MW/NY ’02 Keynote

What is Macworld? Macworld is a major Mac event attended by users, buyers, developers, the media, etc., for its keynotes, exhibits, breakfasts, conferences, seminars, workshops, soirees, dinners, and parties that happens annually for 3-4 days in January in San Francisco (by ~85,000 people), in March in Tokyo (by ~180,000 people), in July in New York (by ~55,000 people), and in September in Paris (by ~60,000 people).

The Macworld Expo/New York 2002 Keynote kicked off Wednesday, July 17th, 9am EDT w/ three new TV commercials — one lanky girl who’d lost her homework, one geeky guy who thought his iPod made him feel powerful, and a “porn star” (SNL comedian Will Farrell) who liked his Mac more than his parfait...  Steve Jobs took the stage and said since Apple’s “Switch” campaign began on Monday, June 10th, 1.7 million people have visited apple.com/switch, 60% from PCs... And today, Detto is introducing “Move2Mac” software...

Jobs then turned to Apple’s retail stores... 100,000 people visit them each week, and this week Apple will open its newest one, in NY’s SoHo district... Larger, glass staircase, sky lights, theatre...  Mac OS X. Since Apple began making Mac OS X the default operating system in January, 77% continue to be the default operating system... Apple estimated it has ~2.5 million Mac OS X users right now, and will have 5 million by January 2003, a 20% installed base, the fastest adoption rate of anyone... And the number of Mac OS X applications continues to grow, from 500 in ___ to over 3500 right now... Alias|Wavefront is introducing Maya 4.5, and for them the Mac went from 0% of their sales to over 25% of their sales, in nine months... Also new are Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0, and Real Networks RealOne Player for Mac OS X... [RealPlayer demo]

Mac OS X v10.2 Jaguar. Will include over 150 major new features... W/ it, Apple continues to be the #1 UNIX distributor, bigger than Sun or Linux, increases Windows compatibility w/ Active Desktop, SMB, VPN (Virtual Private Networks), and adds the following:  * Finder tweaks like Spring-loaded folders, Integrated search, Slideshow desktop pictures * Universal Access features like Zooming, Screen Flashing, Screen Reader, etc... * QuickTime 6, since posting it a day and a half earlier, it’s had over 1 million downloads * Sherlock 3, “Internet Services for the rest of us” * Inkwell, handwriting recognition technology * Rendezvous, “automatically discover other devices over any IP network w/ zero configuration” [HP printer demo] * Mail which now features support for multiple accounts, all mailbox searching, rules, and junk mail filter technology (c/o ALSA, Adaptive Language Semantic Analysis) * Address Book, “a systemwide database for people,” can call people * iChat * Will be available Saturday, August 24th, for $129

iTools. In just the past year, iTools has grown from 1.1 million accounts to over 2.2 million... On Monday, September 30th, Apple will discontinue iTools and will replace it w/ .mac, which will require Mac OS X 10.1.3 or higher... iDisks will go from 20MB to 100MB and will include back-up software to iDisk, CD or DVD, and anti-virus software... Current @mac.com e-mail accounts can do nothing and continue to use their account names for iChat but will no longer have e-mail... To keep your e-mail addresses, you can upgrade to a full .mac account for $49.95, add additional e-mail accounts for $9.95/year each, and you can also create brand new full-blown accounts for $99.95/year...

iCal. “Modern life requires multiple calendars”... share calendars over the Internet, publish and subscribe to them... due in September and will require Mac OS X 10.2...  iPhoto. Since Apple released iPhoto in January, it’s had over 4 million downloads...

iTunes. Since Apple released iTunes in January 2002, it’s had over 14 million downloads... Today, Apple is releasing v3.0 which includes: ratings, play counts, normalization, support for audible.com (books), “smart” playlists, and requires Mac OS X 10.1.4 or higher  iPod. Today, Apple is announcing some changes... Apple’s 5GB iPod was $399, it’s now $299... Apple’s 10GB iPod was $499, it’s now $399... It’s also a little slimmer, and now includes a solid-state scrollwheel (no moving parts), remote and case, which are also available separately for $39 each... And Apple’s new 20GB iPod is now $499... They’ll all come w/ new software supporting the new features in iTunes 3.0, as well as include a clock and make the game readily available... The new iPods will be available early August for Mac users, and late August for Windows users who will sync w/ MusicMatch...

iSync. iSync is designed to sync your digital life, your address books and calendars over USB, AirPort or Bluetooth... Apple will extend the digital hub to include GPRS cell phones (which now have color screens, and support SyncML and Bluetooth), Palm/PDAs and iPods... iSync will be available in September as a free download and will require Mac OS X 10.2... You can use your Mac and its big display to enter your important information, rather than on these devices’ tiny buttons, and if you lose your phone or PDA, you don’t lose your life, you can easily sync your Mac to a new phone or PDA... Jobs welcomed the CEO of Sony-Ericsson and then of Cingular to the stage...  Jobs gave a wrap up of the keynote, said Apple’s iApps have no equivalent in the Windows world, thanked everyone for coming, hoped they enjoy the Expo... And oh yeah, there was one more thing...

iMac. Since Apple released the flat-panel iMac in January, the high-end model w/ the SuperDrive has accounted for 50% of sales... Because of that, Apple is able to drop its price from $1899 to $1799... Today, Apple is also announcing a new 17" flat-panel model w/ a native resolution of 1440x900 for $1999...  For more information, check out the following websites — Apple, MacCentral, Macintouch — or watch the QuickTime stream...