Many announcements were made by Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs during the MacWorld opening keynote which took place at the Moscone Center in San Fransisco this Tuesday. Here is a an exhaustive report with all the details on the announced products.
Before unveiling the first product Steve Jobs gave some news on the Mac platform. He said that over 5 million copies of Leopard were sold and that it was the fastest operating system migration ever. The Intel transition also went well as the last big application, Microsoft Office 2008, has started shipping in Intel native.
Time Capsule:
Time Capsule is a back-up appliance which combines an Airport Extreme base station and a hard drive. It allows you to backup your Mac's data wireless.
It comes in 500GB and 1TB versions respectively for $299 and $499 ships in February. Apple has a dedicated Get-A-Mac ad for this new device.
iPhone:
On the 200th day since the release of the iPhone, Steve Jobs announced the company had sold 4 million iPhones or 20 000 iPhones per day on average.
The U.S. market share of the iPhone is already 19.5% in the SmartPhone market while Apple remains after RIM which has 39% of the market.
The rumoured iPhone software update was showed during the keynote. It includes the following features:
- Maps with location
- Web Clips (bookmarks which remember position and zoom)
- Customize home screen
- SMS multiple people at once
- Chapters, subtitles, languages
- Lyrics
According to the update notes on iTunes, it also fixes bugs and provides user interface improvements.
The update is free for all iPhone users and available today through iTunes 7.5 or later.
iPod Touch
The iPod touch also receives a software update with five new applications:
- Mail
- Maps with Wi-Fi location
- Stocks
- Notes
- Wheather
The update will be included with all the units shipping from now. Existing iPod touch users will have to pay $20 for this update.
iTunes / Apple TV
Apple sold 4 billion songs and has set a new one-day record of 20 million songs during Christmas day. Apple also sold 125 million TV shows sold as well as 7 million movies.
The company introduced iTunes Movie Rentals, an internet movie rental service. But the great news is that Apple has signed with all major studios, including
Touchstone Pictures, Miramax, MGM, Lions Gate, New Line Cinema, 20 Century Fox, Warner Bross, Walt Disney, Paramount, Universal and Sony Pictures.
Over 1000 films will be available by the end of February. You can watch the film on Mac, PC, iPod and iPhone.
The movie plays in less than 30 seconds after the download starts. When the user rents it, he has 30 days to watch it. Once he started watching it, he has 24 hours during which he can watch it as many times as he wants. He can also start watching the beginning of the movie on a Mac or on the Apple TV and watch the end on the iPod.
Library movies cost $2.99 will recent one are at $3.99.
The service launches today in the U.S.A and will be made available in other countries later this year.
In addition to Movie Rentals, Apple announced the Apple TV Take 2, an improved version of the Apple TV which does not longer require a computer.
It allows you to rent movies on iTunes Rental Movies and supports renting movies in DVD and HD 720p quality with 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio (add $1 per movie rental for HD).
It can also show pictures from your .Mac or Flickr account or play video podcasts. Steve Jobs said that Apple's podcast directory currently offers more than 120 000 podcasts and some of them are available in HD quality.
TV shows and music can now also be bought right from the Apple TV. It is not longer required to purchase them through a Mac or PC using iTunes then sync iTunes with the Apple TV. The iTunes/Apple TV sync feature is still present of course.
All the new features announced during the keynote come in a free software update for all current Apple TV users.
In addition to all these free features, Apple has reduced the entry price of the Apple TV to $229 from $299 so as to make it more accessible.
The first studio which signed with Apple was 20th Century Fox. It's Chairman and CEO, Jim Gianopoulos, came to stage so as to explain what he thinks people really need when it comes to watching movies and why Fox has chosen to collaborate with Apple.
Gianopoulos also said that DVDs from Fox will contain an iTunes compatible digital copy so as to be able to watch the movie on an Apple TV, iPod or iPhone. The first movie supporting this technology is "Family Guy".
MacBook Air:
Apple introduced a third kind of notebook to its linup during the keynote, called the MacBook Air.
Before unveiling the specs of the MacBook Air, Jobs first showed what the competition can do by taking as example Sony's ultraportable lineup: Between 1.2 and 0.80 inches, 3lbs and 11 to 12 inches displays.
The MacBook Air is between 0.16 inches and 0.76 inches thick and Apple claims it's "the worlds' thinnest notebook".
Here are the full specs of the MacBook Air:
- 13.3 inch with LED backlight
- 1.6Ghz Core 2 Duo (1.8Ghz option)
- Intel GMA X3100 with micro-DVI port (add $29 for the micro-DVI to DVI adaptor)
- 2GB of RAM
- 80GB 1.8 inch hard drive (or 64GB SSD option for $999)
- iSight, Full size backlit keyboard with amblient light sensor
- Multi-touch trackpad
- Smaller 45W MagSafe adapter
- 802.11n Wifi, No Ethernet port (add $29 for a USB2->Ethernet adaptor)
- Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
The Multi-touch trackpad allows various gestures such as pinching for zooming, double taping to move an entire window, two finger move to rotate and others.
The MacBook Air does not include any internal optical drive but Apple offers an option to buy an external SuperDrive which is USB2 powered for $99. Optional also are the Apple Remote ($19) the Ethernet adaptor which connects to the USB2 port ($29) and the USB Modem ($49).
Apple counts on Wifi to compensate the lack of an internal optical drive as most content can now be found on the network (documents, movies, pictures, music...). It developed a special technology allowing you to use the optical drive of another Mac or PC on the MacBook Air. This technology is available in a special Mac and PC compatible piece of software which ships with the new notebook.
The MacBook Air costs $1799 in its standard configuration and will ship in the next two weeks.
Apple will be airing a new ad for this new product which plays off the fact we can put the new notebook in an envelope.
Intel's CEO, Paul Otellini went on stage and said that Apple challenged Intel last year to create a very small Core 2 Duo. Intel achieved shrinking the Core 2 Duo more than 60%.
The MacBook Air is also very environment-friendly thanks to its full aluminium case, mercury and lead free display, BFR free circuit board and minimal packaging.
Conclusion
In the first two weeks of 2008, Apple announced new Mac Pros, Time Capsule, Software upgrades for both the iPhone and the iPod touch, iTunes Movie Rentals, new Apple TV software and the MacBook Air.
Academy Award and Grammy Award, Randy Newman came and gave performance for the end of the keynote.
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