MW/SF ’03 Review

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 Keynote for Macworld Expo/San Francisco 2003 kicked off Tuesday, January 7th, 9am PST w/ Steve Jobs taking the stage and saying Apple has two Macworld’s worth of stuff for us today...  This Keynote is being streamed across the world, and is the largest MPEG-4 Stream to date, w/ 50,000 streams at up to 256Kbs to over 130 countries, even going into the Vatican... So let’s get started w/ some updates...  apple.com/switch has been up for 7 months and has received 7.8 million unique visitors, 68% from PCs running Windows...  Apple Stores, as of this Keynote, number 51, and their revenue was on target for the Holiday season at $148 million, 50% to Windows users... In December alone, they had 1.4 million visitors...  “X for Teachers,” a promotion where Apple gives teachers a free copy of Mac OS X, has sent out over 290,000 copies, and has been ext’d to March 31st, 2003...  iCal has been out for six months and has had over 1.1 million downloads, and over 750 calendars have been published... You can find them at iCalshare.com or w/ its Sherlock channel...  .mac has been out for four months and has over 250,000 subscribers... And the  iPod has been out 14 months and has sold 600,000 units, i.e., one every minute... It has a 42% market share of all MP3 players in Japan, and today, Burton is unveiling a cool Snowboarding Jacket specifically for it for $499...

Mac OS X has hit its goal of 5 million users, and has gone from 2,000 native apps last year to 5,000 today, w/ great apps like Microsoft’s Office X whose “Office Party” promotion has been extended to April 7th, 2003, Intuit’s QuickBooks Pro, Nascar Racing 2002, Connectix’s Virtual PC 6, Macromedia’s Director MX, Digidesign’s Pro Tools 6, and Apple’s own Final Cut Pro now available as Final Cut Express for $299... We’re focusing on Mac OS X from here on out...

Digital Hub. iTunes has been out for 24 months, and has had 18 million downloads...  iPhoto has been out for 12 months, and has had over 6 million downloads... Today we’re announcing iPhoto 2.0 which includes One-Click Enhancement, a Retouch Brush, and ability to easily archive your albums to CD or DVD...

iMovie has been out for 36 months, and has had over 12 million downloads... Today we’re announcing iMovie 3.0 which includes the Ken Burns Effect (for panning across photos), audio editing, and chapters for iDVD...  iDVD has been out for 24 months, and today we’re announcing iDVD 3.0 which includes 24 new themes, chapter marker support, and automatic scene menus...  You can download iTunes 3, iPhoto 2, and iMovie 3, but today we’re announcing iLife, the new versions as a bundle installed on new Macs, and available Sat, Jan 25th, for $49... Now, “it all works together”... Okay, now buckle up... Time for things totally new...  Safari is the “turbo browser for OS X,” the fastest browser on the Mac, includes the best Bookmarking system, Snapback option and Feedback button, is beta, and is a free download available now...  Keynote, “when your presentation really counts,” “was built for me [Steve Jobs], and now I want to share it w/ you”... It includes a dozen themes, imports and exports PowerPoint files, PDFs and QuickTime, is available now for $99, and is free to this keynote’s attendees... Okay, now adjust your shoulder harness...

Two years ago Apple introduced its Titanium PowerBook G4, the #1 notebook in the industry... Apple believes notebooks will soon outsell desktops, so today Apple is introducing:

17" PowerBook G4 has a 1440x900 widescreen w/ a fiber optic backlit keyboard and ambient light sensors, is 6.8 lbs and is made of hard-anodized aluminum alloy which is not painted... On the inside, it has a 1 Ghz G4, a 2X SuperDrive, a FireWire 800 port, internal BlueTooth support, and a 4.5 hour battery... And it will be available in Feb for $3299... It also has internal support for  AirPort Extreme increases bandwidth from 11Mbs to 54Mbs, yet remains compatible to 11Mbs cards and stations... Its Base Station increases support from 10 users up to 50 users, adds Bridging so you can roam between Stations, adds a USB port for sharing printers, and starts at $199... Oh, and there is one more thing, one more small thing...

12" PowerBook G4 has a 1024x768 screen, 867 Mhz G4, Combo drive and 5 hour battery that is 1.2" thick and 4.6 lbs, and will be available in two weeks for $1799... The SuperDrive option will be $1999... 2003 will be the Year of the Notebook...  For more information, check out the following websites — Apple, MacCentral, Macintouch — or watch the QuickTime stream...  The Exhibits Floor...  MacAcademy.com offers Mac software training on CD starting at $39 and 30 day money back guarantee...  MacDialUp.net offers 11,500 access points nationwide, support for all Mac OSes w/o ads for $8.99/month and 30 day money back guarantee...  msn.com for Mac OS X was announced as coming real soon, but no other details were available...  WeHostMacs.com offers four different plans starting at $7.95/month and 30 day money back guarantee...