Hot
off the Press Story
by
Keith Benicek, Editor 1/14/03
Macworld SF 2003 Wrap up and comments, page 4
Always saving the big announcements to the last and poking fun at the myriad of Apple rumor sites, is Steve Jobs favorite part of the Keynote address. The tension was high and speculations ran rampant on whether there was going to be faster G4 Mini-Towers or iMacs, perhaps even the rumored iTablet (sic).
As the applause was still echoing through the hall “we told you to buckle up, now put on your shoulder harness” Jobs broke in, “Two year ago here today, we announced a landmark product for Apple computer.” On the projection screen the original Titanium PowerBook TV ad began running staring the voice of Jeff Goldblum. Steve called it the best notebook computer in the industry, the number one “lust object, every reviewer said so” quoted Jobs. “…..we believe that someday notebooks will even out sell desktops”.
Jobs further reports
that “in 2000 about 20% of the computers we shipped were notebooks,
about the same as the (computer) industry”, “in 2001 with
the introduction of the Titanium PowerBook and the iBook Apple’s
share rose to 30% of the computers we shipped with notebooks”.
“we dipped down a bit last year, but we think that this year we’ll
be back up to 35%, again, leading the industry by over 10 points”
stated Jobs. “We want to replace more desktops with notebooks”.
With that, the projection screen behind Jobs illuminated with the image of the new 17” Display G4 PowerBook. “where did we get this?” Jobs interjected, an image of the 17” iMac was displayed. You’ve probably all seen details on the new unit, so I won’t go into the particulars here. I suggest that you visit Apple’s product page.
The audience responded
enthusiastically to the announcements of the Fibre Optic back-lite
keyboard and the release of Firewire 800, which is backwards
compatible with Firewire (400) even though a new-stacked connector is
used, also the integrated Bluetooth, the new 802.11G
(54MHz) internal card and twin antenna on the edges of the TFT
display top. Still only powered at 1GHz, the price is US $3,299, bundled
with QuickBooks and it will be available in February.
Apparently Apple has gotten enough tongue lashing from owners and the
media on the chipping paint of the Titanium; so the new notebook is clad
in Aircraft Aluminum with an anodized finish.
To go
along with the new 802.11G Airport card for the G4 PowerBook, a new Airport
Extreme Base Station, that will handle a “real 50 users.”
It also has a unique USB Printer Port for sharing and Wireless Bridging,
available for only US$199.
Well if that were not
enough, Steve Jobs then announced the diminutive 12-inch (1.2-inch
thick) version of the 1GHz G4 PowerBook with many of the same
features including an optional SuperDrive ($1,999) and optional 802.11G
card, The 12-inch PowerBook will sell for US$1,799. It
is even smaller than the 12-inch iBook, so who’s going to buy the
12” iBook? Incidentally, there was no mention of any thing new with
the iBook.
The now “Old 15.2-inch G4 Titanium” will remain in the product mix and surprisingly, no mention was made of Aluminum wrapping the 15.2-inch. Perhaps there are too many in the retail channel to announce that now.
Where are
all the Desktops?
“So this will be the year of the notebook for Apple”
closed Steve Jobs new G4 PowerBook presentation. But, what does that really
mean?
about us
| current articles | archive
| home | advertise!
all right reserved copyright ©1999-2003. E-mail us.
