San Francisco Invaded by Macworld
The alarm went off at 6:30 this morning, but I was already awake. In fact, I didn’t sleep well at all that night because today was the day of Steve Job’s keynote address at Macworld 2007. This year, as an Apple/FileMaker employee, I got an “Exhibitor” pass instead of the normal “Exhibit Floor,” pass like in past years, so I got to get in early.
The keynote was in Moscone East, but it was streamed live to a small audience at the Apple Theater on the showroom floor…behind black curtains. I couldn’t see the keynote, but could hear it. It was a different experience being able to hear Steve’s keynote in real-time, and hearing people around you cheer and applaud in approval. The two big announcements this year were definite crowd pleasers: the Apple TV and the iPhone. While the Apple TV doesn’t appeal to me personally, the iPhone is just unbelievable, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it.
iPhone…Finally!
The all-new Apple iPhone
By now you have probably already seen pictures of the iPhone on the news and videos of the it in action. Seeing pictures of it and watching someone demo it live are two entirely different things. Watch some of the demo movies on the iPhone’s features and I guarantee you’ll be just as excited as we were. It is truly ahead of its time.
My 5th gen iPod, which I purchased on New Year’s Day 2006 has been one of the greatest pieces of technology that I have ever owned–I never leave home without it! I love having all my music all in one place and syncing it every day to get my daily and weekly podcasts like Digg, TWIT, and Buzz Out Loud. The podcasts keep me awake and add a little bit of sanity to my two hours of commute time every day. Life is a little more bearable. In addition to my iPod, I also carry around my phone. When I lost my phone last year, I held off on buying a new phone because of all the iPhone rumors going around, and received a hand-me-down Nokia. These two things can be rolled into one device is one less thing in my pocket.
It was the most popular thing at Macworld.
The iPhone is a wake-up call (pun intended) to the industry, and it hasn’t even come out yet! Just the fact that there have been rumors of this phone for years shows that the public has wanted a beautiful, easy to use phone. Two things that are have been lacking in today’s crowded mobile-phone space, and two things that Apple is pretty darned good at. When the features of the iPhone was being demo’d, there were–no joke–audible gasps of delight from everyone. The entire crowd, myself included, was thinking the same thing: why doesn’t every phone do that?
Just on the mere announcement of this thing caused a spike in Apple stock (yay!) and a drop in the the stock of Nokia, Palm, and RIMM. People want this thing and once it hits the market, it will be a success and will shake things up much in the same way the iPod did in 2001.
…of course I have been known to be wrong on occassion.
UPDATE: Phil Schiller gives a really nice demo of the actual iPhone in action. Watch it and tell me what you think.
MacWorld - sounds like geek heaven to me. Not you, of course …
One thing i’m partly dissappointed in, is that the iPhone is not 3G. Its kind of a step back in terms of where mobile phones are at the moment in those terms. However in terms of usability, storage etc, its a huge step forward.
Its more the little things that appeal to me about apple’s output. Mainly design, but the backed up by just imaginative things that no-one else thinks about, or they think about it, but don’t do it, because of certain reasons. ie. a headphone jack. If there was a headphone jack on a mobile phone, i would use mine more as an mp3 player, but i have to go buy stupid proprietary headphones, so that samsung or whoever can make an extra $2. Wise up!
So, kudos to apple for thinking these things through. Hopefully the next gen of iPhone will have +15Gb, $200 cheaper and have video calling etc.
It does look cool, but if they don’t open it up to developers it will be a tremendous waste. There’s so much potential for this to be an awesome extensible device like the Nokia N800, but so far Apple has decided that you won’t be able to load any new software onto it…
This post sums it up nicely: http://www.adiumx.com/blog/2007/01/apple-openness-and-iphone.php
Of course, even if they completely screw it up in that regard, I’m still happy that it will force other phone makers to actually think about UI and not just deliver the crap they’ve been getting away with. But still–things could be *so* much better with a little imagination.
BTW, I’m getting blocked my the spam detection because I have a dynamic IP. Looks like it’s treating comment posting like it would treat mail servers or something; I had to post via lynx from my hosting provider.
Just thought you should know.
@Phil: I had the same initial reaction to the news that it wasn’t going to be opened to developers was, but I think I’m with Apple on this one, after I thought about it more.
Like it or not, Apple’s closed system is working for them, and it fits with their simple, “it just works” philosophy for their products. The iPod is closed and doesn’t have as many features as other mp3 players, yet it appeals to customers because of it’s simplicity and ease of use. Opening the iPhone up to third-party apps would potentially mess its simplicity and reliability. Apple may open it up in the future, however, but they’re just testing the waters for now.
I turned off some of the spam countermeasures, so hopefully you’ll be able to post now. Thanks for letting me know.
Tim: I understand what you’re saying, but it makes me sad. I remember back in the day when Apple was a hacker-friendly company, and I wish things could still be like that. But nobody’s forcing me to use Apple stuff, so I can’t complain.