It's All Mac, Baby.
Steve Jobs ``reintroduced'' people to Apple computers Tuesday at Macworld -- unveiling the company's first Intel-powered machines as part of the company's strategy to be at the center of people's digital lives.
The launch of a new iMac and the debut of the MacBook Pro laptop with Intel chips came six months earlier than the Cupertino company said they would -- an impressive bit of engineering muscle that surprised Apple watchers.
Jobs & Co. even persuaded Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini to help usher in the new era. Arriving in a cloud of smoke wearing a clean-room ``bunny'' suit, Otellini declared, ``Steve, I want to report that Intel is ready.'' The setup harkened back to Intel commercials in the 1990s, in which clean-room workers danced to disco music.
``It's Macworld. We are going to spend the rest of the day talking about the Mac,'' Jobs said shortly into his keynote speech before a jammed Moscone Center auditorium.
Focusing on its computers was an attempt by Jobs to show the company hasn't become all-iPod, all-iTunes, all the time. Rather than just making digital music and video available over the Internet, Apple wants to show people it is producing machines beyond the iPod on which people can watch, listen and store their entertainment.
``This is a company that helps shape the vision and direction of the industry,'' said American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu. ``Apple made portable music cool again. For the longest time, it wasn't cool.''
New application for iLife
In addition to the new computers, Jobs showed off the latest version of Apple's digital lifestyle software, iLife '06, which includes a new application called iWeb. The application allows a person to publish a Web site for blogs, photos, video and podcasting on the company's .Mac online service.
And while the company focused on all things Mac Tuesday, it is clear that more announcements will come later this year. Analysts speculate the new offerings could include a plasma TV, a new iPod shuffle and a living-room device to bring music and video from the Internet to the television.
Jobs said the entire Mac computer line will get a new Intel engine by year's end.
``We have a lot of launch vehicles for the rest of the year'' to introduce new gadgets, said Dave Russell, senior director of Apple's portable and wireless group. ``It used to be Macworld. This Macworld was about the Mac. If we do nothing else than invite people to take another look at the Mac, we'll be happy.''
The new iMac -- which still has all its components built into a slender monitor that's available at 17 or 20 inches wide -- will be twice as fast as the previous version. It also comes with Front Row software and a remote that allows a person to use an iMac from across the room -- to listen to music, flip through photo slide shows or watch videos.
The MacBook Pro -- in a slick silver case and only an inch thick and weighing 5.6 pounds -- clocks in four times faster than its predecessor, the PowerBook G4. Both machines will run on Intel's new chip, the Core Duo processor, which combines two processors onto one chip. The Core Duo allows the computers to run multiple programs at the same time, but use a third less battery power and generate less heat.
``When you get your hands on one of these machines, I think you're going to like them,'' Jobs said. ``We could not be happier.''
Quick turnaround
Intel and Apple announced their partnership in June, and, at the time, many thought such a quick turnaround wouldn't be possible.
``It was engineering, it was challenging, it was fun,'' Otellini said. ``We had over 1,000 people working on this.''
Rick Doherty, an analyst at Envisioneering Group, said Apple could sell as many as 8 million to 10 million of the speedy new Macs this year as consumers who own iPods begin to look at the company's other offerings. In 2005, it sold about 4 million Macs.
``This proves that nobody can engineer or move in the market as fast as Apple,'' Doherty said. ``It's just amazing. This speed will cause a lot of comparisons'' to computers that run on rival Microsoft's Windows operating system.
``The Mac is back,'' he said.
It's not that the Apple vision is a revolutionary one, Wu observed.
But the company has a way of turning bland beige computer boxes into white objects of desire. And all the pieces fit well together, from the software that operates the thin, portable iPod music players to the iTunes Web site that delivers the songs, and now video.
``It's like a symphony,'' Wu said. ``Everything has to work in sync. That has been the biggest problem Apple's competitors face. Even at CES, with all of these announcements -- a lot of these products are not integrated. Remember, the iPod has been out for four years. Every year, you hear it's going to die, and every year they sell more. Apple is extending its franchise into other areas.''
No video offerings
If there was any disappointment, it was the lack of a big announcement about more video offerings through the company's iTunes online music and video store, Wu said. Apple, a pioneer in selling video downloads, announced Tuesday that episodes of NBC's ``Saturday Night Live'' will be available to buy through iTunes.
In October, Apple and Walt Disney created a partnership to allow people to download episodes of ABC's hit TV shows such as ``Lost'' and ``Desperate Housewives'' through iTunes.
Jobs began his hour-and-45-minute presentation with a glimpse of the financial power the iPod brings to the company.
During the holiday season, Apple recorded its highest quarterly revenue in its 30-year history, $5.7 billion, Jobs said. About 26 million people visited the company's 135 retail stores during the holidays. And Apple sold 14 million iPods, blowing away the most optimistic expectations of analysts. The company sold 4.5 million iPods for the same period a year ago.
Apple shares closed at an all-time high of $80.86, and continued to rise in after-hours trading.
The Macworld staging continued to the very end, when Jobs and Otellini were joined by former Intel chief Andy Grove. The three left the stage and waded through the audience.
The launch of a new iMac and the debut of the MacBook Pro laptop with Intel chips came six months earlier than the Cupertino company said they would -- an impressive bit of engineering muscle that surprised Apple watchers.
Jobs & Co. even persuaded Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini to help usher in the new era. Arriving in a cloud of smoke wearing a clean-room ``bunny'' suit, Otellini declared, ``Steve, I want to report that Intel is ready.'' The setup harkened back to Intel commercials in the 1990s, in which clean-room workers danced to disco music.
``It's Macworld. We are going to spend the rest of the day talking about the Mac,'' Jobs said shortly into his keynote speech before a jammed Moscone Center auditorium.
Focusing on its computers was an attempt by Jobs to show the company hasn't become all-iPod, all-iTunes, all the time. Rather than just making digital music and video available over the Internet, Apple wants to show people it is producing machines beyond the iPod on which people can watch, listen and store their entertainment.
``This is a company that helps shape the vision and direction of the industry,'' said American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu. ``Apple made portable music cool again. For the longest time, it wasn't cool.''
New application for iLife
In addition to the new computers, Jobs showed off the latest version of Apple's digital lifestyle software, iLife '06, which includes a new application called iWeb. The application allows a person to publish a Web site for blogs, photos, video and podcasting on the company's .Mac online service.
And while the company focused on all things Mac Tuesday, it is clear that more announcements will come later this year. Analysts speculate the new offerings could include a plasma TV, a new iPod shuffle and a living-room device to bring music and video from the Internet to the television.
Jobs said the entire Mac computer line will get a new Intel engine by year's end.
``We have a lot of launch vehicles for the rest of the year'' to introduce new gadgets, said Dave Russell, senior director of Apple's portable and wireless group. ``It used to be Macworld. This Macworld was about the Mac. If we do nothing else than invite people to take another look at the Mac, we'll be happy.''
The new iMac -- which still has all its components built into a slender monitor that's available at 17 or 20 inches wide -- will be twice as fast as the previous version. It also comes with Front Row software and a remote that allows a person to use an iMac from across the room -- to listen to music, flip through photo slide shows or watch videos.
The MacBook Pro -- in a slick silver case and only an inch thick and weighing 5.6 pounds -- clocks in four times faster than its predecessor, the PowerBook G4. Both machines will run on Intel's new chip, the Core Duo processor, which combines two processors onto one chip. The Core Duo allows the computers to run multiple programs at the same time, but use a third less battery power and generate less heat.
``When you get your hands on one of these machines, I think you're going to like them,'' Jobs said. ``We could not be happier.''
Quick turnaround
Intel and Apple announced their partnership in June, and, at the time, many thought such a quick turnaround wouldn't be possible.
``It was engineering, it was challenging, it was fun,'' Otellini said. ``We had over 1,000 people working on this.''
Rick Doherty, an analyst at Envisioneering Group, said Apple could sell as many as 8 million to 10 million of the speedy new Macs this year as consumers who own iPods begin to look at the company's other offerings. In 2005, it sold about 4 million Macs.
``This proves that nobody can engineer or move in the market as fast as Apple,'' Doherty said. ``It's just amazing. This speed will cause a lot of comparisons'' to computers that run on rival Microsoft's Windows operating system.
``The Mac is back,'' he said.
It's not that the Apple vision is a revolutionary one, Wu observed.
But the company has a way of turning bland beige computer boxes into white objects of desire. And all the pieces fit well together, from the software that operates the thin, portable iPod music players to the iTunes Web site that delivers the songs, and now video.
``It's like a symphony,'' Wu said. ``Everything has to work in sync. That has been the biggest problem Apple's competitors face. Even at CES, with all of these announcements -- a lot of these products are not integrated. Remember, the iPod has been out for four years. Every year, you hear it's going to die, and every year they sell more. Apple is extending its franchise into other areas.''
No video offerings
If there was any disappointment, it was the lack of a big announcement about more video offerings through the company's iTunes online music and video store, Wu said. Apple, a pioneer in selling video downloads, announced Tuesday that episodes of NBC's ``Saturday Night Live'' will be available to buy through iTunes.
In October, Apple and Walt Disney created a partnership to allow people to download episodes of ABC's hit TV shows such as ``Lost'' and ``Desperate Housewives'' through iTunes.
Jobs began his hour-and-45-minute presentation with a glimpse of the financial power the iPod brings to the company.
During the holiday season, Apple recorded its highest quarterly revenue in its 30-year history, $5.7 billion, Jobs said. About 26 million people visited the company's 135 retail stores during the holidays. And Apple sold 14 million iPods, blowing away the most optimistic expectations of analysts. The company sold 4.5 million iPods for the same period a year ago.
Apple shares closed at an all-time high of $80.86, and continued to rise in after-hours trading.
The Macworld staging continued to the very end, when Jobs and Otellini were joined by former Intel chief Andy Grove. The three left the stage and waded through the audience.
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