When I arrived at San Francisco and met up with my kid brother and fellow MyMac contributor, Guy Serle, I had no idea this would be any more than the usual convention activity of trudging up and down the aisles of a big show.
Guy and MyMac.com spiritual scratching post Tim encouraged me to try to re-register as a member of the media. Well, it worked! I got my media credentials and joined the huddled masses at the keynote hall.
Hundreds of media folks milled around two large escalators until just before 9AM, when suddenly the gates were open. “Great Scott,” I exclaimed (actually I said a lot of other things, but this is a family column), as a few more of the agile members of the fifth estate began charging the escalators. People were stumbling and falling over themselves to be the first ones on the escalator, and by definition, the first in the hall’s press section.
Apple’s security folks did a pretty good job getting folks into their seats without a whole lot of drama, and by about 9:15, Steve Jobs entered from stage left to a standing ovation. After some brief small talk, he talked about Apple’s financials, and then announced there would be no announcements about new computers. He then started with the main program. He also noted that the transition from PowerPC to Intel hardware was supposed to take one year. Apple did it in seven months, and that half of all new Mac sales are to former Windows users.
The iTV is now AppleTV. Other bloggers on this site have already spoken about this terrific centerpiece of any mid- to high-end home entertainment system. It provides a way to get content from the iTunes Store (movies, music, etc.) on to your televisions. The iTunes Store will also begin providing content at 720p resolution for true widescreen HD video. Be prepared to wait for those downloads!. All I can say is that I want one. Really bad. Now, if I only had an HDMI switcher to handle all these inputs…
The biggest announcement was done with a big buildup. Steve made it appear as if there was going to be a new iPod, a new mobile telephone, and a new internet appliance. The reality was the introduction of the iPhone, which is all three. For $499 with 4 GB of flash memory, and $599 with eight, it’s a killer product in anyone’s book. It is simply the easiest to use and most feature-laden “smart phone” with features that anyone can easily use that I have ever seen. The screen is bright and crisp, the display is 3.5 inches diagonal, it automatically senses when you rotate the screen… I could just go on and on. Check Apple’s website for terrific demos. This mobile device will be available in June, exclusively from Cingular, as Cingular had to make specific changes to their network to accomodate some of the features of this phone.
Steve made Apple’s goal very clear–he is seeking 1% marketshare in 2008 for the iPhone. What does this mean? Simply, it means he expects to sell 10,000,000 iPhones in a market that supports total sales of about one billion phones. If reality is anything like the demonstrations I saw on that stage, this will be a winner. Apple has long proven that you don’t need a lot of marketshare to make a lot of money.
As Steve closed his address, he made another momentous announcement. After 30 years, Apple is changing its name from Apple Computer Inc. to just Apple Inc., indicating the transition from being primarily a manufacturer of personal computers to that of a major consumer electronics giant. This is really, hugely significant and you can probably expect more announcements in the coming months and years about exciting new products.
Walking the convention floor, I think I was most impressed by the breadth of software and hardware vendors–a number of whom I have not seen or heard of before. While there were a slew of iPod accessory makers, there were also companies making software to run a doctor’s office on a Mac, numerous remote connectivity and remote management solutions, computer and software security, web hosts, book publishers, specialty graphics software, and, oh yes, more iPod accessory makers.
I got a chance to meet the legendary German software developer Thorsten Lemke, creator of Graphic Converter, the “Swiss Army Knife” of graphics conversions. It can convert virtually any raster graphics format to virtually any other raster graphics format. This product is so significant that Apple has included a copy with OS X since at least version 10.3. Graphic Converter was only one of scores of smaller software and hardware developers in the North Hall of the giant Moscone Center.
As a long-time Macworld reader, I remember reading about the many parties and events held at past conventions. I jumped at the opportunity to buy a ticket to the big Macworld-sponsored first night party. I was not disappointed. Along with good noshing food and drink, a special surprise guest performer was introduced: Cheap Trick. The band did a wonderful, if loud, job and was a real crowd pleaser. Rick Nielsen threw out his trademarked guitar picks, while playing his hot licks.
After it was all over, Guy and I limped back to our hotel, secure in the knowledge that truly, a good time was had by all.
More later…
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