Live from Apple's summer Mac product press conference
By Peter Rojas 
posted Aug 7th 2007 1:05PM
posted Aug 7th 2007 1:05PM
8:51AM (all times in PST): Well, we're here... And we're a bit early. Not too many folks waiting around; we'll let you know as they start admitting.
9:27AM: Plenty of people here now, the usual suspects -- gadgetrati VIPs and, well, little old us. Admission in about 15 minutes!
9:36AM: Consensus of experts polled: "New iMacs, definitely." "It's a slam dunk." Well, there you have it, proof positive.
9:38AM: Okay, we're headed in! ...but only to wait some more inside. Follow the rest of our coverage after the break...
9:36AM: Consensus of experts polled: "New iMacs, definitely." "It's a slam dunk." Well, there you have it, proof positive.
9:38AM: Okay, we're headed in! ...but only to wait some more inside. Follow the rest of our coverage after the break...
10:01AM: Steve just walked on stage. "Good morning, thanks for coming over this morning"
10:02AM: We're happy to do this in a more intimate setting at the Apple campus. We're gonna start with the Mac. Mac has had an incredible 12 months. Let's see how it's grown over that period. Mac has had very successful last year. Tremendous amount of momentum. Around three times as fast as the industry. We have a very clean product line. Today, focusing on the iMac.
10:03AM: "iMac is an all in one desktop, we pioneered this design. This is an all in one world. Phones, iPods, laptops." He's dissing Dell, showing their design.
10:05AM: "Put everything all in one, clean up the mess. IMacs very successful, have everything you need. It really works. The iMac has been really successful. We want to make it even better. How do we do that? Two elements we've used in a lot of pro products: aluminum and glass. Phenomenal materials. Take aluminum, we use this in our pro products. Professionals love it. Glass, very elegant. Scratch resistant. Very desirable from recycling point of view. We're turning to aluminum and glass. Mac Pros, Mac Book Pros, aluminum and glass."
10:06AM: "This is the new iMac design, and it's just designing. This is the new iMac. Just gorgeous. You can see we have a full complement of I/O across the bottom. USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800. Slot load superdrive. iSight camera and microphone. Can add memory with just one screw. New iMac will come in two sizes: 20-inch display, and 24-inch display. Both will be glossy. Customers say they love glossy displays."
10:03AM: "iMac is an all in one desktop, we pioneered this design. This is an all in one world. Phones, iPods, laptops." He's dissing Dell, showing their design.
10:05AM: "Put everything all in one, clean up the mess. IMacs very successful, have everything you need. It really works. The iMac has been really successful. We want to make it even better. How do we do that? Two elements we've used in a lot of pro products: aluminum and glass. Phenomenal materials. Take aluminum, we use this in our pro products. Professionals love it. Glass, very elegant. Scratch resistant. Very desirable from recycling point of view. We're turning to aluminum and glass. Mac Pros, Mac Book Pros, aluminum and glass."
10:06AM: "This is the new iMac design, and it's just designing. This is the new iMac. Just gorgeous. You can see we have a full complement of I/O across the bottom. USB 2.0, Firewire 400, Firewire 800. Slot load superdrive. iSight camera and microphone. Can add memory with just one screw. New iMac will come in two sizes: 20-inch display, and 24-inch display. Both will be glossy. Customers say they love glossy displays."
10:08AM: "Give them their assets as they're meant to be seen. New iMac. Also, new keyboard. You might have seen this on the web. Two USB ports. 0.33", full complement of keys, including dedicated keys for screen dimmer and brighter, expose, media controls, volume controls, eject for optical drive. This is the new iMac with the new keyboard and mouse. Wireless? New wireless keyboard, beautiful, very compact. People love to hold them in their lap. Bluetooth 2.0, all these dedicated keys as well."
10:10AM: "What about the inside? Up to 2.4GHz Core 2 Extreme processor, up to 4GB of memory. ATI Radeon HD graphics card, up to 1TB of hard drive storage. 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.0 built-in. What models will we have? Up until now, 17-inch, 20-inch, and 24-inch. Well, today we're replacing the 24-inch, lowering price by $200, 20-inch at same $1499. replacing 17-inch with $1199 model."
10:12AM: "Want to see our new ad?" New iMac ad plays. iMacs rotating slowly, and that's about it.
10:14AM: Note that the Mac mini is still pictured as part of Apple's product line. "Alright, next thing is applications that run on the Mac. Apple invented category of digital lifestyle applications. Computer is the hub of digital life. We've increased our lead over the PC industry. Introducing iLife '08. Totally new, biggest jump since we introduced it. iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, iDVD and GarageBand. We're replacing one of the apps with something that takes it to a new level."
10:30AM: "When you get your hands on this, you'll think it's great. We're all familiar with .Mac. It's our internet subscription service. We're pleased to announce we have over 1.7M .Mac subscribers, we're going to see it grow even faster after today. Marry .Mac and iPhoto. Announcing .Mac Web Gallery. Works hand in glove with iPhoto '08. What does it do? Has one button photo sharing. integrated into iPhoto '08. Makes web gallery, uploads automatically. Users get rich Web 2.0 experience [Did Steve really just say "Web 2.0"?]. You can see photos in gallary, mosaic. can see in any browser you'd like. Now people that view photos, if you let them, can download print quality downloads. Users can contribute photos from anywhere. You publish on .Mac, someone is on a PC, there is special email address they can get from the web gallery, and they will appear on your web gallery. Photos will sync to your iPhoto library, too.
10:32AM: "Out with your iPhone, we've added "Send to Web Gallery" on your iPhone. Pick one, emails to special address, that photo will show up on your web gallery. Can tell friends about it, View others' web galleries right on your iPhone, great iPhone experience, fully integrated." Demo time!
10:35AM: "Here we are, back in iPhoto. Gonna say, publish this. Who can view? Anyone, family, friends? Allow users to download? Allow to upload? Allow uploading by email? Show email address to visitors? Communicating with .Mac, uploading photos. Now you can see the pictures uploading. What we're gonna do is go ahead and miniaturize, and go to Safari. Go to my .Mac web gallery. Already have a bunch of other galleries. I have skimming right on the web page.
This is a true Web 2.0 app. Web app behaving just like iPhoto on my desktop. Look at individual photos, get information about them. It's pretty neat. Can view in different ways, view as mosaic, just click around, can resize photos in mosaic to any size I want. View as carousel, scroll around like this. I can view as a slide show."
10:36AM: "Now I want to show how easy it is for other people to contribute to my .Mac web gallery. Phil Schiller has his iPhone, has snapped a photo, gonna send to my gallery right from his iPhone. Went right into my .Mac web gallery. Will auto download to my iPhone as well. Going back to my gallery. So that is .Mac Web Gallery."
10:38AM: "Next up: iMovie. This is really interesting. Let me tell you the story. One of our video engineers went to the Cayman Islands, shot a lot of underwater HD, wanted to make a video for his buddies in half an hour. We found out couldn't do it. Engineer got out Final Cut Pro. Couldn't do it. Couldn't do great movie in 30 minutes. So he created an app that could do it. We were so blown away that we decided to use it. We're still calling it iMovie, but we're giving a new icon so we can show it's a whole new app. One library for all your video."
10:42AM: "Got one library for all video you've shot. Can scroll through it all just like your photos. Can rediscover and enjoy all your video as well as make movies more quickly. Takes video from any source. HDV, still cameras that do video, brand new AVCHD camcorders. This new Panasonic one is the best. Records hour of super high quality video on 8GB flash card. Skim to preview, doing for photo, why not for video? Can skim through it in faster than real time. Completely -- it's a far superior way to find stuff in your video library. Allows for super fast movie creation. Select video like you select text. Build a movie almost instantly. Add polish quickly, add music, sound effects, can drag photos, great titles, great transitions. All sorts of effects. Can view and share almost anywhere. This is the real key. You can go to share menu, make version for iTunes. Watch on computer, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV. Put on .Mac Web Gallery."
10:43AM: "You can decide to have encoded in multiple resolutions. Large resolution is higher res than DVD. No more sending DVDs to friends and grandma. They're going to see in higher res than DVD. You may want to send to the world. Can send to YouTube, will encode and upload it for you. Some great features." Demo time!
10:45AM: [Someone's phone rings, Jobs tells them that "You might want to answer that."]
10:48AM: He's putting together some snowboarding clips. "And of course, don't have to settle for two second clips, can make these clips longer. " Steve is making a video on the fly. Adding a soundtrack, Red Hot Chili Peppers song. Now we're watching the movie full-screen.
10:51AM: Lots of applause. "We're slinging around HD video we've taken. You can imagine making a movie in 20 minutes. It's very well thought through. Can share it, pick resolutions that I want. One of things I want to show you is .Mac Web Gallery. put a few movies on there. You can see, it's higher res than a DVD, anyone can see this. This is the movie our video engineer made. You can make it in 20 minutes and put it on the web. This is a much better and much faster way to do it. There's a mobile resolution for watching on your iPhone. If you want, people can download to their own computer as well."
10:52AM: Pretty neat, huh? Somebody asked me, you guys are so far ahead of everyone else, why are you obsoleting your own products? I's because we really care about this stuff. To be able to put movies and libraries out there for everyone to enjoy, it's just great. We think more wonderful movies will be made and shared."
10:55AM: "So now I'd like to talk about iWeb. Enhanced version of iWeb, make even better websites. Live web widgets. Add GoogleMaps, we've made it so you can put it right in. You can add any web snippet, paste it into your website. Live web widgets. Another thing you can add is Google AdSense. Register with Google, type in registration, decide what format, Google will put ads in there that are appropriate. Media index page. A lot of us have sites with photos on them, we'd like index page. We've added that, you can create index page, add your content in. Page with all the photos. Taking up just one position in the navigation. Put pointers to .Mac page as well. Personal domain support. If you have a personal domain, that's now supported. Themes, you can change theme now if you like. We've shipped some great themes. This is iWeb in iLife '08"
10:55AM: "iDVD. There are some people who still want to make DVDs, we're adding pro encoding, new themes. Really high production values. We're making it even better with iDVD and iLife '08"
10:14AM: Note that the Mac mini is still pictured as part of Apple's product line. "Alright, next thing is applications that run on the Mac. Apple invented category of digital lifestyle applications. Computer is the hub of digital life. We've increased our lead over the PC industry. Introducing iLife '08. Totally new, biggest jump since we introduced it. iPhoto, iMovie, iWeb, iDVD and GarageBand. We're replacing one of the apps with something that takes it to a new level."
10:18AM: "iPhoto. We're adding "Events". Digital cameras have made it so easy and inexpensive, photo libraries have grown, not unusual to find photo library with 5 or 6 thousand photos. It's getting hard to find 'em. We make albums, go to some event, take photos, and look what's happened. We have tons of albums. They're centered around events. Birthday party, family reunion. We label the albums. We have a computer, we could do this automatically. Automatically makes events out of your photos. Around 50 photos avg per event. What that means is, instead of looking through 5K, you're just looking through 100 events. Makes photos manageable again. What photos go in an event? When it automatically makes an event, what does it do? All photos taken in a day. All photos yesterday, put in an event. photos taken two days ago in an event, and so on. What happens if I go to a b-day party in the morning and wedding in the afternoon? Just pick first photo and splits automatically into two events. Multi-day events can be joined together into single event."
10:19AM: Sounds like a fancy way to organize albums, doesn't it?
10:25AM: "With iPhoto '08, can hide photos and see only ones you like, but then later bring them back and view them. Only see photos starred three stars and above. Copy photo adjustments for a single photo and paste them into the rest of the pics you've taken at the same time. New books and calendars. Dust cover on the front. Calendars have been popular, offering ones that are 75% bigger at the same price. I need to show you this to understand. I happen to have new iMacs here. Going into iPhoto right here. I've got roughly 5000 photos in this library. Big library. So this is the photos view, this is the events view. I can easily scroll through 104 things, vacations, parties, trips. Very easy to find what I'm looking for. Move mouse over an event, it shows preview, called "Skimming". I can open up event, look at all the photos. If I pick another photo I like to represent that event. Pick which photo you like. Very simple. Once in, we can look at the photos very easily. Double click and instantly preview for you. Saves a ton of time. Don't have to go into edit mode. Really, really great. Now, let me go into 'Becky's Birthday". There was a wedding that afternoon. I want to split. Go to first pic of wedding, hit split. Type "Annie's Wedding", now I've got another event. When I go back, have birthday party and event. Pick a key photo for that event. I can also merge events. Have two events. Trip to Mammoth Lake, can hit "merge" or just drag one event onto another."
10:27AM: "Very straightforward to manage events. Here are photos of girls with balloons. I don't want to throw them away, just hide them. Option to show hidden photos. Very, very simple. Gonna show you searching. Find all photos tagged with "Connor", sorted by event. Look at things by date or rating. Sort by just five star photos. Groups by event, finds 26 photos. That's an overview of iPhoto '08." The crowd starts clapping, which seems a bit unnecessary.
10:19AM: Sounds like a fancy way to organize albums, doesn't it?
10:25AM: "With iPhoto '08, can hide photos and see only ones you like, but then later bring them back and view them. Only see photos starred three stars and above. Copy photo adjustments for a single photo and paste them into the rest of the pics you've taken at the same time. New books and calendars. Dust cover on the front. Calendars have been popular, offering ones that are 75% bigger at the same price. I need to show you this to understand. I happen to have new iMacs here. Going into iPhoto right here. I've got roughly 5000 photos in this library. Big library. So this is the photos view, this is the events view. I can easily scroll through 104 things, vacations, parties, trips. Very easy to find what I'm looking for. Move mouse over an event, it shows preview, called "Skimming". I can open up event, look at all the photos. If I pick another photo I like to represent that event. Pick which photo you like. Very simple. Once in, we can look at the photos very easily. Double click and instantly preview for you. Saves a ton of time. Don't have to go into edit mode. Really, really great. Now, let me go into 'Becky's Birthday". There was a wedding that afternoon. I want to split. Go to first pic of wedding, hit split. Type "Annie's Wedding", now I've got another event. When I go back, have birthday party and event. Pick a key photo for that event. I can also merge events. Have two events. Trip to Mammoth Lake, can hit "merge" or just drag one event onto another."
10:27AM: "Very straightforward to manage events. Here are photos of girls with balloons. I don't want to throw them away, just hide them. Option to show hidden photos. Very, very simple. Gonna show you searching. Find all photos tagged with "Connor", sorted by event. Look at things by date or rating. Sort by just five star photos. Groups by event, finds 26 photos. That's an overview of iPhoto '08." The crowd starts clapping, which seems a bit unnecessary.
10:30AM: "When you get your hands on this, you'll think it's great. We're all familiar with .Mac. It's our internet subscription service. We're pleased to announce we have over 1.7M .Mac subscribers, we're going to see it grow even faster after today. Marry .Mac and iPhoto. Announcing .Mac Web Gallery. Works hand in glove with iPhoto '08. What does it do? Has one button photo sharing. integrated into iPhoto '08. Makes web gallery, uploads automatically. Users get rich Web 2.0 experience [Did Steve really just say "Web 2.0"?]. You can see photos in gallary, mosaic. can see in any browser you'd like. Now people that view photos, if you let them, can download print quality downloads. Users can contribute photos from anywhere. You publish on .Mac, someone is on a PC, there is special email address they can get from the web gallery, and they will appear on your web gallery. Photos will sync to your iPhoto library, too.
10:32AM: "Out with your iPhone, we've added "Send to Web Gallery" on your iPhone. Pick one, emails to special address, that photo will show up on your web gallery. Can tell friends about it, View others' web galleries right on your iPhone, great iPhone experience, fully integrated." Demo time!
10:35AM: "Here we are, back in iPhoto. Gonna say, publish this. Who can view? Anyone, family, friends? Allow users to download? Allow to upload? Allow uploading by email? Show email address to visitors? Communicating with .Mac, uploading photos. Now you can see the pictures uploading. What we're gonna do is go ahead and miniaturize, and go to Safari. Go to my .Mac web gallery. Already have a bunch of other galleries. I have skimming right on the web page.
This is a true Web 2.0 app. Web app behaving just like iPhoto on my desktop. Look at individual photos, get information about them. It's pretty neat. Can view in different ways, view as mosaic, just click around, can resize photos in mosaic to any size I want. View as carousel, scroll around like this. I can view as a slide show."
10:36AM: "Now I want to show how easy it is for other people to contribute to my .Mac web gallery. Phil Schiller has his iPhone, has snapped a photo, gonna send to my gallery right from his iPhone. Went right into my .Mac web gallery. Will auto download to my iPhone as well. Going back to my gallery. So that is .Mac Web Gallery."
10:38AM: "Next up: iMovie. This is really interesting. Let me tell you the story. One of our video engineers went to the Cayman Islands, shot a lot of underwater HD, wanted to make a video for his buddies in half an hour. We found out couldn't do it. Engineer got out Final Cut Pro. Couldn't do it. Couldn't do great movie in 30 minutes. So he created an app that could do it. We were so blown away that we decided to use it. We're still calling it iMovie, but we're giving a new icon so we can show it's a whole new app. One library for all your video."
10:42AM: "Got one library for all video you've shot. Can scroll through it all just like your photos. Can rediscover and enjoy all your video as well as make movies more quickly. Takes video from any source. HDV, still cameras that do video, brand new AVCHD camcorders. This new Panasonic one is the best. Records hour of super high quality video on 8GB flash card. Skim to preview, doing for photo, why not for video? Can skim through it in faster than real time. Completely -- it's a far superior way to find stuff in your video library. Allows for super fast movie creation. Select video like you select text. Build a movie almost instantly. Add polish quickly, add music, sound effects, can drag photos, great titles, great transitions. All sorts of effects. Can view and share almost anywhere. This is the real key. You can go to share menu, make version for iTunes. Watch on computer, iPod, iPhone, Apple TV. Put on .Mac Web Gallery."
10:43AM: "You can decide to have encoded in multiple resolutions. Large resolution is higher res than DVD. No more sending DVDs to friends and grandma. They're going to see in higher res than DVD. You may want to send to the world. Can send to YouTube, will encode and upload it for you. Some great features." Demo time!
10:45AM: [Someone's phone rings, Jobs tells them that "You might want to answer that."]
10:48AM: He's putting together some snowboarding clips. "And of course, don't have to settle for two second clips, can make these clips longer. " Steve is making a video on the fly. Adding a soundtrack, Red Hot Chili Peppers song. Now we're watching the movie full-screen.
10:51AM: Lots of applause. "We're slinging around HD video we've taken. You can imagine making a movie in 20 minutes. It's very well thought through. Can share it, pick resolutions that I want. One of things I want to show you is .Mac Web Gallery. put a few movies on there. You can see, it's higher res than a DVD, anyone can see this. This is the movie our video engineer made. You can make it in 20 minutes and put it on the web. This is a much better and much faster way to do it. There's a mobile resolution for watching on your iPhone. If you want, people can download to their own computer as well."
10:52AM: Pretty neat, huh? Somebody asked me, you guys are so far ahead of everyone else, why are you obsoleting your own products? I's because we really care about this stuff. To be able to put movies and libraries out there for everyone to enjoy, it's just great. We think more wonderful movies will be made and shared."
10:55AM: "So now I'd like to talk about iWeb. Enhanced version of iWeb, make even better websites. Live web widgets. Add GoogleMaps, we've made it so you can put it right in. You can add any web snippet, paste it into your website. Live web widgets. Another thing you can add is Google AdSense. Register with Google, type in registration, decide what format, Google will put ads in there that are appropriate. Media index page. A lot of us have sites with photos on them, we'd like index page. We've added that, you can create index page, add your content in. Page with all the photos. Taking up just one position in the navigation. Put pointers to .Mac page as well. Personal domain support. If you have a personal domain, that's now supported. Themes, you can change theme now if you like. We've shipped some great themes. This is iWeb in iLife '08"
10:55AM: "iDVD. There are some people who still want to make DVDs, we're adding pro encoding, new themes. Really high production values. We're making it even better with iDVD and iLife '08"
10:59AM: "GarageBand, multi-take recording. Magic GarageBand, way to experiment, best way to communicate is just to show you. Let me show you." Demo time! "Magic GarageBand gives me genres to play with: blues, rock, jazz, country, reggae, funk, latin, another rock style, and slow blues. I'm going to audition latin. Gives me little jazz club with my instruments." Looks like you can switch instruments playing each part of the preloaded track. Changing violin to trumpet, removing the drums. "When I've got something I like, can add my own voice and instruments, loops, change around however I want to. Way for musicians and non-musicians alike to get into GarageBand. That's GarageBand. And these are the five new apps in iLife '08. Sells for just $79, one of the best bargains on the planet. Available today."
11:01AM: "iLife ships free with all new Macs, starting today. That's iLife. We talked also about .Mac. Series of great services, now we're adding Web Gallery. Also, offering 1GB of storage. That might be a little small. Offering all subscribers 10GB of storage. .Mac $99.95, one year subscription."
11:01AM: "iLife ships free with all new Macs, starting today. That's iLife. We talked also about .Mac. Series of great services, now we're adding Web Gallery. Also, offering 1GB of storage. That might be a little small. Offering all subscribers 10GB of storage. .Mac $99.95, one year subscription."
11:05AM: "That leaves iWork. Keynote and Pages. I'm very pleased to announce we've sold 1.8M copies to date. New iWork '08. New Keynote, new text effects, new transitions, Instant Alpha. Instant Alpha, get a photo, lets us take out the background, just keep part of photo you want. Smart Builds, lets anyone make very high production value animations. Go to Media Viewer, drag photos in, anything you want. Keynote generates animations for you. A to B animations, you can create your own animations. Easily build slides that mere mortals can figure out to use. Great new themes that are really beautiful. Of course you can add animations to these. These are so easy, so easy to make slides that look this good. So, these are just some of the features as part of Keynote '08."
11:06AM: "So Pages, this is a word processor optimized for page layout, but some wanted just as a word processor. So now it's super easy to do both. Want WP, just get that, want page layout, get great page layout. Distinct modes. Get contextual format bar. Text, photo, table. Built-in change tracking, compatible with Word document. And 140 Apple designed templates, have cool templates built-in. So that's Pages."
11:09AM: "We've got Keynote and Pages, but when you think of productivity, think of third app: Numbers, a spreadsheet for the rest of us. Done in the style of Keynote and Pages. We've got intelligent tables. Readable formulas. Checkboxes and sliders. Sort and filter, pick column and just sort. Simple stuff. Flexible canvas. Want to change formatting of one part without screwing up the other part. Numbers lets you have multiple formats on single page. Move things around. Charts, images, and text labels. Can make gorgeous looking spreadsheets very quickly. Interactive printing, if I want to print, can scale easily to fit everything on one sheet, or move things around to put on different pages. Customizable templates, use what we supply or create your own. And of course, import and export all Excel documents." Demo time!
11:12AM: Steve's demoing different features, showing charts adjusting in real-time, readable formulars, showing how easy it is to change templates. "Numbers completes our productivity suite. iWork '08 is $79, available today."
11:13AM: "We've got iLife '08, .Mac, iWork '08, all work with Tiger, all will work with Leopard when we introduce it later this year. This is what we've got for you this morning. We can do something we don't normally do because of this more intimate setting: Q&A."
11:13AM: He invites Tim Cook, Apple COO and Phil Schiller, EVP Product Marketing up on stage.
11:14AM: "How well will you market this ecosystem to consumers, and show how seamlessly all this stuff works together?"
Steve: "We've got a phenomenal customer base, they show their friends and their friends get jealous."
"Why are you not participating in Intel Inside program and not putting stickers on your Macs?"
Steve: "What can I say? We like our own stickers better. Don't get me wrong, we love Intel, combined with our OS, we've really tuned them well together. Everyone knows we use Intel processors, we'd rather tell them about the product inside the box."
Phil: "Too much stuff on PC box, stickers on laptop, trialware, You don't have to peel stuff off."
"How thin are the iMacs?"
Steve: "Really thin. You'll get your hands on it in a minute, but they're appreciably thinner."
"Two thirds of your products on mobile side, where do things go on the Mac side."
Steve: "Desktops still an important part. Don't require miniaturization of notebook, can offer bigger keyboards, screens, lower cost. Some consumers will want to own both. We think iMac has bright future ahead of it."
"Didn't mention Mac mini today, how is it doing?"
Tim: "We're refreshing the Mac mini today."
"Mentioned AdSense, what's the relationship between Apple and Google?"
Steve: "We are working closer with Google, they offer back end services we want to tie into our offerings. Google likes our products, too."
11:20AM: "Looking at what you've done with the iPhone, there's volatility in the stock. How satisfied that the product is on track?"
Steve: "We think the iPhone is a pretty strong success, we think most of the world sees it that way too. We're really happy with how it's going."
"How is Apple TV today? How does it fit into Mac?"
Steve: "We're here to talk about Mac, we'll have some news for the Apple TV soon, but nothing to talk about today."
"What about AMD chips?"
Steve: "We use Intel chips"
"What about the iMac in business?"
Tim: "We're seeing a lot of growth in business use. Mac is growing and a lot of that is business."
Steve: "A lot of other apps that run on the Mac, MSFT Office. But don't discount that more and more of business is communication, so lots of people have to sell internally, and they're excited about the tools we're offering. We see the iMac having some traction in business."
"With someone editing movies and going to publish, why not support HD uploads?"
Steve: "We do. Turns out that HD camcorders don't have sensors that are full HD, so they produce images that are slightly lower than HD, but are still stellar. We use that res, which is close, but not quite HD. Best you can do under $10k" Uh, that's not quite right, is it?
11:25AM: "Introduced multitouch on iPhone, what about for the Mac?"
Steve: "Makes sense for the iPhone, not sure it makes sense in the Mac. Classify that as a research project."
11:30AM: Last question: "There has been a suggestion that Apple appeals to smaller elite than mass customer base. Is it your goal to overtake PC in marketshare?"
Steve: "Goal is to make the best PC in the world, and make something we can recommend to family in friends. There is some stuff in our industry we wouldn't be proud to ship. We can't ship junk. Thresholds we just can't cross. But we want to make the best personal computers in the industry. Our products are usually not premium priced. Price our competitors' computers, and add in all the extras, we're competitive. We don't offer stripped down products. We compare favorably. Thank you very much for coming today."
That's it!
11:06AM: "So Pages, this is a word processor optimized for page layout, but some wanted just as a word processor. So now it's super easy to do both. Want WP, just get that, want page layout, get great page layout. Distinct modes. Get contextual format bar. Text, photo, table. Built-in change tracking, compatible with Word document. And 140 Apple designed templates, have cool templates built-in. So that's Pages."
11:09AM: "We've got Keynote and Pages, but when you think of productivity, think of third app: Numbers, a spreadsheet for the rest of us. Done in the style of Keynote and Pages. We've got intelligent tables. Readable formulas. Checkboxes and sliders. Sort and filter, pick column and just sort. Simple stuff. Flexible canvas. Want to change formatting of one part without screwing up the other part. Numbers lets you have multiple formats on single page. Move things around. Charts, images, and text labels. Can make gorgeous looking spreadsheets very quickly. Interactive printing, if I want to print, can scale easily to fit everything on one sheet, or move things around to put on different pages. Customizable templates, use what we supply or create your own. And of course, import and export all Excel documents." Demo time!
11:12AM: Steve's demoing different features, showing charts adjusting in real-time, readable formulars, showing how easy it is to change templates. "Numbers completes our productivity suite. iWork '08 is $79, available today."
11:13AM: "We've got iLife '08, .Mac, iWork '08, all work with Tiger, all will work with Leopard when we introduce it later this year. This is what we've got for you this morning. We can do something we don't normally do because of this more intimate setting: Q&A."
11:13AM: He invites Tim Cook, Apple COO and Phil Schiller, EVP Product Marketing up on stage.
11:14AM: "How well will you market this ecosystem to consumers, and show how seamlessly all this stuff works together?"
Steve: "We've got a phenomenal customer base, they show their friends and their friends get jealous."
"Why are you not participating in Intel Inside program and not putting stickers on your Macs?"
Steve: "What can I say? We like our own stickers better. Don't get me wrong, we love Intel, combined with our OS, we've really tuned them well together. Everyone knows we use Intel processors, we'd rather tell them about the product inside the box."
Phil: "Too much stuff on PC box, stickers on laptop, trialware, You don't have to peel stuff off."
"How thin are the iMacs?"
Steve: "Really thin. You'll get your hands on it in a minute, but they're appreciably thinner."
"Two thirds of your products on mobile side, where do things go on the Mac side."
Steve: "Desktops still an important part. Don't require miniaturization of notebook, can offer bigger keyboards, screens, lower cost. Some consumers will want to own both. We think iMac has bright future ahead of it."
"Didn't mention Mac mini today, how is it doing?"
Tim: "We're refreshing the Mac mini today."
"Mentioned AdSense, what's the relationship between Apple and Google?"
Steve: "We are working closer with Google, they offer back end services we want to tie into our offerings. Google likes our products, too."
11:20AM: "Looking at what you've done with the iPhone, there's volatility in the stock. How satisfied that the product is on track?"
Steve: "We think the iPhone is a pretty strong success, we think most of the world sees it that way too. We're really happy with how it's going."
"How is Apple TV today? How does it fit into Mac?"
Steve: "We're here to talk about Mac, we'll have some news for the Apple TV soon, but nothing to talk about today."
"What about AMD chips?"
Steve: "We use Intel chips"
"What about the iMac in business?"
Tim: "We're seeing a lot of growth in business use. Mac is growing and a lot of that is business."
Steve: "A lot of other apps that run on the Mac, MSFT Office. But don't discount that more and more of business is communication, so lots of people have to sell internally, and they're excited about the tools we're offering. We see the iMac having some traction in business."
"With someone editing movies and going to publish, why not support HD uploads?"
Steve: "We do. Turns out that HD camcorders don't have sensors that are full HD, so they produce images that are slightly lower than HD, but are still stellar. We use that res, which is close, but not quite HD. Best you can do under $10k" Uh, that's not quite right, is it?
11:25AM: "Introduced multitouch on iPhone, what about for the Mac?"
Steve: "Makes sense for the iPhone, not sure it makes sense in the Mac. Classify that as a research project."
11:30AM: Last question: "There has been a suggestion that Apple appeals to smaller elite than mass customer base. Is it your goal to overtake PC in marketshare?"
Steve: "Goal is to make the best PC in the world, and make something we can recommend to family in friends. There is some stuff in our industry we wouldn't be proud to ship. We can't ship junk. Thresholds we just can't cross. But we want to make the best personal computers in the industry. Our products are usually not premium priced. Price our competitors' computers, and add in all the extras, we're competitive. We don't offer stripped down products. We compare favorably. Thank you very much for coming today."
That's it!
ZOMG! THE BIG SHOW!
$800 MacBook
Apple admits that pc's are teh better
wow, i never even thought about blu-ray, hope they finally come out on macs.
he didn't beat around the bush! Straight to the point! Thanks Steve!!! Must mean there must be lots more to cover!
No, HDTV inputs hurts. Hurts bad. Could have been the center point of my room.
woah - no 10-key?! no forward-delete? (i could give a crap about the "help" button though.)
damnit, i'm actually thinking the mockup on engadget a little while ago was better than the real thing. I need a 10-key... it's not like i need to save an extra 4 inches on my desk...
Booo.
the iMac looks nice though. :)
nothing new about the iPod? boo!!! Who cares about the new iMac????
ok... So i am gonna buy one...
funny, no matter how unimpressed i am with one of these apple release party's i always seem to buy that new thing!
Booo apple! Taking all my money!!
nothing new about the iPod? boo!!! Who cares about the new iMac????
ok... So i am gonna buy one...
funny, no matter how unimpressed i am with one of these apple release party's i always seem to buy that new thing!
Booo apple! Taking all my money!!
so small problem... on the picture of the new iMac... the one under the specs pic and above the screen dimensions. The mac is on, but there is no power cord plugged into it?
Penryn before every other notebook manufacturer please! And some LED backlighting action on the 17"er!
agreed 17" led backlighting please. someone explain the perks to this new processor to me please.
would like to see "multi- touch" computer
Blue ray disc player options in MP & MBP (apple supports blueray correct? i know that disney/pixar does)
iPhone update
The advantage of the Penryn core is that it's a smaller architecture, so that it can run either cooler and lower power (and thus, longer battery life) at the same speeds as the current chips, or it can run faster and at about the same temp as the current chip (resulting in about the same battery life, but it's also going faster).
So speed, temperature, and battery life, which are all connected pretty directly, all benefit from the die shrink from 65nm to 45nm. Penryn also comes with SSE4 instructions, but that's not as significant as the architecture size reduction, at least not yet. They don't want to be severely caught out by AMD like they did last time with the P4/Athlon64 generation. New AMD's are coming, though, so it'll be interesting to see how they fair compared to the new, shrunken Core 2 Duos, which has parts that can be traced back to Pentium Pro/Pentium 2.
Blu-ray Please!
4pm GMT - Leaked pics of iMac and destroys climax in conference.
With all the new patents Apple has had out:
The Multi-Touch Gesture Dictionary: http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/02/apple-patent-attack-the-multi-touch-gesture-dictionary/
Intelligent Keyboard: http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/31/apple-patent-app-reveals-intelligent-keyboard/
It makes you think something, new, something portable will be out. Going back in time to 2005 where Apple patented the Tablet Mac, and with all these new patents regarding touch screen technology it really makes you wonder.
One last thing... Going more into time, only to 2006 this time. With Apple releasing the iPhone, its first product (in awhile) to have a touch screen, it makes you think that theres going to be more to follow. This article: http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/26/here-we-go-again-mac-tablet-claimed-for-mid-2007-launch/ Supposedly says that this "Mac Tablet" which was patented back in 05, would have an expected mid 07 launch. And I believe its past mid.
Now I might be wrong, but I think something "new" is coming out.
I agree with what you said, but I don't think there's a tablet coming out (and I hope I'm wrong) simply because I think that multi-touch patent was disguised under the cover of a tablet - where it really was meant for the iPhone. Apple has used the same patent tactics by disguising the iPod clickwheel under the cover of a mouse patent.
Cheers,
BG
Yeah, something new, how about a tablet?! ModBooks?
http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbook
Joe, Don't you mean that "Apple admits that pc's are teh betterer".
No he means "Apple admittiert there PC's sind die betterer"
"Posted Aug 7th 2007 3:53PM"
Why can't we mess around with dates like that!?!?!? :D
SHU-WEET!!!!
iPhone european release date i HOPE im so sick of waiting to get my hands on an iPhone in the UK PLEASE announce this tomorrow :D pretty please!!
Also an iPod 6G would be nice :P
The new iMac will actually be a dockable 17-inch Tablet Mac with multi-touch navigation. The dock will recharge the Tablet Mac and provide all the USB/Firewire/etc port goodness. It will ship with Leopard.
Multitouch iMac is very unlikely. (for now) My guess is that the iPhone isn't true multitouch: it's a clever hack of a "single touch" capacitive touchscreen, and thus not something that will scale very well. Bimanual operations, for example wouldn't be doable on a large screen until they came up with a better sensing solution.
@Sterling: Why do you think the iPhone's multitouch is a hack? I'm not trying to defend it, I'm just curious as to why you think that. I suppose it's entirely possible, but using one...well if it's a hack it's a pretty righteous hack!
Jason
Multitouch being a hack actually would explain a lot. The iPhone currently doesn't recognize two distinct presses at the same time, like on the keyboard for instance. And if I remember right the only "multitouch" action is zooming. On my laptop touchpad there's a little app which shows a little green blob where I'm touching. When I put down two fingers and spread them, the position of the blob doesn't change, only it's size. A custom driver for a standard capacitive touch interface would probably be all that apple needed to create the effect. Pretty clever, actually.
@Jason
The iPhone is TRUE multitouch. Google maps uses a two finger tap, etc, etc. Just because the keyboard doesn't recognize two keys at the same time, doesn't mean there isn't multitouch. It's probably like that for a reason.
Jason, you have it exactly right: When you put two fingers down on a normal touchscreen, the system receives two X coordinates and two Y coordinates. Problem is, it doesn't know which goes with which, so that 2 touches essentially produces 4 possible touch locations. Normal touchscreens just average all the input and throw the cursor in the center of them.
My guess is that Apple has cleverly hacked the driver: if you spread your fingers (such as to stretch a map) all the info it needs is that you're are making an expanding square: they don't know/care/need the exact finger location.
If I'm right, this approach is a very clever use of tech that's been around for a while. Apple, after all, started their multitouch experiments with the macbook trackpads. This application wouldn't work too well for larger, more involved applications though, so they'll have to figure something else out before we get a multitouch 30 in cinema display with final cut fingertools. ;)
@Jake: a 2-finger tap does NOT constitute true multitouch. I have 2-finger tapping on my 4-year old Powerbook, dude. That's just a hack of the capacitive touch driver.
Sterling
clearing it up, your guess is wrong. apple uses a true multitouch system, that registers inputs through the scattering of light between two very closely layered plastic plates. it is the same tech developed by Jeff Han of NYU, Jeff has multi touches that are the size of drafting tables that use the same exact tech. his work could really be the next mouse/keyboard in the computing would. the only difference in his and apples is that he uses a projector instead of an LCD, cost and durability reasons. check out his demonstration at TED.
where did you get this crazy idea from? and i guess you were wrong
@Andy McCoy
Andy, where are you getting this information? Most of what you said, (if not all) is incorrect.
I have met with Jeff Han, and have studied & used his system. The system he developed is FTIR: Frustrated total internal reflection. Infrared LEDs fire light into the sides of polished plexiglas sheet, and the change in the index of refraction caused by the touch of a finger (vs air) causes the light to scatter out of the surface, which is seen & interpreted by a camera behind the screen. Using an LCD with that type of FTIR system is impossible because the camera, which is situated right next to the projector, is a pivotal part of how this works, and cameras can't see through LCD screens. (yet)
Perhaps it is possible to miniaturize this to a degree that a sufficient sensing system can be inlaid inside a flat screen. That part I don't know. However, that point is moot, since Apple has said that the iPhone uses a type of capacitive touchscreen on the iPhone. I'm guessing it's the same type of capacitive touchscreen that allows simple multitouch applications on the macbook trackpads... via a very clever driver hack
clearing it up, your guess is wrong. apple uses a true multitouch system, that registers inputs through the scattering of light between two very closely layered plastic plates. it is the same tech developed by Jeff Han of NYU, Jeff has multi touches that are the size of drafting tables that use the same exact tech. his work could really be the next mouse/keyboard in the computing would. the only difference in his and apples is that he uses a projector instead of an LCD, cost and durability reasons. check out his demonstration at TED.
Doh, disregard the last paragraph of m last post: I pasted in Andy's post so I could respond to it, and forgot to get rid of it before sending. :P
Can whoever's going to be there, see if Jonathan Ive will be there? Thanks
-Max
New Macbook Pros!!!! With Blu-Ray and multitouch!
I WISH THE iPHONE would be available for buisness account customers. Hopefully that is what the big event is tommorow... PROBABLLY NOT!!! Hopefully so!
the new iRack where everything is unstable with no exit strategy, and also annoucing the new development of the iRan :)
iRack? iRan? a well placed jab my friend! I wish I had thought of it! =)
my wishes for new mac products? LED backlighting on all notebooks, 12/13" MBP, (and I know the rest of the MAC faithful may boo me out of the room) but maybe some more colors in the MB line! it worked for the iPod (nano) . . .
Comment is from a great MADtv sketch where they poke fun at Apple /SJobs - look for it on YouTube.
---->> Apple rips off the small companies with great ideas, pays them very little or nothing, the last example apple stole the on screen keyboard idea from Florida-based SP Technologies, now it will have to pay for every iphone sold LOL!!!
Can you please find for me, the address of Florida-based SP Technologies? They seem to be all vapor. They smell like gold-diggers to me.
Apple facing patent lawsuit over iPhone keyboard link: http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/06/apple-facing-patent-lawsuit-over-iphone-keyboard/
their claims are hilarious. of course in the US, and i mean only the US, the might by some chance get their way. but anyways, there are so many reason why they won't get through with their claim. a few?
1. what they claim already existed before them (palm + newton)
2. what they claims many bank machines, screen based terminals, etc are using already before them
3. the specific claim of non-removable/ non-changeable on-screen keyboard certainly doesnt go along with the iphone keyboard
4. they never used their patent
I know I'm probably in the minority, but I hope they throw out a new, updated Mac Mini... I'd love to get one, but would like one with updated specs. :(
I think that there will be a new iMac design, along with new versions of iLife and iWork. A Mac Mini redesign or maybe a Blu-Ray option for the Mac Pro might also be there.
I'd like a new iPod, but Apple has a habit of releasing those in September.
I do think it's about the time when Apple finally updates the Mac Mini. I upgraded my Mini a few months ago to C2D but I would love to get another one if they finally put a Santa Rosa and a proper graphics chip.
I've been waiting for an update to the mini myself. I would have bought one months ago if they had a Core 2 CPU instead of the original Core.
a C2D mac mini would be absolutely perfect for what my offices need it for. I'm gonna be so mad if they dropped it.
Me too!
I want a new mac-mini.
Would they put multi-touch into the touch-pads on the mbp? To be integrated into iLife?
Could be useful for photos and the like...
Maybe
the MBP touchpads already ARE multitouch. They were the first mutitouch product to come out of Apple. The iPhone is based on the same tech which is not true multitouch a la Jeff Han, but a clever driver hack to augment functionality when the touch geometry changes.
The touchpads of the MBP was the first place Apple put multitouch, dude.
'Bout time they gave us 'pinch' functionality on the MBP touch pad then isn't it?
Agreed. It would be nice to see more multitouch elements put into the trackpad, such as pinch. However, diagonal scrolling and two finger tapping still kick ass, and it's something noone else has, so I can't fault them for going further...yet.
Maybe, just maybe, we'll see a mini screen on the next version of the trackpad, so as to give some visual feedback too.
17" tablet iMAC? your kidding right... 13 inch tablet maybe, but carrying a 17" tablet around the house?
I predict new iMac's with faster quad processors, new keyboards, blu-ray option, SSD option, and the newest NVIDIA/ATI graphics cards....
I'm pretty sure the invite states this event will be strictly mac, no ipod or iphone announcements today folks. But you never know!
I too expect to see the new iMac revealed, looking either like this:
http://www.theolster.net/2007/07/21/the-new-imacs/
or this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-d_CHY92Aw
Features are pretty predictable, but I think not touch-screen!
Personally I think the latter... Either would be cool!
WoW! That youtube video of 1 mans dream iMac Multi-touch would be freakin' incredible! I'd buy one today :)! I pop'in good looking!
people are speculating that the new imacs that are "coming out" today are going to look similar to the current and outdated cinema displays. I just have a hard time seeing Apple make a new computer that is designed from an old product.
12 inch!!! please 12 inch
You ain't thinking about a 12" imac are you?! lool
Oh yeah, an imac nano
nop don't think so
remember the 12 inch powerbook???? how about a 12 inch macbook pro???
Your girlfriend was wishing for the same thing. Unfortunately you will feel the same disappointment she did.
ok?? your a dick! i have a girlfriend! you have to sit at home dreaming of what speaking to a woman might be like, but you will never know because they shriek and run at the sight of your discussing head, too bad,
two words...
Zune compatibility!
theOlster: That iMac in your youtube link is gorgeous!! Don't like the Apple Cinema display design tho, too boring!
My Requests:
Readyboost for Leopard!! - Pleeease!
Or even better: someway to add more than 2GB RAM to my current mini!
i Expect to see some nice graphic card in iMac, maybe even 2 of them, then i would start thinking about gaming on osx, maybe blue-ray option and new design with new keyboard, then we can say we have serious machine GO APPLE!
In theory they already have the back and front of a new iMac in the cinema displays.
A 2" deep central compartment for the computing components that in theory can be matched to the new MBP parts to maintain continuity with the rest of the range and you would have a great 20" screen and a 23" screen that can handle HD output.
Sounds like a plan to me.
I also want an update Mini as I've alway felt that its has a great footprint but has always been underpowered.
It could become a great stepping stone for non Mac users.
When is Apple Incorporated going to dominate robotics?
I look forward to seeing a new iMac even though I bought one four months ago now and it will depreciate moreso.
Time stops. Life-as-we-know-it shifts to another beltway on the time-space continuum. The eye of the Great Egg blinks. The curtain parts. Steve Jobs takes the stage. Everyone takes a deep breath. . .
Relax. It's not the Second Coming. Apple has not discovered time travel, the art of levitation, or the identity of the cosmic spirit that guides us all. They're simply announcing the next breadbox, an item no more important in the progress of mankind through the soup of the cosmos than yet-another blender or hairdryer.
Get a grip, people.
Gosh, thanks for the reality check! I'm so glad you were here to manage my expectations. I guess we were all acting like out-of-control children, and we are very fortunate that you came along to set us straight.
Maybe appletv will finally be ready to d/l hd movies?
Even if I don't plan on buying an iMac anytime soon (Macbook Pro once Leopard is out though!), I will enjoy this hype-day because it will make work go by faster. So thank you, Steve Jobs. Thank you, Reality-Distortion Field©. Thank you, Engadget.
Exactly.
Well said.
I really need the new iMac to be revealed today as I am stuck between Mac and PC at the moment. Maybe today will be the turning point for me?!
Dude, just get mac. Once you go mac, you'll never go back ;-)
awesome! can't wait til coverage starts. i want:
macbook pro updates, leopard info, iMac upgrades (whilst retaining thier price).
How much time is left, I'm in Moscow and got confused about the time...
1 hour...
Maybe you thinks I'm crazy, but I wan't an updated Mini, with at least 1 GB RAM, 2 GHz Core 2 Duo and shipping with Leopard. And off course also a price drop. In Denmark the price is about $857 for the small model.
I agree with what you said, but I don't think there's a tablet coming out (and I hope I'm wrong) simply because I think that multi-touch patent was disguised under the cover of a tablet - where it really was meant for the iPhone. Apple has used the same patent tactics by disguising the iPod clickwheel under the cover of a mouse patent.
Cheers,
BG
Guys all around the world Mac-fans are getting ready to get the latest news from Cupertino. From Amsterdam to Paris, from Moscow to Buenos Aires, from Tokio to Sidney Australia, they are all waiting for the big news..
Ya think?
The iPhone-Headset
Could there maybe be a NAND flash based mac? Imagine the battery life!
last i checked you could use almost any mouse with a mac
so why dont you pull up your picture of bill gates on your shitty hp and jerk off to it
Who wants to bet that a Windows version of iWork will be announced? It seems like the logical next step, especially after releasing Safari for Windows.
Doubtful, iWork is quite likely something Apple want to keep exclusive, it's a major advantage of having a Mac, if it were to be cross platform; I for one would consider it more reason not to use a Mac.
Same goes for iLife (if you exclude iTunes)
New iMacs along with new keyboards. .Mac 2.0 and New Cinema Displays with iSight (no multitouch displays)
New MacMini with blu-ray and larger HDD
and Mac Pros with revisted specs.
cheers from Ecuador!
buuuuhh no me quites el show...
So will there be video coverage? Really looking forward to the event in video, spoiler-free..
since they just updated macbook pro i can't see that...I'd say IMAC, new displays, keyboards, and mice with the possibility of that tablet mac.
Please, please no new MacBook! I JUST bought mine!
My hypothesis:
It'll be a new Aluminum iMacs (20" and 23") with speed bumps.
A solid date for OS X 10.4 (Sept. 18th-ish)
and iLife & iWork updates.
Maybe a Mac mini update.
Maybe an intro of Blu-Ray drives in all non-notebook Macs.
No iPhone, no iPod upgrades.
24-inch iPhones with available hover board function.
Apple buys Adobe and discontinues Windows professional applications.
Nice try at a joke but takeovers and discontinuations aren't announced in keynote speeches.
can i be the first to say the apple store is down?...even though it isnt?