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Surprise! Apple Debuts Intel-powered MacBook Pro and New iMacConfounding Apple and Mac product prognosticators this morning, Apple Computer Inc. CEO Steve Jobs, took the wraps off two new Intel-powered Core Duo Macs, several new software apps, and perhaps its best, most controversial television ad since the Mac's 1984 debut Super Bowl ad. Foggy, cold, damp, and with a chance of rain in the air, San Francisco this morning welcomed thousands of the Mac Faithful to the Moscone Convention Center for the kick-off of Macworld San Francisco 2006 (MWSF). For most of them, the highlight of the nearly weeklong conference and exposition is Apple CEO Steve Jobs' opening keynote address. Once again, Jobs didn't disappoint. After weeks of predictions that the Apple chief executive would unveil a new version of Apple's extremely popular iPod, along with new versions of the Mac mini and iBook computers, the latter two to be built around Intel's new dual-core Yonah series of processors, Mac rumormongers were forced today to eat crow as Jobs and Apple proved once again that not only can they keep a secret, they bluff like world-class poker players. Looking a bit tired and somewhat in need of a rest, Jobs nonetheless was able to envelop his audience in what has become known as the "Steve Jobs reality distortion field." Building slowly, Jobs first told his audience of Apple's continued sales success; the Apple Stores rang up $26 million in sales during the fourth quarter of 2005. Total revenue for the company for the same period was $5.7 billion. And they sold 9.5 million more iPods this past holiday season than the season before. Music and VideoFrom there, it was on to the iTunes Music Store, which has now sold over 850 million songs. "That's a rate of 3 million legal downloads a day," a beaming Steve Jobs told his enthusiastic audience. iTunes continues to dominate its market, commanding a whopping 83% market share, according to Apple. On October 12, Apple added video downloads to iTunes. Since that time, they've sold over eight million videos. Last week, ESPN began offering video downloads via iTunes. Their first downloads included highlights of all of the recent holiday bowl games, with the coverage of the Rose Bowl being the single most downloaded video at iTunes all week long. Jobs also announced that a library of favorites from NBC's late night comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live had just been added to the iTunes Music Store. Additionally, he also introduced a new $49 iPod Remote that includes an FM radio tuner. When FM is selected, the iPod's screen displays station and song information for stations that support the Radio Data System (RDS).
Apple asked that we not photograph their employees, however, their only demonstration station for the new iPod Remote was mounted on this Apple employee. The Digital LifestyleAs has been the custom for the past several MWSF keynotes iLife, Apple's all-in-one suite of digital lifestyle applications—iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, iTunes, and GarageBand—received an upgrade. New to iLife '06 is iWeb, a new web publishing application. In traditional Apple ease-of-use style, iWeb makes it easy for just about anybody to create websites, blogs, and podcasts. It enables users to incorporate photos, movies, and music, and then post them to a .Mac account with a single click. Both iPhoto and GarageBand received a series of enhancements. iPhoto now accommodates 250,000 images and enables the user to edit in full screen mode. GarageBand has a series of new features specifically designed to facilitate the creation of podcasts. Like iWeb, GarageBand makes it easy for users to incorporate images and music into podcasts. One of GarageBand's Podcasting features includes automatic ducking, a feature that lowers the volume of background music during dialogue tracks. iLife '06 will remain $79 and is available now from Apple Stores, online, and at Apple reseller locations. Apple's all-in-one word processing and presentation software, iWork '06, was upgraded as well. Jobs only briefly talked about its new features, such as, 3D charts, image editing, reflections, shapes, masking, and the addition of tables with calculation capabilities. MacsFollowing Jobs last demo, the jumbo video screen behind him lit up with the logo of Intel, Apple's new processor supplier. From the curtains to the left of the video screen, a huge cloud of mist began billowing on stage. From the mist, a man in a clean-room white suit stepped out, holding a huge silicon microprocessor wafer. The audience ate it up as the man, his head still covered by the clean-room suit's hood said, "Steve I wanted to report that Intel is ready." The man in the clean-room suit removed his hood, revealing that he was Intel's new CEO, Paul Otellini. As he did, Jobs responded, "And I want to tell you Apple is ready." After thanking Otellini for his and Intel's support, Jobs turned to the audience and announced "the first Mac with an Intel processor, the first of a new generation of Macs." The single-piece iMac would be Apple's first computer with an Intel processor. Sharp-eyed observers had earlier noticed that unlike previous keynote addresses, Jobs had not been using Apple's powerful dual G5 processor desktop Macs for his demonstrations. Throughout today's keynote, he had, in fact, been using a pair of new "Core Duo" Intel-powered iMacs, which he said were shipping today.
The new Intel Core Duo iMac, looking very much like the G5 iMac, is said to be up to two to three times faster, in industry standard tests. According to Jobs, the Core Duo iMacs, whose central processing units have two processors on a single chip, run two to three times faster, in industry standard tests, than the G5-powered iMac. Additionally, Jobs said that all of the Apple software products demonstrated during the keynote would run "natively" on either PowerPC or the new Intel Core Duo Macs. [Pricing and detailed specifications for these and other Apple products announced during the MWSF keynote follow this story.—Editor] In March, Apple's Pro Apps line of video and image editing software tools will also run natively on both PowerPC and Core Dual systems. Jobs announcement of the new ready-to-ship Intel Core Duo iMacs caught virtually everyone in the room off guard. "We like a good secret as much as anybody," Jobs said poking fun at the spate of media speculation that had incorrectly guessed that the Mac mini would be the first Mac to feature an Intel processor. The downside of all that successful secrecy, however, meant that even Apple's developers were not told about the new Core Duo iMacs, thus pushing back the time when non-Apple-branded software will run natively on the new Intel-based Macs. Until then, Rosetta, a PowerPC to Intel emulator will ship with all Core Duo Macs. If that wasn't enough, Jobs also played Apple's first television ad promoting the fact that Macs now use Intel processors. Taking a poke at every other computer maker that uses Intel processors, the ad brought howls of delight and gales of laughter from the Mac Faithful. Watch the ad here. (QuickTime 7 required) Jobs committed Apple to converting the entire product line of Mac computers to Intel processors "by the end of the calendar year." One More Thing…As the saying goes, the opera's not over 'til the fat lady sings, and a Steve Jobs' keynote address isn't over until after just one more thing… Like a true showman, after more than ninety minutes on stage, and looking far more invigorated than when he began, Steve Jobs turned to the audience and in a style and a manner that would have made Houdini proud, he pulled one last rabbit out of his hat. Since early last December, prognosticators, analysts, and pundits of all kinds had been predicting that Apple's first laptop to feature an Intel processor would be the iBook. Most predicted it would be announced at MWSF 2006 and perhaps ship later in the quarter. Jobs last new product announcement of the day was a replacement for the professional series 15" G4 PowerBook. The new laptop comes with a new name, the MacBook Pro. "We've gone about as far as we can with the 'Power' name," Jobs said. "And we wanted to use 'Mac' in the name."
Apple's new MacBook
Pro features a built in iSight camera and quick-disconnect power cord
designed to eliminate crashes after someone snags your power cord with
their foot. The MacBook Pro will also use an Intel Core Duo processor. It is four to five times faster than its G4 predecessor. Touting the new MacBook Pro's new features, Jobs said, "The (15.4") widescreen LCD is the brightest we've ever made. It's as bright as our Cinema Display (monitors)." In addition, the MacBook Pro also features a built-in iSight camera, infrared port (IR), software media management tool Front Row, and an Apple Remote for across-the-room content management. Apple also announced an update to the current version of Tiger, the OS X operating system, to version 10.4.4. It is available today as a free download at Apple.com. DetailsMacBook ProThe new 15-inch MacBook Pro will be available in February through the Apple Store®, Apple's retail stores, and Apple Authorized Resellers. Visitors to the Apple Store can preorder MacBook Pros beginning today. The 1.67 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US), includes:
The 1.83 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:
Additional build-to-order options for the 15-inch MacBook Pro include the ability to upgrade to 120GB (5400 rpm) or 100GB (7200 rpm) hard drive, up to 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, Apple USB Modem, and the AppleCare Protection Plan. iMacThe new iMac is shipping today and will be available through the Apple Store®, Apple's retail stores, and Apple Authorized Resellers. The new 17-inch 1.83 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US), includes:
The new 20-inch 2.0 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,699 (US), includes:
Build-to-order options and accessories include up to 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, 250GB and 500GB Serial ATA hard drives, up to 256MB of GDDR3 video memory on the 20-inch iMac, iWork™ '06 (preinstalled), AirPort Express™ and AirPort Extreme Base Station, Apple Wireless Keyboard, Apple Wireless Mouse, Apple USB Modem and the AppleCare Protection Plan. The new iMac line is also available to education customers in the US and Canada through the Apple Store for Education at www.apple.com/education/store or by calling an Apple education sales representative at 800-800-APPL. iLife '06iLife '06 is now available for a suggested retail price of $79 (US) through the Apple Store®, Apple's retail stores, and Apple Authorized Resellers. The iLife '06 suite of applications will be included with all new Macs. iTunes version 6.0.2 is currently available as a free download at www.apple.com. .Mac is available as a subscription-based service for $99.95 (US) per year for individuals and $179.95 (US) for a Family Pack, which includes one master account and five sub accounts. Anyone can sign up for a free, 60-day .Mac trial from www.mac.com. iLife '06 requires Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or version 10.4.3 or later (Mac OS X version 10.4.4 recommended), a Macintosh® computer with a PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5, or Intel® Core™ processor (733 MHz or faster for iDVD), 256MB of RAM (512MB recommended), iTunes 6.0.2 and QuickTime® 7.0.4 (included), a DVD drive for installation, and 10GB of available disk space. HD video requires a 1 GHz G4 or faster processor and 512MB of RAM. Burning DVDs requires an Apple SuperDrive™ or compatible third-party DVD burner. iPhoto print services are available in the US, Canada, Japan, and select European countries. A .Mac account is required for iPhoto Photocast publishing and recommended for iWeb. Mac OS X version 10.4.4 is required for iMovie themes, iPhoto Photocasts, and iChat AV recording in GarageBand. iWork '06iWork '06 is now available through the Apple Store®, Apple's retail stores, and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $79 (US). A 30-day iWork '06 trial will be available on new hardware and with copies of Mac OS X and iLife '06 sold at retail. After 30 days, the trial becomes an iWork '06 player. iWork '06 requires Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or 10.4.3 or later, a Macintosh® computer with a 500 MHz or faster PowerPC G4, PowerPC G5 or Intel® Core™ processor, 256MB of RAM (512MB recommended), 32MB of video RAM, QuickTime 7.0.3 or later, and a DVD drive required for install. iLife '06 is recommended. iPod Radio RemoteThe iPod Radio Remote includes a pair of Apple headphones with a shorter cable, perfectly complementing the iPod Radio Remote, and will begin shipping immediately for $49 (US). The iPod displays station and song information for stations that support the Radio Data System (RDS). The iPod AV Connection Kit includes an iPod Universal Dock, an Apple Remote, an iPod AV Cable, an iPod Dock Connector to USB 2.0 Cable, and an iPod USB Power Adapter and is compatible with all iPod models with a dock connector for $99 (US). The iPod nano In-Ear Lanyard Headphones will be available for $49 (US) and include three different sized caps to ensure the headphones fit comfortably and securely. The above accessories will begin shipping immediately and will be available through the Apple Store®, Apple's retail stores, and Apple Authorized Resellers. Site ListYour ThoughtsLet us know what you thought about this story. Click here. news & features |
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