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.

Since when? Does this mean that anyone that decides to go for a Gateway (since they promise so much hand-holding and offered a hideous "iMac Killer" PC that went nowhere) or a Sony (since they sell models specfically aimed at those looking to do the same things as Mac home users like make home videos and manage MP3s etc) is also merely basing their purchase decision on feelings instead of "reality," whatever that is supposed to be?

I am not a mind reader. What the hell difference does it make what your computer looks like? Funny, I always thought it was want went on inside the computer that mattered – not how it looks on the desk.

I bought my new iMac about three months ago not because it is, or represents, some "lifestyle." I bought it because it has the best monitor of any PC currently out there, bar none.

That is a matter of opinion. BTW: your opinion on this matter in not shared by many other people. If you think the monitor on your “iMac” is better than any monitor on the market, I question your research.

Because I love having the infinitely-tinkerable Unix under the hood.

Most people like to do thinks with their computers and not tinker with the operating system. Most see computers as a means to an end – you seem to see computers as an end in themselves. Infinitely tinkering with an operating system does not sound like much fun to me but once again it is a matter of opinion. Whatever turns you one – do it till you’re satisfied.

But I, and millions of others, happen to prefer Macs for our needs. Why is this something that must be crushed?

Did I say anything about crushing anything Mr. Over-Zealous Mac-Head? You Mac people are amazing. Mac’s are cool, Linux is cool, PC’s are cool. Just don’t try to blow “Mac Smoke” up me bum.

Actually, that is a very good description of Microsoft - great marketing of low quality crap products. Microsoft Windows looks like the operating system Hillary Clinton would design if she was a programmer.

Funny I have not seen any of this “windows marketing” you are talking about. What is it? Where did you see it? You would not be pulling that famous liberal trick of playing fast and loose with the truth?

Conservatives do place a high value on the things Apple delivers - high quality, reliability, good service and simplicity.

Well I hate to hit you up-side your head with the cold herring of truth but Apple is the darling of liberals. Apple computers largest market share is academia – totally dominated my liberals – liberal LOVE the Mac (a computer more of image than substance). The other market niche dominated by Apple is Hollywood – totally dominated by Liberals – liberals LOVE the Mac. Heck if you watch a movie that has a computer in it you would think Macs are the dominate platform when in reality the Mac represents less than 3% of the market.

Mac is the liberal computer because like liberal politics it is all done with smoke and mirrors and slogans and feelings.

Fact is most conservative do not use Macs (because most people do not use Macs).

BTW: I can partake in silly debates from time to time but this is getting really silly (and I helped take it there). Debating which computer is the Liberal or Conservative computer is right up there with “how many angels can dance on the head of a pin”

The Mac is the most popular Unix computer on the planet and by far the most popular Unix laptop. Go to a Linux conference and look at all the Mac laptops. Sure, Windows has 95% of the computer market, but that is split among 500+ harware manufacturers. When you compare Apples to Dells, Apple looks a lot better. One quarter in the last two years, they moved more boxes than any other company, including Dell and Gateway.

Apple is a niche player like BMW is a niche player. Actually, BMW has less of the automobile market than Apple has of the computer market. That is not an argument that BMW aren't nice cars or that BMW is unsuccessful. Steve Jobs' little company has about $5,000,000,000 in cash lying around. Not a lot of computer companies can say that.

And Bill Gates' politics are just as odious as Steve Jobs'. I prefer Steve Jobs' relatively harmless posturing to Gates' quiet massive funding of pinko causes.

Well, I've used Macs to run my business for 11 years now, and I run into all kinds of business that use a lot of Macs. I used IBM machines before Microsoft took over.

When I found the Mac I knew I was home. On the rare occasions I take my Titanium G4 to a meeting, everyone wants to play with it, check it out. Most are impressed with the machine and say so.

I only use Wintel machines now to run a couple of obscure technical programs. Macs are great computers and are great business machines.

I wish all you Wintel people well. I'll just zoom along with my Mac. Peace and Love.

Psychiatrists call it projection when one tries to project their problems on other people.

Or, in your case, transference.

Now, back to basics.

When is the last time you used a Mac to solve any problem at all? You "reviewed" them? Perhaps like a book or movie?

You stepped on this thread for the specific purpose of pissing on a platform. I'm feel obliged to defend the platform against your unknowing observations.

As to my "bones", I started my professional career in April 1976 and have been on the bleeding edge of technology since. It's not a "new toy" to me. Nor is it a gadget, lifestyle or any other word you'd apply to it. It's a tool, as are all of the other computers and operating systems I use and have used over the course of a very comfortable career.

You know not of what you speak. That's easy to see. Just another hobbyist walking around with a gun full of scattershot words.

When you have purchased a Mac, used it, understand it and can refute its worth based on "reality" rather than whatever the hell concept you've managed to piece together, then maybe you'll have something material to add to the conversation.

Until then, what's there to talk about?

OK. Your point is...

One problem. A computer is not a luxury car. Sorry to burst your bubble. Mac still has zero presence in most business sectors and that is what really matters unless you selling style (like pretending a computer is a luxury car). Mac's have the flash and big budget advertisements but where the rubber meets the road the WinTel world blows the doors off the Mac world each and every day. I drive a BWM.

If you are looking for style flash and a "lifestyle" - Mac is the big winner.

Mac clearly has the best hype. As a business tool a Mac is all but worthless. Mac is to computers what beta is to VCRs - maybe Beta is better but it really doesn't matter anymore although you can still watch movies with a beta VCR just a handful of companies use Macs for business.

Wow. Mac-heads turn ugly fast.

You stepped on this thread for the specific purpose of pissing on a platform. I'm feel obliged to defend the platform against your unknowing observations.

No. I think that was you. If seems you stepped on this thread to try and feel superior. You are basically exposing yourself as one who has far more zeal than computer knowledge.

As to my "bones", I started my professional career in April 1976 and have been on the bleeding edge of technology since.

Really. What systems did you work on in 1976? Quick, search the internet for computer systems that were around in 1976. Very little business is done on the bleeding edge.

It's not a "new toy" to me.

I am sorry to hear that. It is a shame when someone no longer has fun in their chosen vocation.

It's a tool, as are all of the other computers and operating systems I use and have used over the course of a very comfortable career.

Funny that was my line

You know not of what you speak

OH THE IRONY. You are the one trying to explain what I do and don’t know even though you know absolutely nothing about me. I think you have just been skewered by your own words.

That's easy to see. Just another hobbyist walking around with a gun full of scattershot words.

Well. I asked you to back up your bold statements and you refused. Still waiting for you to explain to us what “doors” that Mac opens and when a Mac is a better price point than any other system. Still waiting – but don’t let that stop you from spewing ad homenim insults.

You can tell when somebody does not know what they are talking about and is bluffing because they spend most of their time attacking other people personally in an attempt to change the subject.

Oh here we go again. The Mac is such a special computer the only way you can understand it is to buy one – touch one – caress one – have sex with one – give us a break. Until you can answer the tough questions and back up you bold unsupported statements – you still look like a poser pretending to understand computers. A Mac-minion with far more zeal than knowledge that plays fast and loose with the truth.

Macs have zero presence in most if not all business sectors. I write software in the business world. Nuff said – game over – move on, nothing to see here.

I've never had to spend my own money on work-related hardware. Now I'm shopping for a laptop and I have a max budget of around $2500. What would give me the best bang for the buck? BTW, I do not consider my computer a political statement. I need it for DB admin, MX web app development, and playing movies and music on long flights. I've done a lot of online shopping to compare and contrast but I want the opinions of folks that have hands-on experience with multiple platforms.

I have a ThinkPad. IBM makes great solid laptops but they are not the cheapest (my A30 cost nearly $3000 last year). As a DB admin you will likely have to get a Window machine – maybe not. Dreamweaver works on windows or mac. Battery life is the biggest issue on laptops and long flights. My A30 has a 15 inch screen and battery life is like barely over an hour. If Apple offers great battery life – maybe the Apple would be better – if you can get the DB admin tools you want on the Mac platform. My company has always used IBM ThinkPad since the early 1990’s and have had great luck.

I would recommend the ThinkPad.

Until you can answer the tough questions and back up you bold unsupported statements – you still look like a poser pretending to understand computers.

You're a piece of work.

Let's compare clippings, published material, industry awards, editorial boards, and personal achievement awards, shall we? We'll skip resumes and go for the shiney guts, okay? Unless you'd rather trot out resumes. That would be okay with me too.

You've never owned a Mac. You've never used one. You've read about them. You've heard about them. You've formed an opinion about them, though. And in your "expert" opinion, you don't like them because...well...because... Come to think of it you haven't really said.

Now quick. Tell me what I'm doing with this statement:

awk '/LOG REWOUND|LOG STARTED/ { print FILENAME, $0 }' NTX.* | sort -k6 | awk '{print $1}' | xargs bleh.pl >result.out

You have exactly 3 minutes.

Bonus question: Which of the platforms I mentioned would support this?

My point is that
A) The Mac is part of the UNIX family, a technically superior computing platform to the Windows family.
B) Comparing Apple to the entire PC industry is a spurious gauge of its success.

Why is it silly to compare a computer to a car? I spend more time in front of my computer than in my car; why shouldn't I then apply aesthetic judgement to the purchase? A car is a complicated expensive piece of high tech equipment that gets you where to need to go on the highway. A computer is a complicated machine that gets you where you need to go on the information superhighway. Most people use their computers for games, e-mail, browsing the web, watching DVDs and listening to MP3s, and with the exception of games you can do this stuff better on a Mac than on a PC. And you can put a Mac in a living room without embarassing the furniture. If you want a cheap, fast, homely, standardized machine, get a PC. If you want an elegant, hassle-free machine, spend the extra money and get a Mac.

Apple is the company that -- while they didn't invent these all these technologies -- first popularized them: the 3 1/2 inch floppy, the CD ROM drive, the mouse, the graphical windowing system, the laser printer, the DVD recorder, plug and play, plug and play peer to peer networking, multimedia, digital video, streaming digital video, digital video editing, WYSIWYG editing, wireless networking, all-in-one computing appliances, firewire. Even the World Wide Web had its genesis in Apple's Hypercard. The only technology, other than raw computing power, that first appeared on a PC that I can think of is USB. Quite simply, Apple is the most innovative computer company in history. It is the R&D arm of the entire PC industry. It is worth billions of dollars, and the man who started the company in his garage with one other employee and is now still running it is personally a billionaire. And this is how you define failure?

You're a piece of work. Let's compare clippings, published material, industry awards, editorial boards, and personal achievement awards, shall we? We'll skip resumes and go for the shiney guts, okay? Unless you'd rather trot out resumes. That would be okay with me too.

You can't answer a single question - but that is some mighty fine tap dancing you are doing. Lots of hot air but no details,

Lets try this again.

I think you have proven yourself to be a phony - but you can prove me wrong by answering the questions:

1. You claim to have entered the computer industry in 1976 yet can't name what system(s) you were working on.

2. You claim in your “business” the Mac "opens" technology doors yet you have failed to describe ONE of these magic doors.

2. You claim in your “business” the Mac comes in at a better price point than other systems yet you completely failed to explain how that heck that could be possible.

If you are not blowing "Mac Smoke" up everybody's butt, you should be able to easily answer these question.

You've never owned a Mac.

Wrong. I own one right now. (you are really making a fool out of yourself)

You've never used one.

WRONG. I have used them a couple of times and evaluated the feasibility of releasing my company’s software on the platform (see how stupid you make yourself look what you boldly make statements of which you are completely ignorant?)

Now quick. Tell me what I'm doing with this statement:

awk '/LOG REWOUND|LOG STARTED/ { print FILENAME, $0 }' NTX.* | sort -k6 | awk '{print $1}' | xargs bleh.pl >result.out

It is awk code (something I do not use) it is reading something out of a file, formatting it and outputting it the file resulte.out – or something like that – I could look up that syntax. The awk language (that focuses mainly on file related activities)(it is sort like Rexx on VM) is primarily a Unix thing though I believe it ported to most platforms.

Now are you going to answer the questions I asked a while ago or ar you just a poser?

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