Well, of course I followed it though I wish Apple would broadcast live as it did a years ago. However, a few hundred thousand of us Apple-fans still gather at our computers to watch (or rather read) live text comments about the content of the keynote. That means that someone in Moscone Center is sitting with a MacBook and a mobile phone and updating a webpage with text and the occasional picture. Still it is very exciting!
No matter how some how you put it Steve Jobs know how capture the attention of the audience. The whole spin before the keynote finally explodes when he enters the stage. He does it gracefully rather than a jumping and screeming as Steve Ballmer from Microsoft does. The audience loves Steve and shows that by giving him an really warm and long applause. Not screaming becuase Ballmer screems. Steve´s greatness is most visible when he invites guests from other big companies on the stage. Usually I stop listening after a minute or two. No passion and only corporate bullshit. Steve talks to me but these other business executives talk to the shareholders – big difference in tone. This year the CEO of Cingular gave one of the worst (and longest) guest appearances at any MacWorld.
Speaking of MacWorld. This actually was a MacWorld ’07 Keynote but it did not actually contain much about Macs at all. This year Steve started by introducing Apple TV which is an iTunes extender to be connected to your plasma TV or projector. I need a device like that but I am not sure that it is the best one for me. For starters, movies and TV-shows can only be bought in the US for now so everything I would like watch most likely would need to be converted to the QuickTime with Sorenson or MPEG-4 with or without H.264. It can sync one computers and recieve streams from 5 more.
Next up was one of longest rumoured devices ever in the Apple world. The iPhone. A stunning piece of equipment that to me looked just right when it comes to software, user interface and industrial design. No keyboard – just an advanced input sensitive touchscreen. Brilliant and I suddenly just looked down to my Sony Ericsson P990i and smile a bit. The difference in handling is dramatic. My 990i has all the features but frankly they are way to hard to use.
A few hours later Apple now usually posts a link to a video-on-demand version of the keynote in QuickTime. It cane be seen here