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January 11, 2005

(Delayed) Live Report of Steve Jobs' Keynote

I couldn't get to an Apple store to see it live, but now I'm watching the webcast and I'll be keeping a post updated with my thoughts about the keynote while it's playing. All times are # of minutes after the keynote started.

2:00-Jobs is talking about the Apple retail stores. 101 stores throughout the world, and wow does that Regent Street, London one look good!
3:00-Some news clippings about the iMac G5. Jobs says it is the highest-selling Mac ever.
4:45-Mac OS X Panther information. Talking about Tiger 10.4 next, silence in the crowd as Jobs says it isn't coming possibly until the summer (1st half of this year).
7:00-A tour of 10.4's features (Spotlight, Safari RSS, etc.)
10:00-Tons more Spotlight stuff. Amazingly fast searching, gotta love that Apple user-interface.
12:00-Jobs hits a bug during his demo of Spotlight and switches to another Mac remarking "That's why we have backup systems HERE."
13:20-A demonstration of Smart Folders, and other new Finder features.
15:30-Updated Mail program. Spotlight integration as well as instant slideshow from attached photos and instant add to iPhoto form the slideshow mode.
18:25-QuickTime 7's new features. Surround sound, full HD playback, complete MPEG-4 compliance, and H.246 support.
21:40-Dashboard demo. The widgets look impressive. I just wish it wasn't such a rip off of Konfabulator. The dictionary option looks great as well as the stock and flight trackers.
23:40-Jobs demos flight tracker, but realizes he doesn't have a flight number to track (Jobs: "trust me, it works"). He then checks Apple stock tracker and jokes "Oh, its down today, well we've still got a lot of the keynote to go." before moaning at the low dollar value in the currency converter.
26:00-A demo of the weather tracker with dismal reports of rain, rain, rain, hail, snow, and wind ahead for San Fransisco.
27:40-iChat audio conferencing extended for up to 10 people and video extended for up to 4 people.
29:00-Video conferencing demo resulting in some funny (but possibly scripted) interchanges between the chat participants. Wow those boardroom table reflections look great!
31:00-Talking about HD video, including Final Cut Pro HD, and the new Final Cut Express HD.
33:00-iLife 05 is here! iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand, and iTunes, all with "major updates."
34:00-iPhoto. New simpler interface, project folders, movie playback/organization, RAW support, plenty of new editing features, advanced slideshows, and better books.
47:25-iMovie. Faster editing, better performance, easier trimming in the timeline, MPEG-4 support, and "Magic iMovie" allowing the user to press a button and let iMovie edit their movie for them. Also, a big new feature: the ability to edit HD video.
51:50-Steve plugs the Sony HD video camera saying, "you've just gotta go get one of these."
52:40-Kunitake Ando, the president of Sony comes on stage to talk about Sony and Apple working together on HD capturing and editing. Meanwhile, Steve has got the Sony video camera filming from left stage.
55:00-Ando talks about the HD DVD format, slipping up as he loses his place in his notes. Steve walks on stage to help him, they shake hands, Ando prepares to walk offstage, but pauses halfway to say what was possibly supposed to be his conclusion before he lost his place.
58:00-iDVD. One step DVD creation, complete support of all DVD formats, some great new themes, and improved editing techniques.
1:02:15-GarageBand. Up to 8 tracks can be recorded simultaneously, real-time music notation, pitch & timing fixing, the ability to create your own loops, and a vocal transformer.
1:04:00-John Mayer walks on stage to demonstrate the new GarageBand.
1:10:00-iLife 05 will be available January 22 for $79, as well as being free on all new Macs.
1:10:40-Jobs introduces iWork, the successor to AppleWorks. iWork includes Keynote 2, and Pages, a new word processor as Apple's attempt to take a bite out of Microsoft Word. Looks like a great solution for newsletters, brochures, etc. (which Word was never very good for).
1:21:25-Here it comes, the Mac mini, a stripped down Mac available for $499 with no keyboard, mouse, or monitor, and a 1.25 or 1.42 GHz G4 processor. Wow does that look nice! Very simple and small design, amazing when Steve holds it in his hand. This will be a wonderful product to appeal to the Windows switchers. Available on January 22 as well.
1:26:30-iTunes update. 230,000,000 songs sold so far. 1,250,000 songs per day (half a billion songs per year). 70% market share in the online music store market. Over 1 million prepaid cards sold (I bought several, very convenient).
1:28:35-4,500,000 iPods sold in late 2004.
1:31:00-BMW and Apple are working on a new car adapter. Also, Mercedes, Nissan, Volvo, and Scion are all signing on to develop their own adapters.
1:33:27-Motorola cell phones are now planning to support an iTunes client (that looks very similar to the iPod interface) this Spring.
1:34:40-One more thing! The iPod shuffle, the long-awaited flash iPod is here! No LCD screen, but it's smaller than a stick of gum. At $99 for 512 MB or $149 for 1 GB, it's targeted after the low end of the flash market and could be great for those who don't want to pay $249 for a mini. It also supports AutoFill, which easily builds a playlist that fits exactly on the iPod shuffle. Oh, and it's available today.
1:45:50-The new iPod shuffle ad.
1:47:16-Steve thanks everybody involved and recaps everything that he's covered throughout the keynote.
1:49:00-John Mayer comes back on stage to perform a song to finish off the presentation.
1:53:50-Steve thanks everybody for attending.

Posted by Alan Joyce at January 11, 2005 09:08 PM

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Posted by: Jeff at January 11, 2005 09:29 PM

Posted by: Jeff at January 12, 2005 08:59 PM

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