Macworld Expo keynote coverage recap (New PowerBooks, New Web Browser!)

MacCentral's coverage of Steve Jobs' keynote address from Macworld Expo has concluded. Please visit our home page for more news from the show. The coverage below is presented in reverse chronological order, with the oldest content at the bottom of the page.

Jobs says that 2003 is "the year of the notebook for Apple." Displayed video and TV ads showing off new PowerBooks.

12 inch PowerBook G4 will sell for $1799. "Most affordable PowerBook ever, and we will be shipping them in about two weeks." Can be built to order with a SuperDrive for $1999. (15 inch PowerBook remains in the matrix, by the way.)

"There is one more small thing:" A new 12 inch PowerBook. 1.2 inches thick. 4.6 pounds -- smaller than Duos. Full sized keyboard. Smaller than the iBook in every dimension. 1024 x 768 display. 867MHz G4 processor. Nvidia GeForce4 420 Go, 40GB. Slot Load Combo drive. Wireless and bluetooth. Airport Extreme ready (module costs $99). 5 hours of battery life -- "same as iBook even though it has a G4." Also bundled with QuickBooks.

Claims 4.5 hours of battery life using new battery technology, regardless of screen. Also bundling QuickBooks.

Airport Extreme Base Station: Support for up to 50 users. Support for wireless bridging -- buy another base station and you will automatically be bridged between them. USB printing support (USB port on the base station). Priced at $199.

Introduced "Airport Extreme:" 54Mbps 802.11g wireless networking. Said the other 54Mbps 802.11a standard is "doomed to failure" because of lack of compatibility with 802.11b hotspots. New card is built in to the 17 inch PowerBook. "Antennas where they belong," on the left and right edges of the screen. Said that the range is equal to the iBook.

Bluetooth is built-in. AirPort is built-in. "Most wirelessly capable notebook in the industry."

Specs: 1GHz G4 1MB L3 cache, SuperDrive, GeForce 440 Go Nvidia chipset, 64MB graphics memory, 60GB hard disk. First system to use "FireWire 800." Interface: USB, FireWire 400, FireWire 800 (can also use older FireWire devices on 800 port with adapter), Gigabit Ethernet, S-Video output, DVI output, security, power, modem, second USB port, PC card slot, audio in, headphones.

17 inch PowerBook G4. Uses the same display on the 17 inch iMac with thinner backlight. 1 inch thick. Thinnest PowerBook ever. 1440 x 900 display. Fiber optic backlighting system in keyboard. Ambient light sensors automatically detect low light conditions to light the keyboard. 6.8 lbs. First 17 inch notebook in the world, said Jobs. Made out of aircraft-grade aluminum alloy -- hard anodized, not painted.

"Put on your shoulder harness." Two years ago Apple introduced the PowerBook G4. (Showed the Jeff Goldblum-voiced PowerBook ad spot.) Calls it "the number one lust object ... and you know what? No one has caught up with it in two years." Apple believes notebooks will eventually overtake desktop sales all together. Apple expects 35 percent of unit sales to be laptops.

Keynote imports and exports PowerPoint format. It can also export to PDF and QuickTime. Open file format; XML based. Apple wants third parties to be able to support the technology. Runs on Mac OS X 10.2. To be sold for $99. Available today. (Keynote attendees get a free copy.)

Expansion and contraction of slides not dissimilar from iPhoto. Fully anti aliased text. Alignment guide. Supports full alpha-channel graphics. Rotational capabilities. Flash support. Compositing capabilities. Built-in tables and charts. Theme support -- 12 custom themes, create your own too. Built in transitions -- wipes, crosses, peels, pivots, drops, twirls. All effects are going through OpenGL and Quartz -- 3D mosaics, cubes, tile flips and more.

Keynote: "A presentation app for when your presentation really counts ... Keynote was built for me." Ostensibly, a replacement for PowerPoint and other similar applications. Jobs has used Keynote throughout 2002. "I can assure you it's a great app," after adding that he was "a low-paid beta tester."

Safari is based on standards. Based on an HTML rendering engine that is open source. Dramatically improved performance as work begun a work ago. "Some people have a problem with open source, we think it's great." Apple will post all the improvements to the engine today. Code base started with was KHTML -- "very popular in the Linux world." Runs on Jaguar. Beta release, free download. Today.

i-Bench Tests compared IE, Netscape, Chimera, on 800MHz G4. 53.7, 33.6, 21.8, 16.6 seconds to load pages respectively. JavaScript test and load and launch times are faster as well. Integrated Google in tool bar. "Minimal" interface. New way of looking at bookmarks -- bookmarks bar and bookmarks library. Library looks like iTunes and iPhoto catalogs. Bug button reports issues to Apple if you find Web sites that don't work for some reason.

"So, buckle up." Safari: A "turbo browser for OS X." First major new browser in five years, said Jobs. Why make one? Speed -- fastest browser on the Mac. Also "Most innovative." Google right on the toolbar. "Snapback" to top level of Web sites.

"Today we're bringing it all together:" The integrates suite of applications is called iLife. iLife is being made available on Saturday, January 25th. Bundled with all new Macs. Free download of iTunes still. Free download of iPhoto 2. Free download of iPhoto 3. iDVD 3's massive size requires it to be sold rather than downloaded, but all iLife apps will be sold on store shelves for $49.

iDVD: 680,000 copies distributed. iDVD 3 announced. Again, fully integrated with other iApps. 24 new "amazing" professionally built themes that you can add your own iTunes music to and much more. iDVD also builds automatic scene selection menus based on chapter indices in iMovie projects. Apple lowering price of DVD-Rs to $3. Jobs expects them to hit $1 a piece within 24 months. "We are so far ahead of anybody, it's not funny."

iMovie 3: Over 12 million copies of original. Integrated with iPhoto, iDVD and iTunes. Added Chapters features -- number one request. Added "Ken Burns effect" and precise audio editing, you can edit within clips. New user interface. Sound effects by Skywalker Sound. "Ken Burns effect" is pan and zoom on still images. New titles, transitions and effects. iDVD is integrated -- export no longer required.

iPhoto: 6 million copies, iPhoto 2 introduced. iTunes music library visible in iPhoto now. Retouch brush and one click enhance. Retouch brush preserves color and texture, one click enhance improves white balance and more. Archive to CD and DVD. iDVD button now causes iDVD to launch. Slides will automatically transfer over.

iTunes: 18 million copies distributed. iTunes 3 was first of new generation of integrated apps.

Digital hub: "Delivered" on digital hub strategy announced two years ago: iPhoto, iTunes, iDVD, iMovie. "No one else has delivered the solutions, and we have." Talks about integration between iApps, and need to rebuild apps for improved integration.

5,000 native Mac OS X apps today. Gives Apple the confidence to announce today that all new products starting today, including speed bumps, will no longer boot in 9. Classic will still work.

Final Cut Express demo given by Apple's Phil Schiller. The interface looks very similar to Final Cut Pro. It works the same way, too, according to Schiller. Over 200 effects and transitions included. Also includes color correction tools. Retails for $299. Available today.

Final Cut Pro is number one pro video app in the world as measured by units sold. Mentioned price as an issue. Solution: New product called Final Cut Express. "Lets you edit like a pro," similar to FCP but minus some pro features.

Dave Lebolt, Digidesign gave demonstration. "Everything you need to make your recordings." Can work with DSP plugins. Anything you need to finish an audio project. Used in television, broadcasting, film, music. Whole systems start at $495. Mentioned Apple's CoreAudio and CoreMIDI support as important. Demonstrated technology by remixing Smash Mouth music.

Microsoft is extending $199 deal on Office to April 7. Jobs also noted Intuit's release of QuickBooks 5.0 for Mac. Mentioned NASCAR Racing 2002 Season as "first force feedback app." Macromedia Director MX mentioned. Digidesign Pro Tools for OS X mentioned -- will ship this month.

Mac OS X: "Came of age" with Jaguar. Hit goal: 5 million active users of Mac OS X. 3.8 million added in 2002. "Confident" 9 - 10 million by 2003's end. "A few laggard apps ... we all know which one we're talking about."

iPod: "Walkman of the digital age." 14 months shipping. Apple has sold more than 600,000 iPods since launch, or 1 every minute since shipping. Number one MP3 player in US and Japan, 42 percent market share in Japan. Burton will introduce a snowboarding/skiing jacket with pouch and integrated controls on the sleeve. $499, Apple online store exclusive for this season. "Very limited edition." Also on display at Apple retail stores.

.Mac: Talked about features and capabilities of Apple's subscription-based online service. iCal, Homepage, virus protection, etc. Admits to "a bit of noise" about subscription model. 250,000 paying subscribers today, growing every month.

iCal and iSync: 1.1 million downloads of iCal since release. Has spawned third-party calendar download sites. iSync "really important strategic application" because it synchronizes calendar to PDAs, cell phones, etc. "You'll be hearing a lot more ... in the coming year."

X for Teachers: Calls them best advocates. 290,000 copies of Mac OS X have been sent out (for free) to teachers. The program has been extended to the end of March (originally to expire in December.

Apple Store Revenues: First 100 million dollar quarter. Last month quarter ended with $148 million in revenue from retail stores -- right on target. 50 percent of the computers are sold to Windows Switchers. 1.4 million visited Apple stores in December, or the equivalent to 20 Macworld Expos.

Apple Stores: 20 months ago was first opening, more than 50 across the country. 85 million people live within 15 miles of Apple store. Showed images Soho store in New York City. "One of the best buying experiences in the world." Also showed The Grove in LA -- most popular LA store.

Switcher campaign: Started last summer. Ellen Feiss gets a big yell from the crowd. Noted Switch site on Apple's site: 7.8 million unique visitors to the site since launch. 68 percent running Windows browser. Over 5 million Windows users checking out why they ought to switch. "One of the best ad campaigns we've ever run.

Largest MPEG-4 streaming event ever. Over 130 countries streaming live, including the Vatican.

"Boy are we gonna start the year at Macworld. We have two Macworlds worth of stuff for you today."

The show begins with Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World." Steve Jobs enters with his customary black turtleneck and jeans.

You, my friend, are a liar. I did no such thing. My first comment was related to some Mac-Clown claiming the PC was a liberal computer.

Let's see. Your opening contribution to the "Apple unveils own Web browser" thread was "Apple continues to find new ways to reshuffle their less than 3% of the computer market." Along with a nifty little bit of code to "predict Apple's approximate world wide share of the personal computer."

Your first comment on the "Apple Introduces New Products" thread was designed to impugned the personal experience and opinion of someone who knows building their own computer is not black magic.

Your trenchant commentary on the "Macworld Expo" thread began with a "once removed" retort and polemic to no less than Rush Limbaugh on the political leanings of a computer user based on the platform favoured.

Then you proceeded to condescend to those that don't share your dry, utilitarian, assessment of the impact personal computing has on individuals. (as if someone made you the arbiter of what constitutes "useful")

Finally, in a breathtaking display of solipsistic hubris, you actually criticize mac-users for being humourless, and oversensitive!

Now you have already accused me of being a liar, and I won't return the accusation, despite the lack of credibility on your part I've just demonstrated. As you know, in each of these cases your discussions went downhill after your initial post. But the reason I don't think you're a liar is because I don't believe you possess enough objective awareness to realize there's nothing wrong with a dog that bites you...after you've kicked it.

I am Vicki's husband Mike... and I have been reading this thread with great amusement and I thought I would enter my opinions.

I am the IT Manager for a company that manufactures product and currently sells over a million dollars per month. I control several Win2000 servers and a bunch of Windows workstations (only one Mac in the building for compatibility). At my home office I have 4 Macs running OS 8.6 to OSX Jaguar and (one Windows box for compatibility). I also use Virtual PC on my Macs and it works really well.

I am very experienced with both platforms and I find the Macs not only are easier to learn, understand and use, but they are also much faster than the Windows boxes at screen redraw on large graphics, 3D rendering and handsdown better at video editing. When it comes to number crunching, the Mac is just as fast as any WinBox. I mean, how fast do you need it to go, my 40,000 record extract only take 34 seconds on the Mac and the same extract runs 29 seconds on an equivalent WinBox, however a 1600 x 1200 3D ray traced rendering takes 15 minutes on the old Mac 9500 and almost 2 hours on the new WinBox with a GForce 4 Video Card, 1.5 Gigs of Ram and a 2200+ AMD Chip, go figure.

You asked where the value was in a Mac... Bank of America, the largest banking system in the US still uses Mac SE all-in-one machines that were built in 1984 to do what I am sure is complex math. No upgrades minimal upgrades for almost 20 years, and the OS on those machines was FREE. Now lets talk about the difference between the $179.00 OSX Jaguar to the $499.00 Windows XP Pro and all of the previous updates that where in the hundreds.

The problem I see is not in the Hardware or the OS, it is supporting programs. The software developers have, in the past, been forced by contract rangling to stop producing software for the Mac, except for Microsoft of course (who produces OFFICE for OSX minus Access - FileMaker is more user friendly anyway).

The truth is that Game Players are the ones that are driving the market not conservative computer users.

If you die hard Windows supporters would stop buying the overpriced, bug filled, virus prone crap software that Bill's Microsoft Corp produces, prices would drop more on the Macs and developers would get back to cross platform software and you to would be able to benefit from the real UNIX workhorse that does have style too.

The last word is, I spend far more time trying to fix problems on Windows machines than I do Macs and the News Tribune here in Washington, that also prints the New York Times, is in the process of converting the entire company over to OSX servers and over 400 Mac Desktops, PowerBooks and iMacs and there reasons are upgrades and security...

By the way, I am a Conservative Republican, just like Rush Limbaugh, also a G4 Mac owner... enough said!

Mike

At least in our local Staples, it is true. PCs are not selling and they have reduced the large number they used to display to only two units. My pal who works there told me they have died on the shelves and have a terrible repair record from past sales of these brands.

Hey, I know MAC s do not have a good market share, but that's not the point: they actually work and work well, so why do PC owners hate them? As far as being "liberal" computers, that is ridiculous. Many Freepers use them and we pride ourselves as confirmed, VRWC full-blown, unchanging conservatives.

so why do PC owners hate them?

They don't (at least I sure as heck don't). I like to deflate overblown hot-air claims from Mac Fanatics but I have already said Mac's are cool slick computers. Mac Fantatics like to pretend that everybody that does not buy Apple Propaganda hates Mac's but clearly that is not true. If you like your Mac and it gets your job done - GREAT - MY GOD that is the purpose of a computer, to get things done. BUT if you make nonsense BS claims about Mac's or other computer platform I might jump in and call you on it.

Mac people really love their computers (sometimes too much). Mac Fanatics pretend there are Windows fanatics but I have NEVER seen one. I am into computing and have been all of my adult life BUT I am not into a specific computer companies or operating systems – those are peripheral issues in my mind. When it comes to my profession – when you boil it down: I am in it for the money. Case in point: I was a C/C++ programmer in the early 1990’s – most of my computer related friends thought C++ was cool. I noticed they were throwing money at Visual Basic programmer because VB blow the doors off of C++ when it came to the software development life cycle – many of my friends made fun of me because VB was not a real-man’s programming language. Fine, I double my salary when I switch to VB and I can say “VB been very very good to me”. The point is – if I see people are throwing money at Mac-platform programmers I will jump on that platform quicker than you can say “Luxury European Sports Sedan”

As far as being "liberal" computers, that is ridiculous.

I totally agree and I thought that topic was tongue-in-cheek until some Mac Fanatics started insulting me personally - then it turned VERY ugly (and very silly).

Err, did I make nonsense claims for in my post?

PC’s rotting on the shelves is a nonsense statement. I believe PC’s out sell Mac’s like 30 to 1. I will bet your friend is a Mac-head and is applying a little Mac-Wishful-Thinking but I am just guessing. You also said that no one wants to buy Compac (it’s Compaq BTW) and HP computers in your city – I am willing to guess that statement was complete Mac-Wishful-Thinking (see Nonsense) and you have absolutely no data to back up this claim. I will bet if you got a hold of the sales data from the Staples store in question you would be very surprised. Successful nation-wide stores like Staples don’t sell Macs for very good business reasons.

My trusty iMAC computer does just what I want it to do with 99% up time, with virtually no failures after years of experience with four Macs.

Groovy.

If you like PCs, that's just fine.

Gee, thanks. And if you like your Mac, that’s just fine.

Can Mac people talk about their computers without mentioning Windows? I don't think so.

Funny, your only addition to this thread was to attack me personally and mind-read my motives.

It's called analysis, and it's not my problem if I understand what you've said before you do.

For example: Paulus made a statement from his direct experience, and you have refused to accept his veracity. You counter with "I am willing to guess that statement was complete Mac-Wishful-Thinking (see Nonsense) and you have absolutely no data to back up this claim."

Do you think there is anyone here that doesn't know you wouldn't accept the veracity of any data what-so-ever if it didn't fit your predetermined conclusions. We all understand there is literally nothing he could say to get you to question or re-examine your own opinion. The only one that doesn't know that is you, and you're quite comfortable attributing the conflict that comes from such pig-headedness to mac-owner intractability.

Talk about clueless.

You're right, "rotting on the shelves" was perhaps a tad overboard, but based upon the statement from the friendly salesman at Staples (not a Mac head at all--he likes Windows), who said they were having great problems selling Compaqs and HPS and were down to two floor models used as demos.

On the other hand, Apple now runs their own stores and claim to be selling well. Their new store in Vegas is doing excellent business and it's a nice looking place where a person can actually try the products and get tech help (at last!). Apple also claims that well over 600,000 businesses now are on MAC as they like the sturdy platform and OS 10.2 that seldom crashes. I enjoy these friendly interchanges.

Woahls, you really like making a COMPLETE FOOL OUT OF YOURSELF! Paulus admits his comment was "tad overboard"

You are amazing! You popped in just to insult people - you have posted NOTHING related to the topic of this thread.

I thought Apple always had there own stores…or at least for a long time.

Fun Facts: I was factory trained on the Apple II, IIe, III, and Lisa.

The Mac has held steady at about a 3% market share - maybe this will change but the iMac and the other "revolutionary" Apple products didn't seem to budge their market share.

I have always liked Apple - I just think their main strategy sucks. On the Apple side you have ONE company driving everything. On the Windows/Intel/IBM/Microsoft/Linux/AMD/etc./etc. side you have hundreds of companies and no one company controls it all (no matter how much Mac-Heads claim Microsoft pulls all the strings - heck, Microsoft does not even make computers).

I have tons of Wintel machines - I use Windows 98 (for my kids games, they are young), Windows 2000 for servers and my recording studio desktop, and Windows XP for my desk, laptop, and my wife's computer. We run a business out of our house so I also host web servers - I use Windows 2000 and Linux. I like the options. I don't want Microsoft dictating to me what I can and can’t do with my machine. If I use Linux I don't want Microsoft Linux - so why the HECK do Mac-People find that one company tells me what I can and can't do model so acceptable. Wouldn’t Mac people rather use REAL Linux than Apple’s Linux variant? I also have Palm and PocketPC PDA’s along with a Blackberry – I like choices (maybe that is why I am not a big fan of the Mac)

Apple is like a communist country. Apple tells you what you want and Apple users say “Please Sir, can I have some more”

If Apple had kept the open architecture of the Apple IIe in the Mac – I bet the Mac would be the dominant computers. But instead Apple went for and still goes for maximum profits. I really don’t like one company having so much power over my computing needs and I can’t figure out why Mac-Heads find that acceptable.

Mac’s are GREAT and you can do whatever it is you want to do on a Mac BUT Mac’s do not blow away PC’s – THAT is the only real gripe I have with Mac-Heads.

I can't resist.

Woahhs, you are such a weenie

Example:

Paulus made a statement from his direct experience

relaying something somebody else said is not "direct experience" (dweeb)

Do you think there is anyone here that doesn't know you wouldn't accept the veracity of any data what-so-ever if it didn't fit your predetermined conclusions

Nobody has presented ANY data so your point is moot (and silly)

Woahhs, if you have any dignity you will stop this line of attacks. If you have something to add to the thread please do - buy if your only goal is to personally insult me - please stop.

Funny, only having the floor models left usually implies the items are "selling like hotcakes" - having a large inventory using means something is no selling.

I bought me mom an HP computer for Christmas (1.7GHz,60 G HB,17" monitor, color printer, XP, graphic software, etc., etc,) for $550.00 (amazing!) - anyway I bought it at Best Buy - the place was PACKED with people buying PC's there were lines of people checking out with PC’s - they had PC stacked to the ceiling and they were flying out the door. Fear not - PC's are selling like Hotcakes (for my antagonist friend - THAT is direct experience).

You are amazing! You popped in just to insult people - you have posted NOTHING related to the topic of this thread.

No, I popped in just to insult you. There isn't much else that can make it through your bullet-proof haughteur. And if you would stop trying to "save face" for your previous asininities, I'd leave you alone.

BTW...do you think your hysterical shouting adds any more validity to your "see spot run" charge that I'm making a fool of myself when all I've had to say is visible to everyone on this thread?

I'm really trying to resist the temptation to speculate... as all the people I knew into computers when you say you started in the business were greasy little geeks that spent so much time with machines because they couldn't interface with people. Thankfully, modern computer wizards take baths and spend enough time with people to develop emotionally, but I have to wonder about all those arrested development types that spent so many hours in front of a keyboard back in the seventies; did they ever grow up?

They really where quite pathetic you know. If you talked about anything but computers, they became sullen and displayed all the sophistication of a ten-year-old. If they could get you onto computers though...they showed a morbid disdain that was only offset by the fact that all the normal people knew that was their one and only domain, and were charitable enough to let them keep it.

Damn, looks like I'll have to resist speculating harder.

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[Read from the bottom up; each paragraph was posted in reverse order as Jobs spoke.]