Macworld 2007 Keynote Reactions
Apple January 10th, 2007The Macworld Keynote concluded almost 12 hours ago, and I’ve had time to parse the information and new products to give my views on todays announcements.
I wont bore you with the specs and feature sets of either the Apple TV, Airport Extreme, or the iPhone, if you want specs just click the links to go to their dedicated pages on Apple.
Apple TV
The Apple TV is a wonderful product which I really like. It’s not something I would personally purchase as yet, we dont have a HDTV in the family, and secondly, I watch all my media either on my Mac, or on the 100″ projector TV.
Overall I’m very impressed with this release and cant wait to hear the reactions of the early adaptors.
Airport Extreme
One product I will be buying is the new Airport Extreme. It was a quiet release, nothing was said about it during the Keynote, to my surprise when I was browsing the Apple TV page on Apple.com I came across a link to this updated model.
It features the new wireless standard 802.11g - 5 times faster than previous wireless ranges. It will be replacing my current Belkin wireless base station in around 3 months time.
The iPhone, as soon as it is released in New Zealand the iPhone will become MyPhone. I cannot wait to get my hands on this. Apple really has me sold on the design alone, the touch screen is amazing. I love how it automatically detects which way you are holding it and rotates your content accordingly.
This phone will change the communication industry, just as the iPod changed the music industry in 2001.
What are your thoughts on the outcome of Macworld, and what will you be purchasing?
January 10th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
G has been in the past airport for YEARS…. the new AEX features N which is merely draft-n [not pre-n]; so it will not work with N once it is ratified
the thing im concerned about, is if you’re lying on the bed, it will think you’re in landscape mode, but your head is sideways…
nothing really revolutionary, though the iphone is pwnage… if the PSP wasnt so locked it, it would have this same potential..
iphone ftw
January 10th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
I think the iTV is a great idea and I would not mind owning one someday, but at the moment my HDTV is 5 feet away from and the iTV is not needed.
I really like the new airport… especially since it now supports wireless N.. and the fact that you can hook up a USB HDD.. i just wish it was firewire.
They Wowed me with the iPhone. I really was not that interested until I actually watched the keynote.
I am in the same boat as you Glenn. I will be picking up an Airport Express sometime in the next few months. And I am defiantly picking up an iPhone in June or July.
January 10th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
IPhone, IPhone IPhone!!!!! I love the IPhone :D. Sooo Cool
Although I also love the ITV, I think that it is part of a market not very well established in New Zealand because High Def TV’s are few and far between. I suppose this means that ITV will have a slow start and then get more common as High Def tv’s do.
Don’t know about you Glenn, but I’m a Vodafone junky so I’m pleased that Telecom [telecon] can’t benefit from the IPhone :). (The IPhone is GSM only, Telecom is CDMA only)
January 10th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
I’ll be getting the iPhone for sure… when it comes out in Australia — or maybe even sooner.
January 10th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
I’ve been considering a switch to Vodafone (and a new phone) recently. I will be switching now, but I’ll wait for the iPhone to come to New Zealand first.
January 10th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Seeing as though it’s likely we won’t see the iPhone for quite some time, I’m thoroughly disappointed there was no full touch screen iPod update. I’ve said all along, *that* would be the iPod to buy (and the first I’ll buy).
And wait… they want us to carry movies, television shows, music videos, podcasts, music, photos and our data… all on 4 or 8 gigs? That thing should have had a hard drive.
January 10th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
I was happy with the announcements. The iPhone will be a while to get to the UK and I will just get it when it comes here. Can’t wait.
January 10th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
God that iPhone looks nice!
I’ll buy it when it comes to Europe. I need a new phone and iPod.
iTV is nice too, but I have no needs for it at the moment.
January 10th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
Glenn, I’m gonna be sending a trackback your way real soon. :-)
January 10th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
Just wondering Guys, Which countries had the Iphone on TV news?? I know NZ did [a lead item]. Was there coverage on your Country??
January 10th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
sorry to be a wise-ass. but it´s 802.11n, not g.
cheerio.
January 10th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Smaran, awesome ;-)
Rennervater, it was? I didn’t catch the news tonight.
January 10th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Glenn, I’m skeptical about it all. I made two posts on my blog, one prior to seeing the Keynote and one after.
See http://www.cupofchai.net
January 11th, 2007 at 1:00 am
@Rennervater: in Belgium it was the last item in the news. They don’t normally do that…
I wonder if everything will be available /affordable for me. I’m calling with a prepaid card, so I can’t do conference calls. Plus: I think in Belgium 3G is charged per minute… so it will be very expensive, even after I bought the iPhone. But maybe I’ve changed my mind when it will be released.
January 11th, 2007 at 1:01 am
BTW: were there more new things which Steve didn’t talk about in the keynote? iWork 07, iLife 07, Leopard release date, Cinema displays…
January 11th, 2007 at 1:12 am
I like it, but I’ll decide when it’s released if it’s worth the price.
I think apple should have gone with a little less feature-rich phone, made it cheaper, and sold it with all carriers. That would really start a revolution.
January 11th, 2007 at 1:13 am
I want that iPhone so much! It does look really cool. My current contract has just expired on my mobile but being in the UK I’m going to have to wait until the end of this year anyway..
Overall, I’m disappointed with Macworld announcements. I wanted more Leopard, iLife, iWork and more Mac related things. You don’t have to read it now, because you know my complaints, but I have posted it here:
http://www.steffanwilliams.co.uk/blog/articles/macworld-disappointments
Anyway, I did end up buying one thing last night. A new 24″ iMac. Can’t wait for that to come!
January 11th, 2007 at 2:05 am
“t features the new wireless standard 802.11g - 5 times faster than previous wireless ranges.”
You meant 802.11n - which is 5 times faster than 802.11g.
January 11th, 2007 at 2:39 am
I believe for American’s MacWorld will have been a lot more appealing because they get the phone first, and it is confirmed which carrier they will be using.
I believe there will be more to come in the next month or two, possibly even during MacWorld, in terms of Leopard, iLife and other hardware. Steve probably didnt want to overshadow them with the Apple TV and iPhone.
January 11th, 2007 at 2:53 am
I was pretty stoked about the iPhone when I saw it. What sold me about it was how small it is but also how powerful it is.
But geez, that’s a steep price. $599 WITH a 2 year contract? Ouch.
January 11th, 2007 at 3:06 am
I want and iPhone too. But with the fact that I get no Cingular service where I live. I don’t think it is going to happen, and like Other Ryan said, $599 for a 2-year contract, can you imagine what the Full-Retail of this phone would be? Just to get one as a touch screen iPod etc. would be more expensive then buying a new Mac.
I really like the AppleTV. Also the AirPort Extreme. Mostly because they are both compatible with PC’s! So I will be purchasing those sometime within this year.
January 11th, 2007 at 3:41 am
I thought the iPhone looked great. The only thing is I don’t have Cingular and I just signed a two year contract with Verizon, so i’m really hoping Apple comes out with an iPhone without the calling functionality and just call it the 6th gen iPod. I’d still want email, Safari and everything else and I think Apple would be smart to make a model without the phone, bc not everyone will want to switch to Cingular. An iPod with those features at around $300 would be great.
January 11th, 2007 at 5:54 am
I’m on Pay As You Go here in England so I’m not tied down to any contract. $499 is going to be the most I’ve spent on a phone/iPod combo because as long as my phone texts and looks semi-cool then I don’t care what it does. But Apple has grabbed me here and I just hope there aren’t shortages when they come out. They have enough time to produce enough.
January 11th, 2007 at 5:57 am
Hey Michael, that’s one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heared of.
January 11th, 2007 at 8:24 am
@Glenn
Yeah it was on TV One, just something they nicked off CNN! Interestingly they said it would be available next YEAR for us in NZ. I hope they that it wrong :O
January 11th, 2007 at 9:05 am
TV3 news also had coverage of the MacWorld announcements (well, the iPhone and AppleTV), but stated the expo was in Las Vegas (where CES was).
I read an article yesterday morning on Fox News website where Robbie Bach from Microsoft dispelled any fears MS had about the iPhone. I wonder if they are now reconsidering that?
You can read about my thoughts and the article here: http://www.shotbro.com/blog/?p=877
Also, while we may not be getting the iPhone in NZ until 2008, at least we may get a 2nd Gen version that is better and possibly cheaper?
January 11th, 2007 at 9:20 am
You have a 100″ TV? We have a standard def 34″ Sony Trinitron. Thank god there were no updates to the MacBook, I’ll buy one in the coming months.
January 11th, 2007 at 9:23 am
Oh yeah, and don’t need an iPhone. I have a 5G iPod with 30GB of storage and I have a cell phone. There should be a barebones cellphone model, as I’m happy with my iPod (in fact I just resynched it last night)
January 11th, 2007 at 9:28 am
Strange, iPhone was in the headlines on the news here in Finland. Usually we dont get much Apple stuff.
Anyway, I live in Finland, and we don’t have Cingular of course.
Can someone explain, what do I lose, if I get an iPhone, without having Cingular?
January 11th, 2007 at 10:02 am
I will definately buy an iPhone in July.
January 11th, 2007 at 10:40 am
@Dway
The IPhone works on all GSM Networks. I don’t know what Finland has in the way of Telecoms but I think all you will be losing is the EDGE capability. (EDGE is like 3G)
January 11th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
@Rennevater
Thanks,
but if the Operators(/whatever are they) here can provide EDGE, will it work with iPhone, or is it somekind of a Cingular only thing?
January 11th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
@Dway
Let me put it this way : Apple would be crazy not to let the Iphone access other EDGE networks.
In Short: Yes it will probably be able to access networks other than Cingulars.
January 11th, 2007 at 6:35 pm
Ok, great! :D
Thanks for your help.
January 11th, 2007 at 8:32 pm
For those who are going to buy the iPhone, which model? 4 or 8GB?
January 11th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
4gb for me. I’ll probably still carry my nano round with me, I know for sure I won’t sell it due to the Nike+iPod Sports Kit.
January 12th, 2007 at 6:26 am
Urgh! I hate the way everything is US exclusive. I mean, I feel sorry for Glenn because he’s only just got the iTunes store, but still…
So, do you think I could import an iPhone in June and put in an Orange Pay As You Go SIM in and have it work?
January 12th, 2007 at 8:41 am
I live in the UK, by the way
;-)
January 12th, 2007 at 8:51 am
Dont worry Jay, I feel sorry for myself too ;-) I have to wait until 2008 for my iPhone..
January 12th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Rennervater, I’m a terrible news junkie and I noticed in on CBS, CNN, ABC, BBC, FOX, Sky UK, Sky Australia New Zealand as well as Prime, One and Three here. It also had a handy front page slot in a number of newspapers.
Jay, Rennervater and others with network questions. It was made clear in the keynote that many of the features required innovation not simply on behalf of Apple but also from Cingular. While I’ve used foreign phones by simply chucking in a SIM card, I doubt this will be possible with the iPhone without significant loss of functionality. You also have to remember that the Apple refuse to ship between countries so any possible pre-European release phones would probably have to be shipped through a third party. The best thing to do would be to ring up your phone company and ask them.
I’d certainly like to buy an iPhone when they are released in 08 and I would probably go for the 4GB model.
January 12th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Well do you think it’s worth me getting a 5th generation iPod, then?
(It’s a hard life isn’t it Glenn? Lol.)
January 12th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Hmm, depends what price you can get it at. I believe after the iPhone is released in the states, Apple will make a touchscreen iPod with all the features the iPod is going to have on the iPhone, except it wont have the phone capabilities and it will have large HDD.
January 13th, 2007 at 5:56 am
No! Read this:http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/more-iphone-fun-facts/
October 30th, 2007 at 2:44 am
I want to know is there a Apple convention in the Uk?
I want to attend the next one.
So is the iPhone released in new Zealand yet?