Macworld 2008 Keynote Address Analysis

True to form, Steve Jobs comes onstage in his iconic black turtleneck and jeans ensemble and leads his audience -- of seasoned reporters and Mac aficionados -- in a chorus of cries and gasps as he releases Mac's latest products. Few reporters manage to remain independent in the face of Mac innovation!
2007 was the year everything changed. Apple promised to release the biggest product in its history and delivered the iPhone. In 2008, expectations were dampened, but still high and for the most part Jobs delivered. Nothing earth-shattering or game-changing, but solid, innovative products. After 2007, this Macworld felt a little flat. There was nothing announced that would make people run to the stores (or, run to the stores when the product is finally released), but instead things to be amazed by. Will Apple find more fans and copycats than buyers?

Jobs began his address promising four different categories that became revealed as: Time Capsule, iPhone updates, movie rentals & iTV adjustments and MacBook Air.

The Time Capsule is a combination hard drive and wireless base station and comes in two models: the 500GB ($299) and the 1TB ($499). Here was the first surprise: a terabyte is a lot of storage. In fact, Wikipedia's entry on the terabyte claims that Britain's National Archives holds about 60 TB of data. So for those of us whose computers hold 1/60 of Britain's national archives, we now know where to store it! What's the payoff? Jobs once again combines different functions into a cool, slim box. This also makes Timeline, one of Leopard's neatest unused features, a bit more useful.

iPhone While Jobs didn't announce the highly anticipated upgrade to allow iPhone to use A&T's 3G network, he did introduce two software updates: one free and immediately available and the other a set of applications for $20. The free upgrade includes additional Google map functionality while the apps are basically 5 bundled widgets. What's the payoff? Not much. How many people will upgrade for an application that tells them the weather or checks their stocks? That's what bookmarks are for. The only big news about the iPhone is that it's captured 19.5% of the US Smartphone market in the 6 months it's been out. Now that's impressive.

Movies & More The major movie studios are allowing iTunes movie rentals for prices ranging from $2.99 to $4.99 depending on whether the movie is a new release or has been out for awhile and whether one wants HD quality or regular. This accompanies the new iTV, which is cheaper than the previous model, and connects to the iTunes store without a computer. Viewers can also preview movies, sync with various online programs (.Mac, Flikr) and view videos in HD with surround sound. What's the payoff? Better quality, more options. While not the rental system many want, this feature will likely be more successful than Amazon's UnBox (which does not work with Macs) since the functionality and layout are more familiar to buyers. Look for Apple to dominate whatever movie rental business is actually out there.

MacBook Air While this was what everyone came to MacWorld expecting, Jobs' mastery of both showmanship and the wow-factor made it worth while. Jobs pulled the new computer out of a manilla inter-office folder and proceeded to show it off. Its specs are decent, the size outstandingly small, it includes revolutionary features such as the clever ports and promises that the next MacBook and MacBook Pro updates will have a nifty multi-touchpad. What's the payoff? If you're in the market for a sub-notebook, this is the one to buy. For the rest of us (most of us?), we have to wait for the next MacWorld.

Overall, Jobs performed well and his products are revolutionary in their own rights. Yet, they aren't going to drive customers to the Apple store the way the iPhone does. (Not that much will!) For computer buyers and those eager to watch movies differently, these will be useful products. But we'll wait until next year to see the future of computing.

Sources:

Macrumors (www.macrumors.com) -- Rundown of the day's releases
Apple (www.apple.com) -- The products themselves.