The Macworld Keynote is in the books. Steve Jobs announced some pretty good stuff, some of which will cause my credit card to get some action in the coming weeks. Want to know what went down at the Keynote but don’t care to read a liveblog post or 10 different posts? I’ve created a cheat sheet of sorts for the 2008 Macworld Keynote. Here’s the lowdown:
OS X
-5 million copies of Leopard have been delivered. This is likely a combination of new Mac sales and Leopard boxed copies (no definitive word given).
Time Capsule
-Time Capsule is a companion product for Leopard’s Time Machine. Time Capsule is a combination Airport Extreme Base Station with a server grade hard drive. It’s a “backup appliance”.
-500GB and 1TB storage for $299 and $499 respectively.
-Backup multiple Macs to the same Time Capsule.
-No word on if this feature will be available for USB drives connected to the current Airport Extreme Base Stations.
iPhone
-4 million iPhone sold to date.
-It’s first quarter shipping it garnered 19% of the smart phone market share.
-1.1.3 iPhone software upgrade released: SMS to multiple people, current position locator in maps, customizable home screen, and more.
iPod Touch
-Mail, maps, stocks, notes, and weather coming to the Touch.
-The cost of those applications is $20 for current Touch owners and will be built in to new ones.
With the 2008 Macworld JobsNote just a few days away, speculation is nearly at an all time high. Every Apple and gadget related blog has already posted their Macworld predictions and I’m about to toss mine out too. Could this years Keynote bring something bigger than the 2007 Keynote when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world? I think it’s going to be pretty hard to top the iPhone, but I’m expecting great things from Apple none the less. Here are my predictions (and the percentage chance that it will happen) for the 2008 Macworld Keynote, which will be held Tuesday, January 15th live in San Francisco. Head on over to this post on Engadget for live coverage of the Keynote starting at 9:00AM Pacific.
Software
In light of the recent news that iTunes will soon bring movie rentals, I think it’s safe to say we’re going to see a new version of iTunes out (and likely Quicktime as these are often updated together). With the exception of Aperture, all other Apple software has received some kind of update recently. Will there be a new version of Aperture released at Macworld? I don’t think we’ll see a new version of Aperture at Macworld. Macworld is predominately a consumer focused event and Aperture is a professional level application. Maybe we’ll see a new Aperture at WWDC in June. Chances we see a new iTunes/Quicktime: 100%. Chances we’ll see a new Aperture: 15%.
iPods
Not much to speculate on here. The entire line was recently updated (except for the color for the Shuffle) so it’s pretty unlikely you’ll see anything new here. Chances we’ll see a new iPod: 0%.
Since Macworld is next week, I thought it would be a good time to share this blooper reel of keynote speeches gone wrong. Watch the nearly five minute long video featuring Steve Jobs, Phil Schiller, and others as hilarity ensues when they run into problems with their speech or technical demonstration. This video is the perfect tune-up for Macworld next week. Enjoy!
Update: I seem to always have problems embedding Youtube videos here. I’m really hoping this last edit will fix the layout.
If you’re a Mac user that absolutely needs Office for Mac, you’ll be happy to know that Office for Mac 2008 is nearing store shelves. As of December 12th, Office 2008 has been released to manufacturing. This means that the MacBU has signed off on a final build that has been sent to manufacturing sites.
Office 2008 will be released on January 15th at Macworld. A large number of the MacBU team will be on hand at Macworld to show off their work and talk to Office users.
I’m actually going to buy Office 2008. I nearly purchased iWork 08 as my Office replacement, but I decided to wait until Office 2008 is released. I don’t absolutely need Office 2008, but for less than $20 you can’t go wrong. In an upcoming post I’ll reveal how you too might be able to get Office 2008 for Mac for less than $20.
If you want an iPhone but don’t want to put down $399, Apple Phone Show is coming to your rescue. Apple Phone Show is hosting a contest and the prize is an Apple gift card valued at $399. So if you already have an iPhone, you can still put that gift card to use.
The contest has one way to enter. Just take a picture with your iPhone or of an iPhone (or something iPhone related) and uploaded it to Flickr. Previous rules were limited to pictures taken with an iPhone but those rules were amended to allow non iPhone owners to participate. Once you upload the picture to Flickr, tag it with APPLEPHONESHOW and that’s it. If you post a link in your blog or website to the Apple Phone Show website you can enter two pictures, otherwise you can only enter one picture in the contest.
The contest ends December 31st, 2007. You must be a US resident 18 years of age or older to enter. For the full rules and additional details about the contest, visit the Apple Phone Show website here. The winner will be announced at the 2008 Macworld in January.
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