Macworld Keynote Address

Macworld Keynote Address: It seemed nearly impossible for Steve Jobs to top last year's Macworld keynote address where he released the iPhone, but he may have done just that.

In his 2008 Macworld keynote address, Jobs unveiled the new MacBook Air, one of the thinnest and lightest notebooks to ever come out. The MacBook Air weighs in at 3 pounds and can be configured to be between 0.16 and 0.76 inches in width. In its tiny package the MacBook Air contains an 80 gigabyte hard drive, a web cam, and a 13" widescreen monitor. Jobs called the MacBook Air the "world's thinnest notebook." To prove this Jobs produced the computer from inside an envelope. The MacBook Air will cost $1,799 and will ship in two weeks.

Jobs did not just unveil Apple's newest creation. Jobs talked about several of Apple's previous releases. According to Jobs, the iTunes store sold its four billionth sondg at the end of 2007 and the iPhone has now sold over four million units. According to Jobs the iPhone has been out for about 200 days and has sold 4 million units, meaning they have sold about 20,000 phones every day on average. To add to his statistics, Jobs also said that Apple had sold over five million copies in only three months since its release.

While some of Apple's products have been showing some very strong sales, it was not all good news in the speech. Jobs admitted that Apple TV was a failure and he said that changes will be coming in the form of Apple TV "Take Two." Jobs said that the original Apple TV was supposed to be an add-on for iTunes and that is not what people wanted.

We've all missed - no-one has succeeded yet. We tried with Apple TV. Apple TV was designed to be an accessory for iTunes and your computer ... that's not what people wanted. We learned what people wanted was about movies movies movies. So we're back with Apple TV take two..."

The new Apple TV will be a stand alone box and will not have to be connected to a computer to work. With the box you will be able to download movie rentals right to your television.

Speaking of movie rentals, Jobs announced that Apple is working on bringing movie rentals right into your home through iTunes Movie Rentals, which will be a division of the iTunes store. Over 1,000 movies will be available for rental by the end of February from some of the major movie studios, including Warner Brothers, 20^th Century Fox and Disney. The movies will cost $2.99 for older titles and $3.99 for new releases.

The kenote address from the 2008 Macworld may not have topped last year's iPhone announcement, but the new products and services, as well as the revamped services, announced this year are sure to make any Apple fan pleased.