Today's Apple announcements at Macworld 2007
By Ryan Block 
posted Jan 9th 2007 5:35PM
posted Jan 9th 2007 5:35PM
You want the goods? You got 'em. Check out all today's coverage of Apple's Macworld 2007 announcements:
iPhone
The Apple iPhone runs OS X
First iPhone pics!
Apple unveils Bluetooth headset, new headphones for iPhone
Apple iPhone sized up and compared to Treo 750, Moto Q, and BB Pearl
The game has changed
The genesis of the iPhone
The iPhone is not a smartphone
Nokia on iPhone: what, no 3G?
Video: iPhone in person, behind glass
iPhone vs. iPhone: Cisco and Apple play nice
How the iPhone avoided being leaked
Apple TV
iTV becomes Apple TV
First Apple TV hands-on pics!
Live coverage
Live from Macworld 2007: Steve Jobs keynote
Macworld 2007 keynote photo gallery
Other announcements
Airport Extreme launched: draft 802.11n and USB hosting now supported
Apple drops "Computer" from name
Apple confirms Paramount and iTunes deal
Apple confirms: Macs already shipping with 802.11n
iPhone
The Apple iPhone runs OS X
First iPhone pics!
Apple unveils Bluetooth headset, new headphones for iPhone
Apple iPhone sized up and compared to Treo 750, Moto Q, and BB Pearl
The game has changed
The genesis of the iPhone
The iPhone is not a smartphone
Nokia on iPhone: what, no 3G?
Video: iPhone in person, behind glass
iPhone vs. iPhone: Cisco and Apple play nice
How the iPhone avoided being leaked
Apple TV
iTV becomes Apple TV
First Apple TV hands-on pics!
Live coverage
Live from Macworld 2007: Steve Jobs keynote
Macworld 2007 keynote photo gallery
Other announcements
Airport Extreme launched: draft 802.11n and USB hosting now supported
Apple drops "Computer" from name
Apple confirms Paramount and iTunes deal
Apple confirms: Macs already shipping with 802.11n
I have already received many phone calls from friends in Asia saying that they plan to come here to buy the iPhone as soon as it comes out in the US. They all say the $ 499 or $ 599 price tag is "very cheap" and the very slick design by apple is very worth it. Cell phone users in asia are used to paying close to US $ 1000 for a new stylish phone. I think the iPhone will be huge in Asia.
Apple's misstepped with the AppleTV and iPhone. both could have been substantially better than they are.
The Apple TV is pretty much a wireless dongle you buy, to let you play your content from your computer on your TV. Yes, you can also buy from the ITMS store directly. Hooray. Paying for that privilege is fun. It has an HDMI connector, but guess what? They don't sell HD content, yet. So you get to roll your own. And forget about formats like DivX. If you can't load it in iTunes, you can't see it. No PVR, either, though it does have a hard drive to store content from your PC.
I wonder, have they seen this thing called the XBOX 360? for $100 more, you get a movie/tv show store that sells HD content, yay, but you also get a video game console. And yes, it plays content from a PC, also. Similar restrictions on types, but, well, that just sounds like a better value. So why didn't Apple do more? This feels rushed and half-finished.
As far as the iPhone goes, where's the GPS? Where's the EVDO? Mapping is good, but it would be so much better if it could tell me where I am, first. Many premium phones have GPS, and some even have mapping, now. This is not a new feature. Apple's behind on these.
Wouldn't it be great if I could feed the device at 3G speeds, so I could just walk around downtown and get stuff done? Sorry, can't do it. You go with EDGE, or you hope there's an open hotspot near you. Bummer.
I'm not sure why the Apple TV even exists at this point. And the iPhone, well, it's cool, and I hope they are serious about it being OS X inside, and let me run VLC and ssh out to servers and stuff, but really, at the price point and with the carrier lock in, I think it's a deal only if I was going to buy a nano anyway at the same time. Speaking of which, can I use the Nike kit with this, also? I doubt it.
You make alot of good points, but I do think you could have left out the part of the Nike + ipod kit out of your comment.
I agree pretty much 100% with the iTV, you had some great arguments.
I somewhat disagree with the iPhone. When I came home from work I was totally blown away. But the GPS would have made it stellar. Especially when thinking about using google maps with it.
GO MICROSOFT
I guess that I will stick with my Slingbox and my Pearl.
What I want to know about is Axiotron Modbook, commercial released Mac Book Pro + Wacom tablet mod.
Supposed to be announced today at Mcaworld.
http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=36&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=75&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=2&cHash=70fe766e62
I would just like to say "Thank You to the team who sat in the Keynote and gave us such an excellent literally up the minute report of the whole presentation. The adjective 'Awesome' was created for the iPhone. It will have all the other cell-phone designers scrambling in an attempt to catch up. Q. Will I be able to sync the iPhone with Palm Desktop?
The itv is pretty much exactly what was expected a few months ago, which seems to me to be a glorified airtunes device that does video. It won't sell many units unless the price drops & apple sells _alot_ of video content that makes people suddenly realize they want to watch on their (HD)TV. I think apple will have their work cut out for them in encouraging consumers to buy this product.... I can't envision my sister buying 1 (let alone 2 of these for both of her TVs) to watch itunes videos on her tv... but getting her to buy itunes shows/etc. is a stretch also right now.
Regarding the 360 vs itv argument, I think this remark:
"Hooray. Paying for that privilege is fun."
has it exactly backwards. You pay ~$50/year for the ability to buy content (HD or otherwise, games or videos or whatever) on Xbox live. Itunes is free to use; you buy what you want to watch and video podcasts (as well as a couple of videos each week) are free, not including trailers. In terms of _streaming_ video, I've not much experience with the xbox but so far have been very disappointed... I don't have much WMV media to stream (which is exactly the problem) and using a SDTV didn't help I'm sure.
If the zune software could interact with itunes in such a way that it could stream video and audio to the xbox, even the DRMed material, this would make the 360 kill the itv; it'd do everything the iTV can do, plus more... it'd just lack the HDMI connector. I guess that's asking for too much.
Where the hell is my 12 inch Macbook Pro?
Add GPS and the ability to respond to emails with Voice Recognition Software as good as the new Nuance Dragon Naturally Speaking for windows and you have the ultimate PDA product. This is a product that is clearly going against the Pocket PC Phone Edition PDA's and embarassing them. The network is an issue though, hopefully Cingular will catch up. But at least it's a worldphone unlike Verizon.
The future of this product seems clear though. I am sure we are looking at this tactile technology eventually being a maximized into an apple laptop/ tablet form factor. The Tablet form factor gets a bad rap but it is clearly ideal for looking things up quickly, web browsing while in line, in a business or meeting environment, hanging out using your computer leisurely at a cafe without looking look you are at the office. Bring on the Macbook Tablets! As far as iPhone, it is the new ipod so expect 60 and 80 gig versions of iPhone.
As far as iTV, considering Googles involvement with Apple I am sure there will be web access to You Tube and other web video service providers. None of us really know this product until we test it but can someone suggest a media adaptor that compares?
There's also the forthcoming Slingmedia Device.
Hopefully there will be access to other video formats.
Where are the 8 core Mac Pros?
Wait - did the name "iPhone" stick? Or is it the apple phone? I thought Cisco held the trademark! I'm confuzled.
Why does the Apple news get a special banner on the front page?
Hmmmmmmm?
Everything on Xbox Live Marketplace can be bought using the free Xbox Live Silver, you do not need to pay for Xbox Live Gold to buy anything on Marketplace.
Xbox Live Gold is only necessary for playing against others on Xbox Live.
There are also free videos, trailers, music videos on Marketplace, not everything has to bought.
I was looking at the iPhone gallery and I'm trying to look at the location of the headphone jack. Is there even one? Or is it all bluetooth and you need bluetooth headphones? Also, did Steve Jobs mention compatibility with PC or is it as long as you run iTunes, it's all okay?
Now I'm not an Apple hater, nor a lover. But as cool as the iPhone, it's disappointing you can't play Divx video, just Apple approved content. I swear, Apple would sell so much more than what they predict if they allow Divx and other media formats. As for the lack of GPS, to have access to Google/Yahoo maps is good enough. How annoying would it be to be looking at / listening to your iPhone while it dictates you directions? Just use the "From here - To here" feature and follow the written directions. Overall though, I'd buy an iPhone. I need to replace my 3G iPod.
As for Apple TV, I have the same complaint. Just Apple approved content, so no Divx. And I agree with the previous comments about how there are better alternatives. I think Apple put all the good stuff on the cellphone.
Yes, there's a standard stereo output socket on the top edge.
ATTENTION Mobile Phone Makers:
Back to the Drawing Board!
5 mos. Imagine this with Hitachi's new screen!
@Bentley: headphone jack on top like any ipod
I forgot to add some other questions. What's the stand-by time on the iPhone? And who manufactures the iPhone?
Seems like something is missing. What about a true video iPod? A similar form factor iPod that did movies would be pretty cool. Then how about doing like dish network and syncing with the Apple TV to watch recorded TV? In other words the TV needs to have DVR capability. Then lastly, my DVR has a 100gb hard drive and gives me 100 hrs of recording. It's completely full all of the time. The Apple TV needs a bigger hard drive and a recordable DVD to backup recordings that you want to keep.
Lastly is it a shape of things to come that Apple dropped Computer from their name? No real PC announcements... Hmmmm There is room for improvement, but no announcements.
I was getting sucked into the "Reality Distortion Field" but then I realized why this is not a good form-factor...an all touch-screen device has to be too big and flat to work well , and like the lady on our ABC news said after they showed it..."make it half as big and half as much and then maybe..." There are too many specialized devices out there that do the certain things people like to do in a way cheaper , smaller form-factor.Think HELIO service for young people or the cool brushed aluminum phone that runs Linux and has a touch-pad AND downloads music over wifi and synchs via wifi. Big screens=poor battery life no matter how Jobs spins it , and the battery isn`t even replaceable. All Pocket PC`s have touch-screens but we also are able to plug in nifty fold-up keyboards and type away.My Pocket PC is a REAL net communicator...I make Skype calls with it all the time which are much cheaper :)Ron Popeil er Steve Jobs put on his usual RDF but then hours later people thought way over priced and it is just first person apps. not a real Pocket PC phone.And last but not least it is ugly !Oh...and did I mention on CDMA we have a thing called EVDO Revision A? Cingular is another reason it won`t do well(or whatever name they go by) LOL
I`m much more interested in the Verizon phone with flip out screen that plays live high-quality TV for less than $300(Media-Flo)
widgets are the answer for this phone, they have no announced 3rd party application support... but they have widgets! i imagine that you could just make a widget for whatever you wanted to do on your iphone.
Well I cant afford it right now but it does look like a great product. One step away from the "navi" portable computer I guess. All it needs now is a pull out flexible OLED display that is 3 inch by 6. But in time, right?
http://r2000.blogspot.com
Does anyone know what provider the iPhone will come on in CANADA! Since Cingular doesn't exist in Canada, who will Apple choose? Engadget, if you could, please ask an Apple rep somewhere. PLEASE!
Well, stocks are going up, sales are going up, more people are buying Macs than ever...if that doesn't prove that their products are getting better, then what a moron people are by supporting it.
At work, they use Windows, thank god or I would not have the IT job...but I love coming home to my Mac, fun, easy and elegant.
3G? mnnnnnnnnn, aren't we too late? Japan and Asia are already there and going to 4th...we are not even there yet... Even if you get a 3G phone, what carrier will support it? Cingular? oh no, oops, AT&T soon...right now only in a certain metropolitan areas...
Apple TV pretty much sucks for the reasons given above - (i.e. if it dont run in iTunes it aint getting streamed to your tv). I'll stick to my Elgato EyeHome which pretty much allows me to stream anything I want. Don't be giving me this XBox rubbish it's like having a gale in your front room and marketplace sucks as well.
iPhone looks ok thus far and by the time its out in europe I'd imagine it'll have 3g (not that I even use it at the mo) - I refuse to buy locked phones though so unless its unlocked I wont be buying
Complete and Utter Disappointment.
Stream video wirelessly to a TV. (TV as a monitor, been done for years). A zillion products already do that. It's not innovative to put out one now. It's sad.
Everyone is moving to HD now, true 1080 HD. He doesn't handle HD. This shoudln't even be released.
What IS innovative is to be able to watch all of your TV cable content on your COMPUTER, ala slingbox, Tivo ToGo,etc. Or on your PDA, riding a train through the wilderness.
Here's Job's business idea. Buy free TV shows on itunes. Download these to your computer. Go through a process, and spend 300 dollars, to watch those TV show on your TV. PAY FOR TV, PUT IT ON A COMPUTER, THEN SPEND $300 TO GET IT ONYOUR TV. The TV where they originated from and were free, LMAO.
Everyone excpects a smartphone to be 3G/other mobile broadband flavors, because it is 2007 now. Not 2000. It is annoying to wait for slow page loadings. Hello?
He says internet in your pocket is revolutionary. I had a Toshiba PocketPC/cell phone in 2002. Used it all the time. Internet in my pocket. 2002 was FIVE years ago.
Steve Gates and Bill Jobs have changed places. This is Bizarre-o world. Gates has the killer apps, media center, vista no doubt, windows mobile 5.0, and an endless selectionof hardware for us. Steve Jobs is trying to catch up. Never thought this day would happen. Yes, Bill Gates was ruthless, but he sure does perservere and win everytime.
so... it runs os x... ok... yeah... so... im a music producer and apple bought logic recording software and the one thing that would make go buy an iphone would be if apple told me that i could install logic onto my iphone and use it like i'd use it on a regular computer, heck the iphone has a mic line in... but from what i see- im stuck with widgets. yay. either steve jobs is a genius or he's listening to his kids tell him how cool the phone looks... either way- there had better be an iphone with full os x functionality and 3g available to verizon and cingular customers or apple is screwed. when jobs announced the iphone with os x- i imagined a slim white phone with twin usb ports for a mouse and keyboard, etc and a tiny projector for turning the iphone into the world's most portable computer- but no- its another beefed up cell phone. just like any good red sox fan- just wait till next year! will be apple's cry...
Doesn't linksys already have the name iphone coined with there iphone series of VoIP phones?
The iPhone will become very popular among a select niche of apple fans, rich people, and techies. It will be a wonderful device, and will revolutionize the cell phone (for this I thank you apple), but is simply too expensive for the mainstream user.
This is great news http://www.pd-fx.com I love Apple! But I still think I will wait for the true video iPOD and keep using my Razr on MetroPCS...
Cisco Sues Apple Over Use of iPhone Name
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070110/cisco_apple.html?.v=5
This will probably be the sweetest phone for the next 2-3 years for me, but I have one HUGE problem with it. It's with Cingular, and in my opinion Verizon > Cingular (I have Verizon). For all you know it alls out there, I was wondering if there is ANY WAY POSSIBLE that I could somehow get this phone to work with Verizon despite the fact VZW doesn't use SIM cards. Thanks in advance. :)
Verizon Mobile does not use GSM phones. That was the primary reason why I stopped using them. Usually, new phones comes out in GSM first and then CDMA.
Well I think those are only required for SOME phones. Apple probably got some excuseable reason for not incorporating the bump. They probably said "Hey, blind people can't watch movies or see to navigate through screens to get to other media, so why would they buy an overpriced "need eyes" device when they can't make the best of it?"
Cingular is only a problem in the US, obviously - but then again, most Americans tend to visualize those medieval maps with "here there be dragons!" written in at the outside of the US borders... ;)
In Europe and most of the rest of the world GSM is the gold standard for mobile phones. GSM/GPRS with EDGE is currently by far the most "available standard" in the world - perhaps not in the US, but Apple has a much much larger potential market for a GSM device than they do for any other type. Those of you using whatever other odd variants are in use in the US will of course be cranky, but for Apple and the rest of the world, GSM is by far the best choice. I know all non-US Apple fans pumped their fists in the air and went "YES!" (at least in spirit) when they heard it was a GSM device.
3G would have been good - but on the other hand, while 3G is flashy and all, it's still very much a work in progress just about everywhere in the world.
As for the name - in my opinion they should have gone with the same approach as iTv - Apple TV and the Apple Phone. Would have saved them the lawsuit from Cisco, too.
OMG!!! Someone already got an iPhone from Amazon! Check out the unboxing: http://iphoneunboxed.com/
I'm laughing because I was wondering WHEN CISCO was gonna sue Apple.
I have an office filled with i-phones, just not by Apple. ;-)
And So far, the only thing that I've seen new with Apple's iphone, is a gimic of scrolling upwards with your finger. Not sure why you need to to that if you have a decent playlist. And for pete's sake, there will only be a maximum of 8GB of storage, so why bother? Also, there have been other makers of phones using a full touch screen with Windows Mobile and have opted for a real keyboard instead.
Why? ---- Because users told them so.
No screwing up with 1 hand or while driving ( No I didn't say that, or at least won't admit to messaging while driving!!)
So far, my PPC-6700 can do everything an iphone can and more. Oh and watch DIVX with other 3rd party apps. And I can replace the battery. However, I can only use a 4gb mini SD card but that should change in 6 months. Also, I admit, it's slightly bulkier but still fits in my pocket.
I don't know about Apple patent, but a Swedish company NeoNode had made a keyless mobile with SWIPE technology much before Apple even thought of it. Infact I have one and am using it.
I'm really surprised I haven't seen this posted yet. I may have missed it though.
From EETimes (http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196900390)
"According to a report from FBR Research, the iPhone winners include Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (applications/video processor), Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (802.11), Infineon Technologies AG (baseband), Broadcom Corp. (touch screen controller), and CSR plc (Bluetooth) among others."
The Open Source community have successfully reverse-enginnered the IPod and developed Linux for it.
I hereby declare that I am waiting for a statement of the release date for iPhone Linux v0.1 Alpha. I hope Apple haven't developed a non-reverse-engineerable piece of hardware there, or I doubt my
chances of ever getting one.
Thanks for this amazing report. I just have one thing to say, i dont care about the name or what this thing can do: this celphone is really BEAUTIFULL, period.
The iPhone is a very adventurous move for Apple for a few reasons; Clearly Apple has the talent in design and capturing a "hip" and "cool" market. After all, who else could get Bono to do a commercial? What we must remember is that most of the carriers are the ones who dictate the designs of the phones, and we as consumers can only buy what the carrier is selling.Unfortunately it gave us poor choices from a design and price perspective. We as consumers were dragged into the Sprint store, T Mobile or in my case, Verizon based on the "deals in their service plan" they were offering at the time.I might add that I never got turned on by any of the phones that were offered. The phone is secondary in the carriers marketing. I take my hat off to Apple for entering a market that is new and totally different. Apple was a computer company, but now has changed the name to Apple Computer,Inc. I am sure that this will be just the beginning for Apple to enter into other arenas. I would not be surprised if the company decides to design TVs and other electronics down the road,just the same way Sony has. As for the iPhone, I am looking forward to having one gadget to do it all for me. When it comes out I am sure that it will be the hottest thing on the block and in my pocketbook.
joAnna Levenglick
Sexysassysmart.tv
The iPhone is a very adventurous move for Apple for a few reasons; Clearly Apple has the talent in design and capturing a "hip" and "cool" market. After all, who else could get Bono to do a commercial? What we must remember is that most of the carriers are the ones who dictate the designs of the phones, and we as consumers can only buy what the carrier is selling.Unfortunately it gave us poor choices from a design and price perspective. We as consumers were dragged into the Sprint store, T Mobile or in my case, Verizon based on the "deals in their service plan" they were offering at the time.I might add that I never got turned on by any of the phones that were offered. The phone is secondary in the carriers marketing. I take my hat off to Apple for entering a market that is new and totally different. Apple was a computer company, but now has changed the name to Apple Computer,Inc. I am sure that this will be just the beginning for Apple to enter into other arenas. I would not be surprised if the company decides to design TVs and other electronics down the road,just the same way Sony has. As for the iPhone, I am looking forward to having one gadget to do it all for me. When it comes out I am sure that it will be the hottest thing on the block and in my pocketbook.
joAnna Levenglick
Sexysassysmart.tv
People complaining about the upcoming Apple TV are missing out on 3 points:
1. Yes, there are similar devices already on the market, just like there were similar MP3 players on the market when the original iPod appeared. However, like the original iPod, the Apple TV offers style and convenience. If you have it on iTunes, you can access it with Apple TV. You don't have to know where your files are located, etc. Never underestimate the consumers' preference for convenience.
2. If you can put it on an iPod, you can put it on Apple TV. If you can convert divx and xvid to H.264 or MPEG-4 and add it to your iTunes library, you're set. In theory, you can do the same thing with DVDs.
3. There are people with home theaters who want to hear music on their "good" speakers without having to dig through their CD collection. Since their music most likely already in iTunes, why not just use Apple TV to stream their music to their home theater systems?
BONUS POINT:
The DVR market is NOT a good market to enter right now. The functions of a DVR are folding into cable boxes and the day is coming rapidly when people will stop buying separate DVR boxes because they will already have one, just like people have stopped buying calculators because you can do the same thing with other devices like cell phones. So leaving out the DVR functionality might actually be a good idea, since people who want one already have one.