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January 10, 2007

events

MW07: Personal post-keynote thoughts

Posted Jan. 10, ’07, 7:27 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Apple » Events

Steve on stage Seeing Steve on stage doing what he does best (other than running Apple of course) was a total thrill. I was captivated (making it hard to peel myself away to write up my personal commentary). There’s just something about his delivery that holds your attention. He’s a snake charmer like that. It also explains why typically guests don’t speak very long, sharing just a few thoughts. When the Cingular CEO kept going on, I started getting bored and eventually a little angry. His remarks lacked the content of Steve’s.

This keynote threw a lot of curve balls. There were zero Mac updates. None. What is up with that? This is Macworld. Even a lackluster Mac Pro to quad core processors update would have been welcome. This seems to be a clear signal from Apple that all Mac updates would take place as they have recently, with little fanfare. “We’ve updated this Mac. That is all.” There wasn’t any Mac software updates. Where are iLife ‘07 and iWork ‘07? Apple must have decided that new version every year was pointless. What about Leopard? It still lacks so much detail that even its impending release date is a complete mystery. It’s not like it’s still a year out. There are only months before its expected arrival. Finally, we weren’t treated to “one more thing”. My only consolation was I got to hear (the probably patented) “Boom”.

Apple seems to be playing nice with a lot of computer industry players. It almost awkward to see Yahoo! and Google working with Apple at the same time. I wonder if Eric Schmidt and Jerry Yang had their own Web 2.0 street fight outside after. More importantly though, Apple isn’t going it alone. They don’t seem to regard themselves as capable of solving all problems (witness the Yahoo! Mail partnership when Apple already has the infrastructure to support email accounts already, more on that in another entry).

I think we’re witnessing the beginning of the change in what we have come to know as the keynote. This one was unlike any other I can think of from recent history.


4 Comments

Dan--the man said:

I feel like Yahoo! could have been left out of it. Perhaps it's only because Google's Gmail is still in beta (and it probably will be for another 7 years), but I still feel like Google and Apple could have made a good IMAP e-mail app. I was really looking forward to a Leopard update, a widescreen iPod, and iWork and iLife '07.

Also, I feel like Jobs could have cut a good half hour out of the iPhone presentation that was mostly repetition.

I guess I was hoping for MAC UPDATES!

I think maybe he should start doing 3 keynotes every year:

iPod + iTunes;
Macworld;
WWDC.

January 10, 2007 8:08 AM
Tim said:

He did close with see you soon.

He did this at WWDC 06 and we were back in what less than a month so I believe that there is another keynote type thing very soon. It would be cool if they added to macworld and opening keynote and a closing keynote

January 10, 2007 8:18 AM
Moe said:

I actually got lost in all the iPhone hoopla and forgot about updates to actual "Macs", iLife, iWork, etc.

The fact that Apple has dropped "computer" from its name is an indication that Macworld will no longer be about Macs (if any, as the last one pointed out). Maybe a new name is forthcoming. Something to the effect of "AppleWorld".

Remember, Apple basically laid out its plan for its future by becoming Apple Inc. Its no longer about computers. Its about technology. Macs are the reason why I am an Apple fan, but if its any indication, the future holds more than just Macs.

Welcome to the new Apple!

January 10, 2007 9:29 AM
Dave said:

It's way too early to start talking about trends. Steve made it clear that he sees the iPhone as at least as important as the iPod has been. It took over 2 years to develop the iPhone, there won't be revolutionary products to announce at every keynote. This was an unusual keynote, not the start of a trend.

January 10, 2007 9:34 AM

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