News from The Steve's address at MacWorld

Update:: For a great technical (and sardonic) detailed summary of the keynote and products, take a look at the Ars Technica summary. Very good, and much fun. (Below is (hopefully) a list of the major points with very little detail.)

Steve Jobs is giving his 2-hour MacWorld keynote address; I've got a live feed on a blog that's covering it, and thought I'd relay some of the high points here, for the Mac fans.

iPod news:

• 14 Million iPods sold in 2005. Still about 83% of US MP3 player market. 850 million songs sold via iTunes store. 8 million videos sold in a few months. (Rose Bowl is #1 currently.)
• New video content: Saturday Night Live (repeats I think).
• New accessory for iPod: remote control + FM tuner.

Mac news (software):

• More widgets... lots more widgets. More widgets... than you have ever seen before...
• Tiger 10.4.4 released: right now. (Comes with boatloads of widgets. But you knew that.)
• Major iLife update today. Lot of photo features -- photo effects, extras.
• Introduce Photocasting through .Mac (like podcasting with photos.) Grandmothers and new parents will pee their pants over this.
• iMovie: exports to video iPod, can do Video Podcasts (grandmothers and new parents keel over dead with joy.) More effects ("Ken Burns" montages, animated themes, etc.)
• iDVD: More widescreen support; something called iDVD Magic (works with 3rd party drives -- maybe competition for Toast?)
• Garage Band: Podcast authoring studio. Tools, jingles, sound effects, automatic ducking (?) for audio, and a speech enhancer (maybe for clearing up muddy interviews.) Can use iChat for remote interviews. New jampacks (? Sorry, unfamiliar with Garage Band.)
• New iLife tool: iWeb, web site building software for .Mac. "Make beautiful websites that are simple to use. Share photos, blogs, and podcasts". Emphasis on "simple to build" -- "one-click publishing".
• All this in new iLife: free on new Macs, $79 new, $99 family pack for 5 Macs.
• New iWorks:

Mac news (hardware):

• Started year at 1 million Macs a quarter; better every quarter after that (so >4 million Macs in 2005).
• Intel status? Intel CEO shows up in Intel clean room bunny suit. "We're ready, Steve!" Hands him Intel silicon wafer, leaves stage. :lol:
• Apple is ahead of schedule with Intel chip, so....
• BIG SURPRISE: First Intel-based Mac is: The iMac!!!! Same price, same
  design, same features. What's different?
• Using Intel core dual chip. 2-3 times faster than PowerPC G5 iMac.
• Starting today, all iMacs are Intel Dual processor. Tiger 10.4.4 is entirely native on Intel processors.
• All new Apple software products shown todary are Universal (Intel and PowerPC). All demos of Apple software during Keynote are running on Intel Macs. Pro apps will be Universal in March. (Final cut, Aperture, Logic pro). Can trade in your versions (if latest) for $49.
• Ships with Rosetta, which allows you to run current PowerPC apps on Intel Macs. MS Office for Mac runs fine in Rosetta.
• Microsoft Apple Software Business Unit guy appears. (In cloud of sulfer. Kidding...)
• Universal version of Office for Mac should be out in March. Microsoft offering Office for 50% off for new Mac buyers.
• Microsoft formallizing that they will support Office for the Mac for at least the next 5 years.
• All Macs Intel-based by end of year
• FRIGGING BIG SURPRISE (this is probably his exit surprise): New Notebook Mac: MacBook Pro. "Wanted the word "Mac" back in name of laptop products".
• Intel based, dual core!! -- 4.5 times faster than G4, than the PowerBook. Fastest Mac laptop ever. Thinest Mac laptop ever. Very pretty.
• 15.4" widescreen LCD. 5.6 lbs. $2000 for 1.67 Ghz model, $2500 for 1.83 Ghz model.
• Front Row built right in. Also, power cord is magnestically attached to laptop -- so if someone trips over cord, cord pops off -- instead of dragging your laptop off the table and onto the floor. MagSafe is the name.
• Ships in Feb., taking orders now.
• Steve has the Apple engineers stand up -- great applause. (Good for you, guys.)

Steve ends with cryptic note that Apple will be 30 years old on April Fools Day, 2006. Says thanks for 30 years, and that ends the session.

That's all, folks! For a couple of good transcripts of the talk, check out Ars Technica and EnGadget.

 

Rumor is, Intel-based iBooks -- but we'll see. The Steve always wants to go out on a high, so he saves the best for last.

 

Good point, hiyo -- probably use this thread to discuss the aftermath of the keynote.

 

See the top: All iMacs are now Intel-based!

 

Holy $%#! Completely new Notebook Mac!

 

OK, that's it. Wow -- the iMacs floored me. And going to all Intel by the end of the year -- very ambitious.

The new laptop looks beautiful, and will definitely be what all the Mac Notebook PowerBook people have been waiting for... but it ain't cheap.

And I'm happy I bought a PowerPC Mac last May. Not because it's better -- I don't think it is -- but because it's going to be a while before folks have all the software tooled over to Intel binaries (Universal), and running them via Rosetta will be (I think) slow.

Now, how soon until Microsoft comes out with a version of Virtual PC that runs for Intel-based Macs?