Jobs delivers the Intel goods--perfect timing
Steve Jobs walked on the sparse Macworld Expo stage just after 9:00 AM PST and started with the financial results for the quarter, a record $5.7 billion, including 14 million iPods and about 3 million songs per day sold. As usual, he saved the best for last, introducing Intel Core Duo Macs, an iMac and a new higher-end notebook, the MacBook Pro. While Apple is late to the Intel family (Jobs says Apple is freeing Intel processors so they can live in the Mac), the timing is perfect. Apple is among the first to ship Intel Duo Core systems, which are four to five times faster than previous generation of IBM PowerPC-based Macs. Jobs said the entire product line would be Duo Intel'd by the end of the year.
Jobs also demoed updates to iLife, including a new application iWeb, which allows users to build Web sites, including blogs, that live on .Mac, which has one million subscribers. No new iPods, rocks stars or musicians--a solo performance by Jobs. While the crowd clapped at the appropriate times, the Intel iMac didn't draw much more than polite applause. It wasn't until the Intel laptop the Mac crowd reach a crescendo.
More photos here and here.
Below is the play-by-play from the keynote.
Apple Stores and financials
26 million visitors to Apple stores last year
First billion dollar quarter for Apple stores
$5.7 billion for Q4 2005
14 million iPods Q4
Total number of iPods sold: 42 million
32 million sold in calendar year 2005
Music and video
850 million songs sold so far on iTunes
3 million per day
Reach 1 billion songs in a few months
83 percent market share for iTunes
Sold over 8 million videos since October 12
ABC Sports 15 minute highlight video of the Rose Bowl, which is the number one video on iPods
Adding Saturday Night Live skit video clips
Introducing remote and FM tuner accessory for iPod: $49
Chrysler announces optional iPod integration
New iPod ad with Wynton Marsalis
Aperture, an application for digital photographers promo videos
Widgets: now over 1500 widgets for OS 10
New widgets: Google search bar, ski conditions, calendar, white pages, sports scores and news
New, free release of Mac OS--10.4.4--includes all the new widgets
iLife 06: “A giant release, propel us further ahead than anything else,” Jobs says.
iLife apps
iPhoto: up to 250,000 photos (up from 25,000), “scrolls like butter,” full screen editing, one-click effects, printing and book enhancement, calendar creation, card making. Also, photocasting--sharing albums with others by uploading photos to the .Mac service and people can subscribe to photocast, similar to FilmLoop. Can subscribe via RSS. Demos new features of iPhoto.
iMovie: Adding animated themes, real-time effects and titles, new audio tools, multiple open projects, export to iPod, create video podcast. Demos animated themes.
iDVD: Widescreen DVDs, magic iDVD (a wizard for making DVDs easily), new themes.
GarageBand: Added a tool for creating podcasts, including 200 royalty-free sound effects, 100 royalty-free jingles, automatic ducking effect, speech enhancer, use of iChat for remote interviews. Demos GarageBand podcast studio….his weekly podcsast—“super secret rumors…the 8-pound iPod with a 10-inch screen” (laugh). Also introduced new Jam Packs for GarageBand.
Introduces new iLife application, iWeb, which allows Mac users to share music, movies, photos and content created with iLife in a Web site. “In the iLife tradition of making something super easy to use to build beautiful Web sites so simply and so easily.” iWeb includes Apple-designed templates, including blogs and podcasts, one-click publishing to .Mac, drag and drop editing and RSS support. Jobs demos creating a Web page, blog page and podcast page. For example, you can put songs links on a page and it fires up iTunes to sample the songs. Pricing stays the same at $79, including iWeb. Also a $99 five-pack.
iWeb looks far easier to use that Web/blog publishing software and demonstrates the benefits of having an integrated set of applications. The blogger community will soon have comparisons of iWeb to WordPress, Moveable Type and other blog platforms and the issues around the walled garden of .Mac.
Pricing for iLife stays the same at $79, including iWeb.
.Mac: over a million subscribers to .Mac.
iWork: new version of Keynote and Pages. New features include 3D charts, advanced image editing, image reflections, free form shapes and mask, tables with calculations, new themes and templates. Also $79 and $99 five-pack.
Macintosh hardware
Selling more than a million Macs a quarter.
Intel processor Macs in June 06 said would ship Mac on Intel.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini comse on stage in clean room outfit and announces Intel is ready. Jobs says Apple is ready too. “Its been incredible how engineers have bonded, Jobs said. “It’s been energizing, challenging and fun…over 1000 people working on it, Otellini said.
Roll out first Mac with an Intel processor, first of a new generation of Macs.
iMac…no major clapping…disappointed crowd that would have preferered laptops. Same features and same prices and PowerPC version, but Intel processor—the Intel Core Duo-- is two to three times faster than the iMac G5 chip. All the applications (iLife) and OS are running natively on Core Duo. “Everything we are doing are universal—run on both PowerPC and Intel,” Jobs said. Entire demo was done on new iMac Duo Core system. Pro applications will be available in March—upgrade $49.
$1299 17-inch iMac
$1699 20-inch iMac
Quark announcing next version of Express will be completely universal and is in beta.
Until developers get all apps universal, shipping Mac with Rosetta, which is a bridge until all the application are universal, working on both Intel and IBM PowerPC Macs.
Roz Ho, manager of the Microsoft Office Mac division, comes on stage. “I am happy to say we are on track to deliver universal binaries for Office and Messenger.” New features are also in the works adding synch service for handhelds and Entourage, smart card and spotlight support for Entourage, as well as another update to Messenger 5. The new features will be available as a free download from Web site in March. Up to 50 percent off Office when buy a new Mac.
Ho announces an official agreement to ship Office for Mac for a minimum of five years. “2005 has been the best year for Mac Office business--we are here to stay and in it for the long term.”
Jobs demos Office and Photoshop running on Rosetta, hoping to calm the minds of those who view Rosetta, an emulator, as too slow.
Transitioning entire product line this year, Jobs said.
Jobs shows new TV ad. Intel chip trapped…now set free and live life in a Mac.
Jobs puts up the one more thing slide---talks about problems in performance for watt with PowerPC chips, the G4 and G5 chips. The Intel Core Duo is four times better than the G4 and four and a half times better than the G5.
Introduces the MacBook Pro with the Core Duo—one-inch thin, 5.6 pounds. The numbers tell us four to five times faster than the PowerBook G4, Jobs says. “It’s the faster notebook Mac ever..obviously…and the thinnest.” It has a 15.4-inch widescreen display as bright as cinema display, with iSight camera built in.
Jobs demos the MacBook Pro. Video conferences with Apple marketing head Phil Shiller, who is sitting in the audience. Not much of a demo. MacBook Pro has the Frontrow remote control and MagSafe (patent pending)—if the power cord gets yanked, it pull right off, so the notebook doesn’t fly off the table.
Two models that will ship in February...taking orders today. The 1.67GHz model will sell for $1,999, including 512MB of memory, an 80GB hard drive and X1600 ATI graphics card, as well as a SuperDrive. The $2,499 model includes more memory and a faster Duo processor.
Mentions Apple turns 30 on April 1, 2006 with picture of himself and Wozniak at the inception in 1976.