Apple announces MacBook Air, HD movie rentals, Apple TV Take 2 at Macworld 2008

Steve Jobs took finally took the stage at Macworld San Francisco yesterday, and announced the rumored MacBook Air, the expected movie rental feature on the iTunes Store (in high-definition), and a new Apple TV labeled as "Take 2" The iPhone and iPod touch are also got some new features (but in the iPod touch's case for a price).

So after a slew of rumors, a suppose Keynote leak, Steve came gave his keynote and now it's over. Having said that the rumors were true (in part)...

MacBook Air
Steve unveiled Apple's latest portable, the $1,799 MacBook Air (pictured left), which he labeled as the "world's thinnest notebook." And man...it's thin alright..although a bit too expensive for my taste..

The tech specs:

1.6GHz or 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo

80GB 1.8" Hard Drive standard, optional 64GB solid-state drive

0.76" thick at thickest point, weighs 3lbs.

2GB RAM

5 hours of battery life

$1,799 for 1.6GHz, 80GB HD model; $3,099(!!) for 1.8GHz, 64GB SSD model

Full aluminum case

The iTunes Store Movie Rental Offerings
Apple is, as of this writing, offering high-definition movie rentals via the iTunes Store for your viewing pleasure. Content will be provided by the big Movie studios like: Miramax, Touchstone, MGM Lionsgate, New Line Cinema, Fox, Warner Bros, Paramount, Sony, and Universal. If you are keeping count, thats everybody that makes movies basically. The pricing is as follow: $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases in standard def. HD titles will set you back $1.00 more.

Apple TV Take 2
Once labeled as a just a "hobby side-thing" by Steve, the new Apple TV takes a more serious approach to serving up content to you TV (computer not required this time around). The new Apple TV sports a lower price tag of $229 and whole new UI. The new TV box supports buying content directly from the iTunes Store as well as renting flicks. Movies will be available in HD (and some) with full Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. Downloaded content will automatically sync with computers on the network. It is worth noting that the Apple TV Take 2 firmware will be available free of charge to all current Apple TV owners in 2 weeks time.

Other Stuff
Steve also took the time to announce a new software update for the iPhone (1.1.3) at no cost, as well as a new software update for the iPod touch for $20. The new features on the iPhone include: Multiple SMS messaging, Maps with location services using Google's cell tower system and Skyhook's WiFi system, webclips, and a new UI for Google Maps. The payed for iPod touch update brings five "new" apps to the touch: Mail, Maps, Stocks, Notes, and Weather. In short, all of the apps that are available on the iPhone. As you can see a bit lame.

Lastly Apple announced a new Aiport Extreme that doubles as NAS storage for your Macs by the name of "Time Capsule". Designed especially for use with Time Machine in 10.5, it is capable of backing up all of the Macs in your home. a 500GB version will run $299 and the 1TB version is $499.

Labels: Apple, iPhone, iPod, iTunes, Keynote, Leopard, MacBook Air, MacWorld, Macworld 2008

Where to Follow the Stevenote 2008

With just mere hours to go and the anticipation building up, here's a list of all the places that will be giving live updates on Steve's keynote @ 9 AM PST. You know what to do, open tab all of them and keep your finger on the refresh button! Enjoy.

Labels: Apple, Keynote, MacWorld, Macworld 2008, Steve Jobs

Macworld 2008 Recap

With just mere hours prior to the big Steve-note, it's a good idea to recap the rumors that seem to running around the Internet. Everybody has a different take on what Steve will be finally showing off tomorrow. It's always that way, people love to speculate on Apple's next big thing. Shifting through all the rumors, here's my take on what we most likely will be seeing tomorrow:

• The Banner: "2008. There's something in the air". Cryptic message aside, most people are clinging on to the whole air, lightweight thing. A really thin Mac notebook (see below)? Perhaps it means wireless distribution of content through your iPhone, or a new Airport Express that does audio as well as video?

• MacBook Air: If the info posted on MacRumors is to be believe (they have been on the spot several times before). The MacBook Air will be:

- A slim notebook, but not a "sub notebook"
- 13.3" screen
- Not a "Pro" machine
- External Optical Drive
- It will be called the MacBook Air

• Further MacBook evidence: 9 to 5 Mac posted an interesting discovery dealing with a Google cache of Adium's usage log, where there's a clear mention of the MacBook Air. It's worth noting that the entry was made on Jan. 9th. way before the banners went up..

• iTunes 7.6: It will be the new version of iTunes that will bring Movie rental support, as well as the support to transfer iPod/iPhone ready movies from FOX's DVDs.

• iPhone SDK Demo: Seeing how the SDK will be landing on developer's hands in February, it's only right that Apple showcases the potential of the SDK to us. Just a quick demo on what can be done, probably given Phill Schiller. Mention of plenty of WWDC 2008 iPhone SDK Sessions in June.

So there you have it, to me those are the sure bets for tomorrow's Keynote. Sure I left some candidates out of the list (like the whole "Mac Mini + Apple TV in One Package" rumor), but again, the ones that made it to the least have the most "Pretty sure it can happen"- feel.

With just a few hours left, we can only sit around and wait. Hopefully I am not too off the mark with my predictions, but hey its Apple..you never know until they show it to you.

Labels: Apple, Mac, MacWorld, Macworld 2008

Macworld 2008 Keynote Leaked?

Gotta love the days prior to Macworld. It happens every year and the internet is buzzing with rumors and leaks. Today, as to continue with the tradition, we got a suppose leak of Steve's Keynote for Macworld. The source? Wikipedia(??). Odd, I know. In case the page gets taken out, I have mirrored the goodies here. Enjoy.

MacWorld January 2008 Keynote
Rough Outline; draft 5


Greetings! Welcome to Moscone Center

Quick Overview: iPod/iTunes
- iPod has been extremely profitable for us this holiday season
- Sales figures, market share
- Our new models are doing better than ever
- 3 iPod games released last month accidentally (supposed to be for today)
- Another new game today: Chess
- iTunes doing extremely well (sales figures/market share)
- Today: 30 indie labels releasing their entire catalogs in iTunes Plus
- Many more to follow in the next few months

iPhone
- Best iPod ever
- Sales figures, market share
- Sales beyond our wildest dreams
- Much more than the 1% market share we asked for in January
- Starting today: 8GB $399, 16GB $499
- Four times the memory as original iPhone for the same price
- iPhone is coming to Japan in March with NTT DoCoMo
- SDK is unveiled!

iPhone/iPod Touch SDK
- Apps and Widgets
- Using Cocoa with Objective-C
- Developers submit programs as source code, not executable
- Specify iPhone or both iPhone/Touch (certain features iPhone only)
- Set your own price: Apps $0-$6.99, Widgets $0-$2.99
- Users buy/download in iTunes Wi-Fi Store / iTunes Store (Mac/PC)
- Automatic updating wirelessly or docked

- Demonstration of exporting from XCode 3 to iTunes Store
- Submits source code to Apple for validation (make sure that people aren't abusing the system, prevent malware and viruses)
- If using microphone or GSM, iPhone only; otherwise, available for both iPhone and iPod Touch
- Apps can be free or up to $6.99; Widgets free or up to $2.99
- Developers recieve 70% of revenue for their products
- Licensed under Apple Mobile Software License
- Can download wirelessly from iTunes Wi-Fi Store or docked to computer from iTunes Store
- Demonstration of wirelessly downloading (and running) the app submitted earlier
- Apps and widgets can be rearranged on front screen; front screen scrolls to show all apps/widgets
- Resubmit updated versions of apps; when added to store, iPhone/Touch will ask you to update it next time you use it (or next time you dock the iPhone/Touch)
- Developers can get their hands on a beta version of the SDK tomorrow on ADC and start developing; final version due early February
- iTunes 7.6 and iPhone/iPod Touch Software update 1.3 allowing for Apps mid-February

Example apps/widgets
Apps:
- iChat (coming with 1.3 update) (AIM, Jabber/Google Talk)
-- Quick demonstration
- RSS Feed Reader (coming with 1.3 update) (read feeds online or off)
- One of our partners made something cool: Last.fm (scrobble tracks played on iPhone/touch wirelessly without syncing w/ computer)
Widgets:
- Dictionary (coming with 1.3 update) (quickly look up words, translate, use wikipedia)
-- Quick demonstration
- Yellow/White Book (coming with 1.3 update) (search for contacts, add them to your address book directly from the app, will sync back with address book on your Mac/PC)
- Sports Ticker (coming with 1.3 update) (choose your sports and teams, get updates on their progress)
- Another partner: Twitter (update your Twitter on the fly, see your friends tweets)

- Try these out on the show floor today

Mac
- Sales are getting better and better every day
- Hardware sales figures/market share
- Leopard released October; doing spectacularly
- Sales figures/market share
- Selling extremely well; estimated to overtake Tiger in terms of marketshare by June if you only count the new Macs that come with it preinstalled; even quicker if you include boxed copies
- 10.5.2 out today - many bug fixes, also addressing a lot of issues and complaints users had such as list view with stacks and certain HIG non-compliance issues

New MacBooks!
- What would MacWorld be without a new Mac? (sorry about last year)
- Completely redesigned MacBook
- Completely aluminum body like MacBook Pro
- 13" screen at 1440x900
- Two colors: Black and Silver
- Looks gorgeous at 0.8" thin
- A major feat of engineering - patents abound
- DVD drive pops open on side when eject button is pressed
- New on all notebooks and iMac: iSight HD (720p)
- New backlit keyboard based on recent Apple Keyboard revisions (keys slightly lighter than that of laptop casing, colorwise)
- New matching MagSafe cable (Aluminum ends, cord color matches that of keyboard)
- New matching Apple Remote (slightly smaller with larger overall buttons)
- Intel GMA X3100 graphics
- 3 models

- Completely phasing out the combo drive on all product lines today
- BTO models can upgrade all the way to 2.6GHz/4GB Memory/320GB hard drive
- 4.5 hours of battery life
- Starting at $1199

Product Refreshes
- Refreshing Mac Pro and Mac mini today
- Mac Pro now with Penryn!
- Base model 2x2.8GHz dual-core/1GB/NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB/250GB(1x250GB)/1x16x double-layer SuperDrive
- Upgradeable to 2x3.2GHz quad-core/16GB/NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 512MB/4TB(4x1TB)/2x16x double-layer SuperDrives
- Starting at $2,499
- Mac mini gets slight speed bumps and double-layer SuperDrive in all models
- Base model 2.0GHz IC2D/1GB/100GB
- BTO Upgradeable to 2.4GHz IC2D/4GB/320GB
- Starting at $599

One More Thing
- Been brewing for a while
- YouTube's been in Apple TV and iPhone/iPod touch: now it's in iTunes
- Download YouTube videos straight to iTunes or from iPhone/iPod Touch for later offline viewing (sync back to computer)
- Coming in iTunes 7.6 and iPhone/iPod Touch 1.3 updates

Thanks for coming, and enjoy the expo!

Labels: Apple, Keynote, MacWorld, Macworld 2008, Steve Jobs