the Mac desktop line, a new iPod Shuffle and just this week the iPhone OS 3.0 beta.

Each announcement has come about a week after the previous one, usually on a Tuesday. It’s a clever way to reinforce the notion that Apple isn’t afraid to forge ahead with a barrage of new products despite the poor economy.

It’s possible Apple has saved the WWDC announcement to serve as next week’s news, unless it has yet another new product hiding up its sleeve.

Otherwise, I'm struggling to come up with possible explanations. Could it have something to do with the arrival of the third generation of the iPhone? Have unforeseen issues cropped up with Snow Leopard that might (gasp!) stall its release past the summer?

Beats me. Suggestions, anyone?

Posted by David Zeiler at 3:26 AM in Macworld & WWDC | Permalink | Comments (5)
                       

3/26/09 UPDATE: Today Apple finally announced the dates for WWDC 2009: June 8-12. More information can be found on Apple's WWDC Web page. That matches my original assumptions. I still think it likely Snow Leopard will debut June 8.

This all started with two co-workers who sought my advice this past week on when to buy a new MacBook.

I thoughtfully advised them to wait until Snow Leopard came out so they would be sure to get all the promised speed benefits of the latest and greatest version of Mac OS X. Unfortunately, they both asked when that would happen.

It’s widely expected that Apple will unveil Snow Leopard at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, but Apple has not yet announced the dates. At last year’s WWDC keynote, CEO Steve Jobs said Snow Leopard would ship in about a year.

Since WWDC usually is held in June, I told my colleagues to wait until June – and then crossed my fingers events would validate my recommendation.

But with the issue now brought to my attention, I wanted to know myself when exactly to expect Snow Leopard. I went on a sleuthing mission and discovered enough clues that I’m now willing to predict June 8 as the Snow Leopard launch day.

Here’s how I reached this conclusion:

First of all, I’m assuming Snow Leopard’s release will coincide with WWDC. The event’s dates are not set in stone (some years back it was held regularly in May and in 2006 was pushed back to August), although it usually falls in the second week of June.

An item on MacDailyNews the other day suggested WWDC might be held May 27-May 28 based on an item listed on the Moscone Center schedule posted online. The generic description says simply “Corporate meeting,” but is listed as taking place in Moscone West, the wing of the complex where WWDC takes place every year.

But that’s almost certainly not when WWDC will happen, not just because it’s a bit too early, but because WWDC always runs over five or six days.

However, as I looked at the schedule, I noticed another generic “Corporate meeting” scheduled for Moscone West -- for June 6-June12. That’s the second week of June, the correct number of days, and ends on a Friday (WWDC nearly always ends on a Friday).

Yes, June 6 is a Saturday, but last year a similar generic listing on the Moscone Web site had the event starting on Sunday June 8 when the official start date was actually June 9. That means WWDC’s official start date this year probably will be June 7, a Sunday – unusual but not unprecedented. Back in 2005 WWDC’s official first day was a Sunday.

I deduced that we’d see Snow Leopard on June 8 because the keynote typically is delivered on a Monday, and that’s the moment at WWDC when Apple would announce a new operating system.

Still, though tantalizing, all that information needed something more to corroborate it. So I turned to Amazon.com.

By doing a search for “Snow Leopard Mac OS X” I discovered numerous Snow Leopard-specific books available for preorder, all scheduled for release from mid-June though July. The earliest, “Learn Mac OS X Snow Leopard,” is scheduled for June 15, just one week after my predicted date.

Why is this significant? Well, when Apple released Leopard on October 26, 2007, the first Leopard book to appear (again, searching on Amazon) was “Mac OS X Leopard for Dummies” on Oct. 31, less than a week later. It was followed by at least a half dozen other books on Leopard released throughout November.

Obviously it’s no accident the publishers timed their books to arrive immediately after the operating system. And remember, Leopard had been delayed from a June release that year. The publishers definitely are in the loop.

On the other hand, last November Engadget had post describing a leaked presentation slide by Jordan Hubbard, Director of Apple's Unix Technology Group, showing Snow Leopard as appearing in Q1 2009. That means we’d see it by the end of this month.

If so, I’d happily be wrong. I can’t wait to load Snow Leopard on my Mac Pro!

Posted by David Zeiler at 3:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
                       

More mundane than magic, Apple’s final Macworld keynote produced no blockbuster iPhone-caliber product, with the bulk of the 90-minute presentation consumed with product updates.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the musical guest at the end – legendary singer Tony Bennett, rather than the usual more pop contemporary John Mayer. Steve Jobs made not so much as a cameo.

Jobs’ designated replacement, Apple Vice President for Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller, spent more than half of the keynote demonstrating features in the new versions of Apple’s iLife and iWork software suites. The lone hardware announcement concerned the high-end 17-inch MacBook Pro.

Schiller saved one long-awaited chunk of news for last – as of today, 80 percent of the songs on the iTunes Store will no longer have copy protection, with the remaining 20 percent following by the end of March.

The lack of copy protection means users will be able to copy the music they buy on to as many devices as they like without restriction. The issue has caused much controversy since the iTunes Store launched in 2003.

Other online music vendors like Amazon have been selling DRM-free songs for over a year, so this move just catches Apple up. But because iTunes is the market leader, the move hammers the final nail in DRM’s coffin, at least for music. Schiller made no mention of TV shows or movies.

Apple also said as of April it will offer flexible pricing at the iTunes Store, finally caving to years of pressure from the major music companies. Instead of all songs for 99 cents, some will cost a mere 69 cents – 5 cents cheaper than even a Wal-Mart’s discounted downloads – or $1.29. Some songs will remain 99 cents; most albums will remain $9.99.

Expect new releases and popular songs –in other words, most of what people will want to buy -- to tip toward the $1.29 price.

Those who have purchased a lot of songs and music videos from iTunes over the years can obtain DRM-free versions, but at the cost of 30 cents per song and 60 cents per video.

The new MacBook Pro Schiller unveiled really belongs to the family of new MacBooks announced in October, the ones with shells carved from a single block of aluminum. At the time many noted the missing 17-inch model.

Maybe Apple felt it needed to save this monster MacBook Pro for the keynote so it would have at least one cool piece of hardware to show. The new 17-inch MacBook Pro is less than an inch thin, weighs a sleek 6.6 pounds, and comes with 4 gigabytes of memory and a 320 GB hard drive. Alas, the processor is a 2.66 Intel Core 2 Duo, not a quad core as I had hoped.

The most compelling feature of the 17-inch MacBook Pro is its battery. Schiller said this MacBook’s custom-made battery can supply an amazing 8 hours of computing time on a single charge – 3 more hours than the previous 17-inch Pro -- and that it will endure 1,000 recharge cycles, roughly five years of use.

The down side is that the cell is not user-removable, but Apple has a program for exchanging the battery. In all probability, a typical user would only need to exchange the battery once over the machine’s life.

And it can be yours for (ahem) a reasonable $2,799.

The bulk of Schiller’s talk covered the new features in fresh versions of the iLife suite (iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand) and iWork suite (Keynote, Pages and Numbers).

The noteworthy twist here is the beta launch of a Google Docs-like service called iWork.com. People using the iWork apps will be able to share documents over the Internet via iWork.com. However, users will only be able to edit the documents if they download it to their computer and, presumably, have a copy of iWork on their Mac. Apple doesn't make an iWork version for Windows.

All that means Apple will have to do better if it wants people to give up using Microsoft Office for creating and sharing of word processor, presentation and spreadsheet documents.

Google might have something to worry about if Apple 1) didn’t plan to charge separately for the service and 2) if Apple did what I’ve suggested and create platform-independent online versions of its iWork apps that people could access via its MobileMe service.

Schiller didn’t say how much iWork.com would cost, or whether it would be a monthly or annual fee, but charging for it is bad strategy. As a new player competing against free services Apple needs to find a better way to monetize it, like my MobileMe suggestion.

Schiller gave lengthy demos of new software features that should appeal to many Mac users, though perhaps not enough to inspire them to pay for an upgrade.

iPhoto ’09 offers several nifty new organizational tools. Faces will remember a person’s face and create a category of photos of that person.

Better yet, this feature can integrate with such Web 2.0 sites as FaceBook and Flickr. Slowly Apple has shown recognition of the importance of making its products more Web 2.0 friendly. (Note to Apple: Better integration of iMovie with YouTube would also be a good idea.)

Places uses the GPS data in some cameras (and, as Schiller pointed out, the iPhone) to organize photos according to location. You can see where you’ve traveled by looking at an iPhoto map that puts virtual stickpins in the places where you’ve taken photographs. If your camera lacks GPS data, you can tag your photos manually.

Schiller half-admitted last year’s version of iMovie wasn’t quite a hit with many customers: “not every feature was there for every customer.” This year’s iMovie adds several appreciated features, such as auto-stabilization for shaky video (like those taken on a bumpy car ride) and animated travel maps.

GarageBand, the music creation part of iLife, adds a “Learn to Play” feature that provides nine video lessons each on how to play the guitar and piano.

Once you’ve completed those, you can learn how to play a some individual songs tutored by the artists themselves. Yep, you can learn how to play “Proud Mary” from John Fogerty himself. Other artists include Sting, Sarah McLachlan and Norah Jones. Apple will provide more lessons via download for $4.99 each.

Among the iWork apps, the coolest addition was not part of the suite but a 99-cent iPhone app called Keynote Remote that turns your iPhone or iPod Touch into a touch-screen remote control of the Keynote presentation program.

The iLife 09 suite ships in late January at the usual price of $79 -- $99 for the Family Pack. The iWork suite is available today, at the same prices. It requires the Leopard (Mac OS X 10.5) operating system. You can get both suites along with Leopard as part of he new “Mac Box Set” package for $169.

Posted by David Zeiler at 3:43 PM in MacBook, Macworld & WWDC, Software by Apple, iTunes/iTunes Store | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

Does Apple have any cool new products to debut at the Macworld keynote tomorrow? Or did the withdrawal of CEO Steve Jobs and his rock star persona mean Apple’s gee-whiz cupboard is bare this year?

Since Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, his media-friendly presentations at the annual San Francisco Macworld show have provided a stage, both literally and figuratively, for Jobs to dangle his latest gadgets in front of millions of consumers.

It’s no accident Jobs chose to introduce the iPhone in his 2007 keynote and the wafer-thin MacBook Air at last year’s show.

Though tomorrow’s keynote won’t be the same without Jobs’ charisma, his replacement – Apple Vice President for Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller – will have to talk for 90 minutes about something.

Despite having such legendary shoes to fill, Schiller benefits from the greatly lowered expectations for this year’s event. Analysts who follow Apple expect almost no announcements of any significance.

The Apple faithful are cautiously optimistic. As always, wild rumors have circulated on Apple-oriented Web sites for the past several weeks.

Schiller’s keynote doesn’t figure to be dull; he’s often appeared in Jobs’ presentations as a comical sidekick. If he has anything even remotely compelling to show the Macworld audience, he’ll be fine.

What might Schiller have in store? With bowed head in deference to the final Macworld keynote (Apple also announced last month 2009 is the last year it will participate in the event), I hereby offer some thoughts and prognostications:

iWork/iLife/ in the cloud Of all the rumors, I think this one has the best chance of turning up tomorrow. In this scenario, some or all of Apple’s iLife apps (iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto) and iWork apps (Pages, Numbers, Keynote) would have Web-versions available via MobileMe, Apple’s $99-a-year suite of Web-based services.

One assumes the MobileMe “cloud” versions if these apps would function much like Google Apps do. The idea makes a lot of sense, and would help justify MobileMe’s price, which otherwise is far too high for what it offers.

Quad-core Macs Many Mac news Web sites were certain that a batch of refreshed iMacs would appear in November, but they didn’t. Apple could announce a high-end 24-inch iMac with a quad-core processor, and perhaps slight price cuts on other models.

Actually, a 17-inch MacBook Pro with a quad-core processor is more likely. Intel started selling a Core 2 Quad Mobile processor just last week, and you can bet Apple had a heads up on that.

While quad-core Macs may or may not show up in Schiller’s keynote, I expect to see a few this year. The reason: the upcoming version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, will make more efficient use of multiple processor cores to boost speed. Snow Leopard should pop on dual core machines, but it should scream on quad cores.

Snow Leopard Speaking of the next version of the Mac operating system, when will it arrive? Some think Apple will use Macworld to announce an early release date, such as March or April. Odds are Schiller will hardly mention it. My guess is that Snow Leopard won’t show until Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (probably in June) or later.

Mac netbook/tablet This tantalizing rumor comes in two flavors. Some say Apple is working on a 12-inch netbook Mac, which I consider unlikely. Apple historically has shunned the low end of the PC market.

But in October Jobs called netbooks a “nascent” market and said Apple had a lot of “pretty interesting” ideas if it decided to jump in. If Apple goes after this segment, it will be with a dramatically different take on the concept.

The second rumor suggests just such a device: a touch-screen Mac (a MacTouch?) with a 7- or 9-inch screen, essentially a giant iPod Touch but capable of running the full Mac OS X. I don’t see Apple springing this on us this week, even if it has it in the works, but maybe later this year. It could be Apple’s answer to tablet PCs and netbooks in one swoop.

iPhone Like the Mac netbook rumors, a persistent “iPhone Nano” rumor has percolated on the Web since the summer. I don’t see the attraction of an iPhone Nano now or ever. Who wants a smaller screen, even for $100 less?

A cheaper iPhone 3G might help increase sales, but Apple doesn’t like to squeeze its profit margins. So a cheaper iPhone depends on either Apple reducing its manufacturing costs or AT&T increasing its subsidy. I don’t see a cheaper iPhone coming out of Macworld, though we might see a $50 price drop -- at most -- by June.

Posted by David Zeiler at 8:22 AM in Macworld & WWDC | Permalink | Comments (2)
                       

This January’s Macworld may be the last. And not only that: we may have seen the last of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ legendary keynotes.

Yesterday Apple announced that Jobs would not deliver his customary keynote at this year’s Macworld show in San Francisco, delegating the task instead to Senior Vice President of Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller.

Furthermore, Apple said the company has no plans to participate in the 2010 Macworld.

IDG World Expo, which organizes a number of trade shows in addition to Macworld, put on a brave face with talk about the hundreds of other exhibitors scheduled to participate in the event. But a Macworld show without the draw of a Steve Jobs keynote loses much of its allure.

The double-barreled announcement sent the Mac Web, normally preoccupied at this time of year with rumors of potential Macworld surprises, into a tailspin.

Apple explains in its press release that “trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers.” The release cites the success of Apple’s retail stores and Web site in reaching millions of customers every week (Macworld attracts 40,000 to 50,000 attendees over its five-day run.)

The release also notes that Apple has scaled back on other trade shows in recent years, such as NAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris.

The 2003 Tokyo show was cancelled shortly after Apple announced it had pulled out; the New York show lingered for two weak years before succumbing.

So what does it all mean?

The demise of the Macworld show itself will matter only to the die-hard Macolytes who circled the dates on their calendars every year. They will miss the thrill of the annual Stevenote as well as the buzz and speculation leading up to it.

But Apple doesn’t need the expense and hassle of gearing up for a trade show in January, and in particular of having cool new products to announce right after the holiday shopping season has ended and many consumers are broke.

Apart from the generous media coverage (which translated to massive amounts of free advertising), Apple got little benefit from Macworld. Besides, Apple has shown that almost any time it announces a major product -- like the new MacBooks in October -- it can get the same kind of free publicity without the inconvenience of a huge trade show.

The bigger issue to emerge from yesterday’s announcements concerns Steve Jobs. Why would he not deliver one final keynote?

Unfortunately, the decision to sub Phil Schiller for Steve for the final Macworld keynote immediately reignited speculation over Jobs’ health, with some wondering if he’s too ill to give a public presentation. Those who know aren’t telling, but uncertainty over Jobs health always creates an unwelcome distraction for Apple.

An alternative theory -- and one I believe has merit -- theorizes that Apple simply doesn’t have any blockbuster announcements in store for the Macworld show. Jobs would not want to deliver a keynote that lacked sizzle.

The new iPods came out in September; new MacBooks arrived in October. The iPhone seems destined for annual updates in June. Unless Apple has a hot new iMac or stunning Apple TV revision up its sleeve, the prospects for a showstopper don’t look good. And no, I don’t see Apple producing a “netbook” Mac for at least six months -- if ever.

But even if that’s true, we’re faced with the possibility that not only has Jobs given his last Macworld keynote – he may have given up such public presentations altogether.

Even at the MacBook event, Jobs acted more as master of ceremonies than chief presenter. Whether for health reasons or a desire to devote more time to his personal life, it appears Jobs has turned over more public duties to his deputies in the past year.

It’s about time.

We could be witnessing the early phases of a gradual transfer of power and responsibility within Apple from Jobs to his team of top execs – Schiller, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook and Senior Vice President for Industrial Design Jonathan Ive, among others.

If so, it’s a smart strategy. The folks in Cupertino need to wean the world away from the perception that Steve Jobs is the only guy that matters at Apple Inc. If executed correctly, Jobs’ role will diminish gradually, similar to how Bill Gates slowly bowed out of Microsoft.

As much as his vision and showmanship has meant to the company, Apple can’t continue to rely so heavily on Jobs’ cult of personality. It served its purpose; now it’s time to move on.

Posted by David Zeiler at 8:45 AM in Macworld & WWDC | Permalink | Comments (2)
                       

It turned out Apple previewed the next version of the Mac operating system, OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, at WWDC after all and validated the most improbable of last week’s rumors – that it will focus on system speed and stability while offering no snazzy new features.

Apple’s history could make Snow Leopard a tough sell, regardless of its advantages. Apple has conditioned us to expect lots of features with each iteration of Mac OS X. According to Apple’s own count, OS X 10.4 Tiger had 200 new features. Leopard boasted 300.

Yet the promise of fewer upgrade headaches and better performance on existing hardware combined with some deft marketing could have many of the Mac faithful opening their wallets in “about a year” when Snow Leopard arrives.

The ultimate issue may be the price. Some think Apple should give it away for free, but I don’t see that happening. Even without new features, OS X 10.6 will require the full attention of many Apple engineers over the next year. Apple will charge for it.

But even the most devoted Mac users likely will balk at paying Apple’s customary $129 upgrade tax. A generous Apple might charge $20 or $30, but I think $50 is probable – and fair.

We might even see tiered pricing, with current Leopard 10.5 users paying $50 and those upgrading from earlier versions paying the full $129.

Among those most resistant to paying anything more than a token upgrade fee will be Mac users who have labeled Leopard “unstable” and buggy. Such people say a “maintenance release” is just what OS X needs.

No doubt, Leopard has had its share of problems, but I don’t think its bugs are significantly worse than those of previous OS X versions.

Presumably Apple will weed out some nagging OS X issues in 10.6, but the overriding goal will be to optimize it for Intel Macs and create a foundation for features we’ll see in OS X 10.7 and beyond.

Some other thoughts on Snow Leopard and what has surfaced this week:

Why not in the keynote? One would think that a WWDC keynote would be the perfect time to publicly announce the next version of OS X. Yet Jobs and other Apple officials only spoke of 10.6 after the keynote.

Did Jobs feel Snow Leopard’s less flashy ambitions not worth mentioning? Or did he just want to keep the spotlight firmly focused on the iPhone?
Whatever the reason, it was darn weird. I’d bet most of the developers in the audience gladly would have sacrificed one of those tedious iPhone app demos for a brief overview of Snow Leopard.

No PPC support The HardMac Web site had a screenshot from the Developer Preview yesterday showing “an Intel processor” as one of the system requirements. As rumored, Mac OS X 10.6 will not run on PowerPC-based Macs.

While a few will decry the dropped support for PPC Macs -- less than three years after Apple switched to Intel chips -- it’s the right move. In fact, it appears Snow Leopard will shed most or all of the PPC code that keeps the OS more bloated than necessary.

From the Snow Leopard page on Apple’s Web site: “Snow Leopard dramatically reduces the footprint of Mac OS X, making it even more efficient for users, and giving back valuable hard drive space for their music and photos.”

Grand Central Snow Leopard’s speed enhancements will derive primarily from “Grand Central” a new technology that will better harness the power of the multiple CPU cores present in all Macs. My 8-core Mac Pro is salivating over this one.

Open CL Another performance booster, OpenCL will exploit the largely unused computing power of graphics processors. No one has spelled this out, but I’m guessing Macs with dedicated graphics cards (MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, iMac) will benefit from this far more than those that use one of Intel’s integrated graphics chipsets (MacBook, MacBook Air, Mac Mini).

QuickTime X Apple’s multimedia QuickTime framework will get an overhaul in OS X 10.6 as well. Dubbed QuickTime X, it will feature “optimized support for modern codecs and more efficient media playback,” according to Apple’s Snow Leopard page.

64-bit support Apple plans to extend 64-bit support in OS X 10.6 to permit the use of up to 16 terabytes of memory. That’s 16,000 gigabytes of RAM, folks. Few home users today need more than 3 or 4 GB of memory, and fewer still could afford whatever terabyte RAM modules might cost. Scientists with access to federal grant money can get excited, though.

Exchange support In a move apparently aimed at enterprise customers, Snow Leopard will include support for Microsoft Exchange 2007, building it in to such apps as Mail, Address Book and iCal.

Posted by David Zeiler at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (18)
                       

Some of the iPhone’s biggest fans – tech bloggers, mostly – have had a lot to say today about the new iPhone’s shortcomings. Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone 3G yesterday at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Despite the much-desired addition of faster 3G network capabilities, GPS and a $200 price cut, astute iPhone watchers zeroed in on several improvements they expected but did not get, such as a better camera, multimedia messaging and greater storage capacity.

These folks make some valid points. The iPhone 3G’s 2-megapixel camera is unchanged from the previous model. Most other smart phones give you at least 3 megapixels. Others had hoped for a front-facing video camera, which would turn the iPhone into a videophone via Apple’s iChat software.

Apple also failed to add the ability to cut and paste, an inexplicable omission given the relative simplicity of the function.

Other complaints include weak Bluetooth support, the lack of a landscape-oriented keyboard, no Adobe Flash in the Safari Web browser (which renders many Web sites all but useless) and the failure to boost storage in the high-end model to 32 gigabytes.

As an Apple watcher, I was impressed by yesterday’s announcements, but in the case of the iPhone I view developments from a strategic perspective, not that of a user (I don’t yet own an iPhone -- gasp!).

From a strategic perspective, Apple is doing a lot of things right to increase sales and market share. Apple focused on those features it determined would sell the most iPhones: a faster network, lower prices and an abundance of cool software.

I suspect Apple spent less effort trying to please existing owners precisely because they already had bought an iPhone. Satisfying existing iPhone customers was not the priority this time around.

Instead Apple concentrated on changes aimed at increasing iPhone sales as rapidly as possible. That iPhone availability will extend to 70 countries this summer is not a coincidence.

The cynical voice inside my head also wonders if Apple held back on some improvements intentionally to save them for the next version of the iPhone. Most of those who bought the first version of the iPhone may not be ready to upgrade now, but probably will be next year when Jobs introduces iPhone 3.0.

If Apple rectifies most of the issues that irk current iPhone owners in next year’s model, all will be forgiven. And Apple will sell even more iPhones.

Posted by David Zeiler at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (30)
                       

Apple CEO Steve Jobs fulfilled the world’s expectations today by introducing the iPhone 3G, which will use AT&T’s much faster next-generation network to access the Internet. The new iPhone will go on sale July 11 starting at $199 for the 8-gigabyte model and $299 for the 16 GB model (which also comes in a white model).

Jobs also introduced a new $99-a-year “cloud computing” service, MobileMe that replaces the .Mac service that has long been dinged for costing more than it was worth.

Jobs presented a checklist of improvements to the iPhone that included the 3G network support, increased affordability, better enterprise support and wider international availability.

In addition to a faster network connection, the iPhone 3G features built-in GPS, better battery life and a plethora of new apps written by a growing legion of developers.

The new models did not get a bump in memory, no doubt helping Apple afford the big price cut -- from $399 and $499 – to make the device more affordable. Jobs said 56 percent of those who wanted an iPhone but did not buy one said the reason was cost.

Apple has taken care of increasing the iPhone’s global availability by signing contracts with cellular carriers in nearly 70 countries over the past month or so.

As for enterprise support, Jobs crowed about how the iPhone 3G includes many of the features business customers said they wanted: push e-mail, VPN, support for Microsoft Exchange, and so forth. He said 35 percent of companies in the Fortune 500 have participated in the program.

Perhaps to build suspense for the expected iPhone announcement, Jobs devoted about half of the keynote to iPhone software created by the first wave of iPhone developers.

Though hard to argue with given the audience – Mac and iPhone application developers – all that tech talk and the endless string of demos began to wear thin. As Engadget’s Ryan Block put I in his live blog commentary, “Man, these demos are crazy boring. Throw us a bone here Apple!”

Still, the overall impact of those demos was to show off the amazing potential of the iPhone as a platform. In addition to the many games, the keynote included demos of a music creation app, several medical apps and “At Bat,” an app that allows users to follow Major League Baseball games in real time and even catch video highlights from mlb.com.

As the stable of wide-ranging iPhone apps continues to swell, it will make the iPhone itself more and more compelling, particularly in relation to its competition.

The other major announcement Jobs made at the keynote was the arrival of MobileMe, which Apple senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing described as “Exchange for the rest of us.” Microsoft Exchange allows businesses to centrally manage e-mail, calendar and contact information.

MobileMe enables individuals to use the Internet to manage their e-mail, contacts and calendars among multiple devices, including Macs, PCs running Windows and an iPhone.

For example, if you add a contact to your Address Book on your Mac, it shows up seconds later in the contact list on your iPhone. According to Schiller, MobileMe uses wireless networking to maintain up-to-date data on all a user’s devices.

MobileMe integrates with iCal, Address and Mail on a Mac and Microsoft Outlook on a PC. No mention was made of whether MobileMe would work with Microsoft’s Office for Mac Entourage mail program.

Even more dramatic is MobileMe’s Web 2.0 applications. When a user logs in to MobileMe, he can access not just online iDisk storage (which has doubled from 10 GB to 20 GB), but also a group of common applications – a calendar, mail, photos and more over the Internet, much like Google Apps.

The MobileMe Apps look very much like their Mac counterparts, and even support Mac-like features like drag-and-drop.

Those with existing .Mac accounts will be upgraded to MobileMe automatically, while those new to the service can get a 60-day free trial to see if they like it. The service will cost $99 a year, just like .Mac did.

Conspicuous by its absence in the Jobs keynote was any mention of the next version of Mac OS X or a new multi-touch device, both of which were the subject of much rumor chatter in recent days.

Posted by David Zeiler at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)
                       

With another Steve Jobs keynote looming Monday, rumors are flying about a preview of Mac OS X 10.6, a retooled and renamed .Mac service, and the possibility of a totally new multi-touch product, perhaps the long-anticipated iTablet.

Although the alleged purpose of Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference is to engage professional software makers who write programs for Mac OS X, WWDC gradually has evolved into more of a Macworld-type event -- particularly since the demise of the summer East Coast Macworld show a few years ago.

Let’s have a look at the rumors and expectations for the keynote, which Jobs is scheduled to deliver at San Francisco’s Moscone West 10 a.m. Monday:

The iPhone: The one thing everyone agrees will appear Monday, from the Wall Street analysts to the most obscure Mac blogger, is a new iPhone. So Jobs better have one in his pocket when he steps onstage.

Apart from 3G network capabilities, few agree on what other features the new iPhone will have. Some possibilities: built-in GPS and a slimmer case available in several colors.

Most also expect Apple to keep selling the current 2.5G iPhone models at much lower prices, since many of the 70-odd countries where Apple plans to launch the iPhone this year still use the older technology. (Personally I would love to see one iPhone that incorporates all three technologies -- EDGE, 3G and Wi-Fi – and unlocked to boot, but that’s just a fantasy.).

I suspect we’ll also see a high-end version with at least 32 gigabytes of flash memory (up from the current 16 GB), possibly even 64 GB. The top iPod Touch model has had 32 GB since February, so a 32 GB iPhone would seem inevitable.

Since this is WWDC after all, Jobs definitely will speak of the joys of the iPhone 2.0 software that enable developers to write apps for the iPhone, as well as the App Store where Apple will sell them (while taking a 30 percent cut for itself). Many of the five-day conference’s developer sessions focus on the iPhone.

Mac OS 10.6: A few days ago The Unofficial Apple Weblog claimed Apple would distribute a developer release of the next version of the Mac operating system at WWDC. The site further claimed this version would be a “minor” release focused on stability and speed improvements with no significant new features.

Well-respected tech site Ars Technica said it had a source that confirmed most of this while adding the moniker “Snow Leopard.”

Both sites claimed this new version of OS X, purportedly due in January 2009 (way too soon in my opinion), would drop support for Power PC Macs, running only on Intel-based machines. Many Mac users commenced griping immediately.

True enough, Jobs often has made significant Mac OS announcements at WWDC (remember the funeral for Mac OS 9?), so I figure a preview of Mac OS X 10.6 is a strong possibility.

But as for the rumors – that’s all they are, rumors. I’m reluctant to comment further on any aspects of OS X 10.6 until Apple gives us some concrete details.

.Mac makeover: Apple’s often-criticized .Mac $99-per-year Web service could be reborn as MobileMe with enhanced features such as the ability to sync with Windows, Exchange-like over-the-air syncing and push e-mail.

Many of these features would be most useful to iPhone owners, which would dovetail nicely with this year’s iPhone-dominated conference. This rumor feels right. If it pans out, cheers will fill the auditorium when Steve announces it.

iTablet: Like the iPhone rumor before it, the iTablet rumor has been around for a years. This device would be about twice the size of the iPhone but would feature the same multi-touch screen and wireless connectivity.

I do not foresee an iTablet in the keynote. Even if Apple has such a gizmo in the works, as a totally new product it would probably get its own separate special event later this year.

For that matter, I’m not even sure what niche an iTablet would fill. But then Apple does have a way of re-inventing product categories to add those “gotta-have-it” qualities.

New MacBooks: If they’re coming, we won’t see them until after WWDC. Jobs won’t want any competition for the iPhone stuff. And Jobs generally goes light on hardware announcements at WWDC anyway.

Posted by David Zeiler at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
                       

Even before Steve Jobs concludes one of his legendary keynotes, the grousing begins. This time has been no different.

Too many Apple fans get caught up in the pre-keynote hype, rumors and wish lists that build expectations for extremely cool but utterly unlikely wonder-toys. Disappointment is almost a given.

People wanted a 3G iPhone – they didn’t get it. People wanted a WiMax-enabled touch screen mini-laptop, but got only the MacBook Air. People wanted to be blown away by another game-changing product like last year’s iPhone.

Wall Street has also given the keynote a thumbs-down, slicing $9.74 from AAPL yesterday and so far another $8 today, leaving the stock hovering at $160.

I have been amused over the past few days by frequent glowing references to the 2007 MWSF keynote, which -- benefiting from the hindsight of the iPhone’s success -- is considered a classic.

Lest we forget, many Mac faithful were distraught over the absence of Mac news in last year’s keynote. Yesterday Jobs gave us a new Mac laptop and new hardware to back up our Macs. Just last week he gave us new pro desktops and servers.

Most of the discontent on what Jobs did announce has centered on the MacBook Air. Critics don’t like its sealed, non-user-replaceable battery, its lack of an optical drive, its lack of Ethernet and FireWire ports, its slower CPU (well, slower than a regular MacBook’s). Sure it’s thin, but it’s still too wide and long, they moan. Australia's APC magazine actually posted article listing the top 10 things wrong with the new MacBook.

The new MacBook Air

A few have defended the MacBook Air, noting it is not positioned as a primary machine but as a highly portable companion to a more powerful Mac. It won’t be for everyone. But it will have a constituency.

Disenchanted Apple fans weren’t the only ones finding fault; several media pundits weighed in as well with a negative take on yesterday’s events in San Francisco.

Perhaps the worst example was Lance Ulanoff of PC Magazine, who interprets the keynote’s dearth of paradigm-changing products as evidence that Apple has become a tech follower, not a leader.

An ultra-portable notebook, online video rental, a networked backup storage device have all been done, he writes. “There isn’t an iPhone in the bunch,” Ulanoff yawns.

Of course, that’s what the “experts” said one year ago when Jobs introduced the iPhone. There were plenty of smart phones out there already. Apple was late to a crowded market and would get eaten alive. Yesterday Jobs noted that the iPhone had snapped up 19.5 percent of the smart phone market in its first quarter of availability.

Ulanoff undercuts the new iTunes Movie Rental service with the same “others are already doing it” argument. Coupled with the new Apple TV software (the hardware remains the same), Apple appears to have an end-to-end digital video download solution brewing that could someday rival its iTunes-iPod digital music behemoth. It’s a big deal.

Others may offer movies over the Internet, but no one combines all the pieces the way Apple does. No one has this kind of integration between the Internet, your computer and your TV, much less offers multiple options for viewing purchased content. Who else can put a rented movie on your iPhone and your HDTV?

True, this year’s keynote did not have an iPhone to dominate it. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that while there was less flash, there was more substance. Don’t be surprised if the pre-Macworld speculation next year dwells on whether Jobs’ 2009 keynote will be as crammed with as many juicy announcements as the 2008 edition.

Posted by David Zeiler at 12:02 PM in Macworld & WWDC | Permalink | Comments (3)
                       

Apple CEO Steve Jobs delivered no huge surprises in his keynote address this morning in San Francisco, but still hit home runs with the new Macbook Air laptop and the iTunes Movie Rental Service.

Both had been rumored in recent weeks, but one can never be sure what’s going to happen in a Macworld keynote.

Though he saved the MacBook Air for last, the iTunes Movie Rental Store announcement was probably more significant in terms of what it will mean to Apple in the long term. This move should position Apple to dominate the realm of video downloads.

Jobs said that all the major film studios were on board, a major coup for Apple. The rental service will offer new films 30 days after their release on DVD as well as a library of older films. New films will cost $3.99 to rent, older titles $2.99. The iTunes Store also will continue to sell movies and TV shows at their current prices.

Customers will be able to watch the movies instantly, and can view a film as often as they like within 24 hours of starting the stream. If a user wants to finish watching their movie on their iPod or iPhone, they can do that, too. Users have 30 days to launch the stream before the rental expires.

The iTunes Movie Rental Store service launches today, Jobs said, with 100 titles, but will have 1,000 by the end of February. At first the service will be available only in the United States, but Jobs said it will be available internationally “later this year.”

Just as significant as the announcement of the iTunes rental service is the vehicle with which many customers are likely to access it: a much-improved Apple TV.

No longer does the Apple TV need to be tethered to a computer for functionality. As I had hoped, the device can access the Internet directly through a wireless connection, allowing it to link to the iTunes Store directly. Customers can browse movies, TV shows and music on their TV screen right from the snazzy Apple TV interface. You can buy or rent.

After you’ve made your choice you can watch the content on your TV or your computer – or your iPod or iPhone. The Apple TV still syncs with your computer, but now it also syncs backwards. So stuff you obtain via Apple TV will be available on your computer, too.

Apple didn’t stop there. The new Apple TV can access photos from Flickr or a .Mac site as well as YouTube videos. Apple has vastly improved Apple TV by allowing a variety of ways to access digital content (though digital rights management was never mentioned … hmmm). And on top of all that, the company dropped the price of Apple TV from $299 to $229. The few who bought an Apple TV last year will get a free software upgrade to enable these features. I think Apple will sell a lot more Apple TVs in 2008 than it did in 2007.

The MacBook Air gave Jobs some sexy new Mac hardware to show off. The 3-pound notebook is wedge-shaped, just .76 inches thin at its thickest point and an astonishing .16 inch thin at its slimmest. It sports a 13.3-inch LED display and a full-sized backlit keyboard (the keys are black). The trackpad is oversized to allow the use of iPhone-like gestures, such as twisting your fingers to rotate an image in iPhoto.

The MacBook Air uses a tiny 80-gigabyte hard drive like the one found in the iPod Classic, and comes standard with a generous 2 GB of memory, the same as the MacBook Pro. The price: $1,799.

But the MacBook Pro’s most distinguishing feature is what it doesn’t have – an optical drive. One can buy an external SuperDrive that connects via USB for $99, but Jobs argued that people won’t bother. “We don’t think most users will miss the optical drive or need the optical drive,” Jobs said. As an alternative Jobs said the MacBook Air will be able to access the optical drives of other Macs or PCs over a wireless network.

The omission of an optical drive recalls Jobs’ introduction of the first iMac in 1997, which omitted a floppy disk drive (though external ones could be purchased as an option). Clearly Jobs foresees optical media – CDs and DVDs – suffering the same fate as floppies.

Jobs also introduced new software features for the iPhone and iPod Touch, as well as a new wireless hardware backup device, Time Capsule. Designed to work with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard’s Time Machine automatic backup feature, Time Capsule uses the fast 802.11n wireless protocol and comes in two sizes: a 500 GB version for $299 and a 1 terabyte version for $499. I wish I had known about this before I bought a Buffalo LinkStation a few months ago. (sigh.)

I may have more thoughts on the keynote later.

Posted by David Zeiler at 2:40 PM in MacBook, Macworld & WWDC, iPhone, iTunes/iTunes Store | Permalink
                       

One week before Steve Jobs takes the stage in San Francisco for his annual Macworld keynote, the Mac universe is abuzz with the usual rumors and speculation.

Regulations governing Apple pundits require that I contribute to the collective cacophony or forfeit my license to blog on Apple. In that spirit, here’s my take on what might be coming – or not – on Jan. 15:

Mac Pro update – Apple completely shocked me by announcing new pro towers (and server models) this morning. I don't recall Apple ever making such a major product announcement just one week before a Stevenote. So these rumors panned out early. The twin quad core CPUs (giving this Mac 8 cores of processing power) are standard as expected, but there is no mention of Blu-ray DVD support. Steve will mention this, but not spend much time on it.

Retail stats – Steve will probably open the keynote with a rundown of assorted statistics demonstrating Apple’s prodigious business successes. We will hear about how many millions of people visited Apple’s retail stores, and that half of them were “new to the platform.” Steve will tell us how many new stores opened in 2007, and may announce new stores in such countries as China, Brazil and Mexico.

He should gloat about yesterday’s Bernstein Research report that showed Apple’s annual sales per square foot of retail space light years ahead of other retailers. At $4,491 per square foot, Apple not only clobbered Best Buy at $991/sq. ft. but also handily outshone other upscale retailers such as Saks ($388/sq. ft.), Coach ($1648/sq. ft.) and Tiffany and Co. ($2,746/sq. ft.).

Leopard stats – Steve will tell us how many copies of Mac OS X 10.5 have been sold since its launch at the end of October. Whatever the number, it will be the best operating system launch in Apple history. Leopard also will have had the fastest adoption rate of any Mac operating system version.

Office for the Mac 2008 – Craig Eisler, the new general manager of Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit, will join Steve onstage to introduce Office for Mac 2008. There will be a tedious demo.

Other software – Since iWork and iLife both were released in August, we won’t hear of them in the keynote. In fact, it’s hard to say what other software might get mentioned, since Apple got most of its upgrades out over the summer. He might spend a few moments on the prosumer video editing program Final Cut Express, which was updated in mid-November.

Video – The other week I predicted some major video-related announcements at the Stevenote. We will hear about the new iTunes movie rental service, heretofore unannounced by Apple but widely reported in the mainstream media. Various news reports over the past few weeks have said Apple is on the verge of making deals with almost all the major film studios, including 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount and Sony, MGM and Lionsgate. Availability is the major question here; if the deals aren’t final, the service may not launch for a few more months.

Apple TV – Going hand-in-hand with the iTunes Store movie rental news should be an announcement of a new, improved version of the Apple TV. This is not a shoo-in, but it would make a lot of sense for Apple to fix this product by adding the ability to record TV shows (like a TiVo) and access the Internet independently of a computer. The pièce de résistance will be integration with the iTunes Store, so that music, videos and movies could be ordered directly from the user’s sofa with the included remote control.

New iPods – You got ‘em in September. Let’s not be greedy.

iPhone updates – Some think Steve will announce a 3G iPhone next Tuesday; my gut feeling is that it’s too soon. Even if he does announce it, you won’t be able to buy one for several months. One thing we will get at some point during the keynote: stats on how many iPhones have been sold, and a recap of the product’s launch in the U.K., France and Germany. Steve might announce the next nation(s) set to get the iPhone (Spain? Italy? Japan?), but I haven’t read any rumors that further deals are near.

Steve will definitely mention the software development kit that will allow third-party developers to write programs to run on the iPhone. Although Steve has said the SDK would be available in February, he might wow the crowd by announcing its immediate availability.

One more thing ... One product the rumor sites have convinced themselves is coming at Macworld is some sort of Mac subnotebook, something smaller and lighter than a MacBook. This device could incorporate the same touch screen technology used in the iPod Touch. It could use flash memory in place of a hard drive, or at the very least will use flash memory to speed boot times. It will use a LED display (Apple has committed to using the more environmentally friendly LED technology in all its displays.) Despite the prevalence of rumors about this, no one is quite sure what such a beast will look like. But the odds are high we will see some incarnation of a MacBook Mini.

For anyone who’d like to follow the keynote live (it starts at 9 a.m. PST, or noon Baltimore time), several Web sites will be posting updates during the event. I prefer Engadget, but a full list of sites offering coverage will appear on MacSurfer the day of the event.

Posted by David Zeiler at 7:55 AM in Macworld & WWDC, Software by Apple, iMac, iPhone, iPod, iTunes/iTunes Store | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

The reports that Apple has signed a deal with News Corp’s 20th Century Fox studio to allow people to rent its content from the iTunes Store could be a fundamental clue as to the company’s next major product focus.

Recall that Apple’s efforts in 2007 were dominated by the iPhone, right from Steve Jobs’ Macworld keynote in January. Yes, the company kept releasing new Macs and refreshed the iPod line for Christmas, but the iPhone was the center of attention all year long. It even drew resources away from Leopard, the latest version of Mac OS X, delaying its release for several months.

I’m guessing of course, but it would make sense for Apple to set video as its theme for 2008, starting with Jobs’ Macworld keynote on Jan. 15. Video currently is Apple’s weakest link, since its other businesses – the Mac, the iPod and the iPhone – are all going gangbusters.

But Jobs, like Alexander the Great, is always looking over the horizon toward his next conquest.

Much has been said this year about the failure of Apple TV to make an impact. Jobs has described it coyly as a “hobby.” Video sales at the iTunes Store have been decent but not great. Of the major film studios, only Walt Disney has made new releases available for purchase (it could be Jobs’ membership on Disney’s board helps a tad).

The television component of the iTunes Store took a giant step backward when Apple’s running spat with NBC Universal resulted in the removal of shows from NBC, the Sci-Fi channel, the USA Network and other Universal properties.

The technical hurdles of selling video over the Internet haven’t helped, either. The large files – a typical movie on iTunes is about 1 gigabyte, or about 200 times the size of a typical pop song. Even for users with broadband Internet connections, gratification is not exactly instant.

It’s the sort of glum confluence of circumstances that can cause even large and otherwise successful companies to throw in the towel. Wal-Mart, for example, announced yesterday that it has canceled its movie download service -- less than a year after it launched.

But one thing Apple has proven in recent years is that it often can succeed where others have foundered, such as with the iPod or its chain of retail stores. Solving video over the Internet is exactly the sort of challenge Apple relishes.

Apple now can put its experience as a video vendor to use as it crafts the most user-friendly option for consuming video over the Internet.

The move to rentals makes complete sense, and probably was inevitable. In the years Apple has dabbled in offering video downloads, it has learned that fewer people want to own video than do music. If people didn’t want to rent videos there would be no Blockbuster or Netflix, not to mention the various “video-on-demand” services provided by cable companies.

The deal with Fox shows Apple is serious about getting video right. The content, according to the Financial Times of London, will be new. It will be encoded with Apple’s FairPlay digital rights management software, but it should play on Macs, iPods, iPhones and on a TV via Apple TV. In other words, users will be able to watch the rented video pretty much on a variety of devices, unlike other services that restrict the user to a single device.

Apple is even licensing FairPlay to Fox for use on its DVDs. This will allow the video to be ripped legally to a computer for transfer to a video-capable iPod or iPhone.

The millions of handheld video-capable devices Apple has sold over the past few years surely supplied a major piece of leverage in securing this deal. In the case of the iPhone and iPod Touch, one could download the content directly to the device through iTunes. What studio wouldn’t want a piece of this action?

The Financial Times article said Apple “is understood to have been in talks with Sony Pictures Entertainment, Paramount and Warner Brothers about making their new releases available on iTunes to buy or rent.”

Expect video to be the centerpiece of Jobs’ Jan. 15 keynote. He almost certainly will announce the Fox deal then and possibly deals with other studios (I can’t imagine that Disney isn’t already signed up to add rentals to its iTunes catalog).

The long-neglected Apple TV figures to get a significant upgrade and be integrated into Apple’s video strategy as one of the ways to access the rentals. If Apple TV 2.0 can connect directly to the iTunes Store and includes some TiVo-like features, it could go from flop to hit overnight.

Apple isn’t far from having a killer video strategy. It has most of the pieces in place already. It just needs to bridge the gaps and then integrate those pieces as only Apple knows how.

Then watch how fast Apple’s “hobby” disrupts the entire movie rental industry.

Posted by David Zeiler at 1:38 PM in Macworld & WWDC, iTunes/iTunes Store | Permalink | Comments (8)
                       

By the time Steve Jobs took the stage Tuesday morning to announce new Mac products, everyone knew that new iMacs were on the agenda. Because Steve had invited the media to Apple’s campus, a rarity he usually reserves for such momentous occasions as the debut of the iPod, expectations were high.

Sure enough, Jobs introduced a revamped line of iMacs just minutes after he began his presentation. The new iMacs now have glossy screens, aluminum cases, are significantly thinner and feature an optional wireless keyboard. The 17-inch model is no more; Apple now offers two 20-inch models and one 24-inch model. Perhaps the most notable news here is the pricing: at $1,799 the 24-inch model is $200 cheaper than its predecessor; the midrange 20-inch price remains the same at $1,499 (and as usual offers the best balance of price and features). The low-end 20-inch iMac is $200 more than the cheapest 17-inch had been, but the same as a beefier 17-inch offering. Overall, you’re getting more iMac for the money, and that’s always a good thing.

Still, the new iMacs are hardly a huge leap forward. But things got much more interesting once Jobs moved on to the software: updates to both the iWork and iLife suites, which many had not expected until later this year or even the Macworld show in January.

The biggest surprise was the addition of a spreadsheet, called Numbers, to iWork. That makes the suite fully capable of replacing Microsoft Office. While the subject of yesterday’s post, NeoOffice, remains a usable (and free) alternative to Office for the Mac, iWork now becomes a much better option than it had been. If you throw in Apple’s free Mail program, iWork now has an answer for all four Office for the Mac components -- Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Entourage. And each of iWork’s components can read and save in Office’s file formats. And despite the addition of a third component, the price of iWork remains a mere $79, far less than the $399 list price for the full retail version of Office 2004 for the Mac. While businesses may continue to need Microsoft’s package, most home users will find iWork a more than adequate substitute and far easier on their budgets. If Jobs really wants to get Microsoft’s goat, he could release iWork for Windows. Maybe in 2008, eh?

Jobs also announced an update to the Apple’s iLife suite – iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand and iWeb. He demonstrated several nifty new features, particularly the “Events” in iPhoto, which allows better organization of thousands of images, and a completely revamped iMovie that makes it much easier to browse video files and create movies faster than before.

But the major news here was all of Jobs talk of “Web 2.0” features. Apple has added more integration and sharing features to its online service, .Mac, so users can create an online photo gallery that syncs with iPhoto. Friends can contribute to your online album; the images will automatically download to your Mac. If you have an iPhone, you can access your gallery there, too.

Similarly, iMovie has picked up more sharing features. You can send your movies pretty much anywhere you like, including to your iPhone or to the .Mac Web Gallery. Along with further enhancements to iWeb, Apple’s Web site creation software, it’s clear that Jobs has gotten the message sent by such phenomena as MySpace, FaceBook and YouTube. People want the ability to make stuff (photos, videos, blogs) and share it with the world. Apple was a pioneer in the concept of the “digital lifestyle,” and now has the tools – the iLife software paired with its .Mac online services – to capitalize on that concept having gone mainstream. And the iLife suite comes free on every Mac, offering yet another incentive to switchers from Windows.

Although no one will hail today’s iMacs as any sort of breakthrough, they and their Mac kin, primarily the MacBooks, bring in a major portion of Apple’s profits. The software announced today – what you can do with a new Mac -- will be the reason people will buy them, and should help maintain the Mac’s momentum in picking up more market share.

Posted by David Zeiler at 4:20 PM in Macworld & WWDC, Software by Apple, iMac | Permalink | Comments (1)
                       

As usual, Mac fans are disappointed with a Steve Jobs keynote. The reaction to Jobs’ Monday address at the Worldwide Developers Conference has tended mostly toward “no new Mac hardware” with a generous helping of “we’ve seen most of this Leopard stuff before.” Even Wall Street gave it a thumbs down, shaving $4.30 off Apple’s stock price.

While people shouldn’t fault Apple for failing to produce new hardware at a developer’s conference (it’s a bonus if it happens), the dissatisfaction with Jobs lengthy Leopard presentation is his own fault. Leopard, the next major version of Mac OS X slated for October release, dominated the keynote. At last year’s WWDC, after demonstrating many of the same elements he showed Monday, Jobs teased that he could not reveal some “top secret” features for fear of tipping off rival Microsoft. The gang up at Redmond, still desperately trying to finish up the long-delayed Windows Vista operating system, had no prayer of cribbing anything from Jobs’ August presentation. In fact, Microsoft was forced to bail on numerous features it had promised years earlier just to get the darn thing out the door.

My theory is that Jobs was concerned some of Leopard’s features might not be ready in time for its release. Learning from Microsoft’s mistakes, he labeled Leopard’s less certain features “top secret” and let the Mac rumor sites speculate on what marvels were to come, generating hype Apple could not hope to fulfill.

I watched the keynote on the streaming QuickTime feed the other night. As Jobs ran through his 10 Leopard features, I noted that only the first three – the new Desktop, the new Finder and Quick Look – had not already been previewed at last year’s WWDC. Fine features they are, but not quite deserving of the label “top secret.”

Don’t get me wrong. I can’t wait to use Leopard on my Macs, regardless of how often Jobs pre-announces its features. But after waiting more than nine months, we get only three cool-but-not-terribly-enthralling user interface enhancements? This warranted secrecy?

When you raise expectations the way Jobs did, people assume they’re going to be blown away. You have to wonder if Jobs simply exaggerated last August to fuel continued interest or if there are in fact more “top secret” features yet to be revealed. We won’t know until October, I suppose.

More thoughts on Jobs’ WWDC keynote:

Leopard looks great -- Unmet expectations aside, Jobs highlighted several things Monday that will significantly improve Mac OS X. I’m looking forward to Stacks, a way to put folders full of related things to which you’d like quick access in the Dock. Clicking on the Stack causes icons of its contents to spread out in an arc (or in a grid, if you prefer) so you can find and select the file you need. I also liked the way the Sidebar will now automatically include the icons of any Macs on your network (and thus easy access to anything on them) – no browsing or logging in required. And I’m sure I’ll heavily use the Quick Look feature, which lets you view any file – a photo, presentation, text document, video, anything -- without actually opening it.

Games – Both EA and id Software made major Mac-related announcements. EA plans to start offering Mac versions of major titles simultaneously with its releases for other platforms, such as Windows and Sony’s PlayStation. John Carmack of id Software showed off a new game engine that is compatible with OS X, meaning they, too, will be offering Mac versions of new games concurrent with those of other platforms. This redresses a grievance Mac gamers have had for many years. Mac versions of major games historically have arrived many months after their PC counterparts, if they arrived at all. While gaming has never been central to the Mac, the increased attention from game developers will make a significant segment of the Mac community very happy and offers further proof of the health and viability of the platform.

Safari for Windows – Regarding my comments on why Apple would release a Windows version of its free Web browser, it appears I was only partly right. I surmised that Apple was using Safari as bait to lure more Windows users to switch to the Mac. A post by an astute reader pointed out that John Gruber noted on his Daring Fireball Web site that browsers do indeed generate income via the search window in the toolbar. Gruber also suggested several other compelling reasons for Apple’s surprising move; his site is recommended reading for fans of the Mac.

Posted by David Zeiler at 3:51 AM in Mac OS X, Macworld & WWDC | Permalink | Comments (2)
                       

Safari for Windows was THE bombshell of Steve Jobs’ keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco earlier today. While Jobs explained the move by talking about his desire to increase Safari share of Web browsers, there must be more to it than that.

As most everyone knows, Web browsers are given away for free. Apple has invested some degree of its limited resources to create a Windows-compatible browser that will generate exactly $0 in revenue and will serve to annoy the restless, competitive giant that is Microsoft.

At least when Apple made the iPod Windows-compatible, it was to grab market share with the goal of making piles of money, a plan that has succeeded spectacularly.

Ironically, Microsoft discontinued support for Internet Explorer on the Mac shortly after Apple introduced Safari in 2003, seeing little point in devoting resources to a product that had no monetary or strategic value.

So what is Jobs up to, anyway?

The only explanation is that Safari for Windows is that it’s bait, a means of luring Windows users into sampling yet another Apple product. According to Apple, the iPod/iTunes combo has helped bring many Windows users into Apple Stores and many leave Mac owners – “switchers,” as Apple likes to call them. Analysts call this the “halo effect.”

Safari has even more potential to siphon off Windows users into the Mac universe. While music is popular, not everyone will buy an iPod and use iTunes. But virtually everyone who uses a computer uses a Web browser.

I’ve seen a lot of grousing from Mac users in forums over the past six months that Apple has “abandoned” the Mac in favor of pushing its multimedia fare (iPods, downloadable movies, Apple TV, the iPhone). When you step back for a minute, though, it becomes clear that all of Apple’s extracurricular activities serve to push more people towards the Mac. Safari on Windows is just one more element of that strategy.

When I get the time I will watch Jobs’ keynote on via QuickTime on Apple’s Web site. I will have more thoughts on his other announcements tomorrow.

Posted by David Zeiler at 6:42 PM in Macworld & WWDC, Software by Apple | Permalink | Comments (1)