MacUser Live Keynote Coverage

Posted Jan. 9, ’07, 7:37 AM PT by MacUser

Category | Apple » Events

We covered the Steve Jobs keynote at Macworld Expo 2007 LIVE, yes we did. Derik and Scott did the honors. The complete transcript follows.

S (08:57): Scott here. We’re sitting here in the Keynote just waiting. More to come soon.

D (08:58): And this is Derik. We’ll be collabo-live-blogging.

D (09:00): It’s crazy in here, people are literally standing on chairs.

D (09:08): “Turn off all cell phones and pagers.” Is that because they’ll all be obselete? Ok, completely wild speculation.

S (09:08): The keynote has just begun. Waiting on the appearance of Steve still.

D (09:12): They’re playing some James Brown. Classy move.

D (09:14): He’s on stage and it looks like the turtleneck is back!

S (09:14): The lights are dimming… here we go!

D (09:15): Intel switch: “Smoothest transition in industry.”

S (09:15): Steve: “We are going to make history today…” Let’s certainly hope so!

S (09:16): Now in the US, over half of the Macs sold in the US are new Mac users.

D (09:16): “Thank you Intel.” “Thank you developers.” And of course: yay for users.

S (09:17): New mock ad for Windows Vista…

D (09:17): Jim Allchin, nuf said.

S (09:18): Update on iPod sales: unrivaled sucess. SOld over 2 billion songs on iTunes.

D (09:20): Steve: We have no idea where those sales numbers predicting doom are coming from.

S (09:21): iTunes has sold over 50 million TV shows and 1.3 million movies on iTunes.

D (09:21): Now selling more music than Amazon (including physical CDs).

D (09:22): New movie partner: Paramount!

D (09:23): Brace for Zune bashing. 2% market share.

S (09:23): Over 250 movies now on iTunes. Hoping to add new studios soon.

S (09:24): New ads for the iPod… Dancing colorful and transparent people to the music of a “up and coming British pop group.” Two different versions of ad.

S (09:26): Review of the old iTV.

D (09:26): iTV update: New name: Apple TV.

S (09:27): Up to 720p HiDef video and 40GB drive inside for 50 hours of video. Has b+g+n wireless networking built in.

D (09:27): Still no word on what kind of Wi-Fi.

D (09:29): You can specify what gets auto-synced.

D (09:29): Auto-sync one computer. Stream from up to five.

S (09:30): Live Demo of the Apple TV now… Hi def screen saver uses your photos.

D (09:31): Trailers get streamed live over the Internet. Demo: The Good Shepherd.

S (09:32): Played a bit of Zoolander (one of the new movies available in the iTunes Store.

D (09:33): TV Demo: Heroes. (Personal comments: Seriously, you should be watching if you aren’t already.)

S (09:35): Steve slips and calls the Apple TV “iTV”. He plays some music (John Mayer) which displays with album art and rotates on screen so it doesn’t burn hole in your plasma TV. Awesome animations when switiching songs.

D (09:37): Heeeeere’s Phil! He’s acting as the visiting neighbor.

D (09:39): Apple TV: $299, shipping February, taking orders today.

D (09:39): Bye Phil.

S (09:39): Steve streams some content from Phil’s MacBook.

S (09:41): New product (Steve’s been waiting 2.5 year to introduce it), But first lets review Apple history… the Mac and the iPod.

D (09:42): Breakthrough Internet communication device.

S (09:42:) New revolutionary mobile phone.

D (09:42): Three new products! Wide Screen ipod.

D (09:43): Shows black and white rotary device.

S (09:43): ITS AN ALL IN ONE DEVICE! Called the iPhone!!

S (09:44): “Smartphones are hard to use.” The iPhone is super easy to use.

D (09:45): Revolutionary new UI. Interplay of hardware and software.

S (09:46): The problem with smartphones (Treo, Q, etc) is with the “bottom 40” (the keyboard).

D (09:47): Picture: looks amazing.

S (09:47): The iPhone uses a giant touch screen.

D (09:48): PATENTED!

S (09:48): iPhone uses “Multi-touch” accurate and smart. Uses your fingers to navigate.

S (09:49): Building on top of Multi-touch is software… iPhone runs OS X!

D (09:50): “People really serious about their software should make their own hardware.”

D (09:50): “Desktop class” applications.

S (09:51): iPhone uses iTunes to automatically sync with your PC or Mac. Syns all your media and your data.

D (09:52): One button: home button. Only 11.6 mm thick.

S (09:52): Has 3.5 inch screen with 160 pixels per inch.

D (09:52): Picture shows 8 GB capacity.

D (09:54): Proximity sensor to adjust display when next to face as well as ambient light sensor and accelerometer.

D (09:54): Speaker and microphone.

S (09:54): Uses a SIM card to operate. (aka no Verizon support)

S (09:54): 2MP camera built in.

S (09:55): Widescreen video and “touch” your music with coverflow on the iPhone. Accelerometer senses when you turn from portrait to landscape.

D (09:56): To scroll, drag finger across.

D (09:56): Live demo. Amazing graphics. Must be seen to be believed.

D (09:57): Using Cingular in demo.

S (09:58): Turn iPhone from portrait to landscape and it switches to CoverFlow to navigate your library. The turn it back to portrait to play album.

D (09:59): Videos and movies play on it, in widescreen (landscape).

S (10:00): Demo…

S (10:02): Finished iPod demo. Now moving on to phone demo.

D (10:03): “You had me at scrolling.”

S (10:04): Demo of Phone, Photos, Calendar, and SMS features of iPhone.

D (10:04): Quad-band GSM + EDGE. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth too.

S (10:04): Visual Voicemail lets you visualize your voicemail. Choose which messages you listen to.

S (10:04): Use Contacts like never before. Sync them with your PC or Mac.

S (10:06): Incoming call from Phil. Puts Jonny on hold. Now they are doing a 3-way conference call.

D (10:06): Brings up Jony Ive (jony-ive@apple.com). Jon answers. First public iPhone call.

D (10:08): Favorites: adding Phil (not in there already, sense the obvious tension).

S (10:09): Demo of Visual Voicemail: go directly to the voicemails you want to hear.

D (10:10): Plays voicemails from Al Gore and Tim Cook. Al knew!

S (10:11): Shows SMS messaging. Works in conversations similar to the speech bubbles of iChat.

D (10:12): Error prevention and correction with on-screen keyboard.

S (10:13): “Pinch” your fingers on the touchscreen on top of a photo to make it bigger or smaller (zoom).

D (10:13): Some guy in front row shouts “awesome”. Steve agrees.

S (10:13): Starting demo of Photos on iPhone. 2MP camera and holds your photo library. Turn phone into landscape for viewing.

D (10:15): “Reinvented the phone.” Um, yeah.

S (10:16): Seamlessly switches between Wi-Fi networks.

D (10:16): Google Maps! And widgets.

D (10:16): Full Safari built-in. “First fully usable HTML web browser on a phone.”

S (10:16): iPhone works with rich text email and any POP or IMAP web email.

D (10:17): Yahoo supplying FREE “push” IMAP email to iPhone users.

S (10:18): Demo of iPhone Mail: running live email. “Boom!” you’re there. Loads photos in emails as well.

D (10:19): Another reference to Sushi Ran. Who’s going to stalk Steve tonight?

D (10:20): Split view as well.

S (10:20): Any phone numbers listed in emails become live text that you can dial.

D (10:21): Now Safari!

S (10:21): Steve is demoing sending an email to his buddy Phil.

S (10:22): Displays the ENTIRE web page in Safari on iPhone (demo using NYTimes.com). Use the “pinch” zoom to zoom in on web pages. Or use a double-tap.

D (10:23): Of course Steve had to say “boom” several times.

D (10:24): Al’s Inconvenient Truth is numbder one. Har har.

D (10:25): Loads stock widget. Surprise, surprise, Apple is up.

S (10:26): Google Maps on iPhone: shows Moscone West and Steve starts looking for Starbucks. 6-8 pop up around Moscone. Starts a call to Starbucks.

S (10:27): Steve: “I’d like to order 4,000 lattes to go please. Sorry wrong number. Thank you.” Hangs up.

D (10:28): Steve shows satellite maps. People cheer. Maybe they haven’t seen Google Maps before.

S (10:29): iPhone: HTML email. Safari web browser. Goodle maps. Widgets. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth networking. “The internet in your pocket for the first time ever.”

S (10:30): Google CEO Dr. Eric Schmidt walking out onto stage…

S (10:33): Praising Steve and Apple. Eric says “This is the first of a generation….My congratulations to you, Steve.”

D (10:34): Yahoo!: Jerry Yang co-founder and Chief Yahoo! comes on stage. Not a board member, but wants an iPhone.

S (10:36): Yahoo! launching new web services soon.

D (10:37): Yang: Please send me one of these phones.

D (10:38): When call comes in, music fades out. Can look through data while still on phone.

S (10:38): Now here comes a real life scenario with the iPhone.

D (10:39): Email while still on phone.

D (10:40): When call ends, music fades back in where it was.

S (10:40): Phil wants to catch a movie with Steve. “Just friends…nothing personal.” Steve cruises over to Fandango to check out movie listings.

S (10:41): Now the blood bath starts: Steve compares the iPhone to the Moto Q, Blackbaerry, Treo, and Nokia smartphones.

D (10:42): Side by side comparison. Let’s face it. All others don’t even come close.

D (10:43): Battery life: 5 hours of talk time/video/browsing. 16 hours of audio playback.

S (10:43): iPhone accessories: comes with headphones with integrated mic. Also has a tiny Bluetooth headset which automatically pairs w/ iPhone.

S (10:44): 200+ patents for all the inventions in iPhone.

D (10:45): iPod nano and smartphone combo is $499. The price of the iPhone is $499 (4 GB) and $599 (8 GB).

D (10:45): “Ultimate digital device.” Here comes the price.

S (10:46): iPhone ships in June.

D (10:47): Waiting because FCC would spill the beans. Cingular confirmed as partner.

S (10:48): iPhone will sell both at Apple Retail Stores and Cingular stores. “Apple has exceeded my expectations.”

S (10:48): Cingular CEO Stan Sigman walking out onto stage…

D (10:50): AT&T included (we’re raising the bar).

D (10:52): THIS GUY IS KILLING ME. ZZZzzzzzz……

S (10:53): “The new iPhone is only avaiable on Cingular.” Better start letting your contract run out now… or start saving for the early cancellation fee.

D (10:54): Steve must be getting ancy. Will this guy ever stop?

S (10:55): Steve: “You know when I was in high school, Steve Wozniak and I…” Steve starts telling of high school memories.

S (10:55): Steve’s clicker is DOWN!!! Someone help!!

D (10:57): Mobile phone market is $1 billion, drawfs other markets including MP3 players.

D (10:58): Dropping Computer from Apple Computer, Inc to become Apple Inc.

S (10:58): Summarizing: we’ve got the Apple TV and the iPhone.

S (10:59): Has all the folks at Apple who worked on these products stand up. We all thank them by clapping.

D (10:59): One more thing? Steve? We’re waiting…

S (11:02): John Mayer is performing in front of our very eyes! Jealous..? Too bad we can’t stream audio on this thing…

D (11:06): John Mayer: Apple makes life more fun.

S (11:07): He’s playing one more song.

D (11:08): We’re fast approaching a full two hours.

D (11:09): Steve back on stage.

S (11:09): Well it’s 11:09 and the Keynote is officially over. Now we hit the floor! Check MacUser.com for some floor coverage soon!