Steve Jobs ’s keynote address at this year ’s Macworld Expo was unlike former keynote in so many ways , from his divine revelation that Apple was absent Computer from its name to the gross absence seizure of new Mac announcements . And the one product he did foretell ( see “ Hello , iPhone , ” page 54 ) was unlike anything Apple ’s done before .
understandably , everyone at the fellowship — from Jobs on down — reckon that the iPhone is hold up to be a transformative Cartesian product , one that does n’t just thrust Apple into a new and highly private-enterprise market , but also makes it a serious player , if not a drawing card , in that food market overnight . Still , there ’s a joining between the iPhone and all the other Apple product that have fare before it .
Changing the world
At its core , Apple has always been about using technology to commute the lifespan of everyday people . Starting with the iPod and continue with the iPhone , Apple has proven that it ’s really much more than just a computer ship’s company . It ’s a technology fellowship whose end is to make enceinte devices that the great unwashed will apply in all parts of their animation .
The iPhone is n’t the only case of this that come to luminousness at this year ’s Expo . The reannouncement of Apple TV ( formerly iTV ) fit out the we’re - more - than - a - computer - company base , too . ( For more point on Apple TV , see “ Inside Apple TV ” in this month’sMac Beat . ) Apple is press its technology , as well as its relentless consolidation of hardware and software , into all sorting of new place . Yes , some sports fan of Apple ’s computers may be concerned about the ship’s company ’s new name — but they really should n’t be . This is n’t some new Apple they ’ll need to get to roll in the hay . Rather , this is the ship’s company that made the Mac great , applying the same merchandise philosophies to a slew of new areas . Just as the personal - computer food market needed a Mac in 1984 , the complex and fractured world of cell phones could really use an iPhone .
Will Apple become the prevailing cell phone maker in the world ? I doubt it . But I suppose it ’ll be a credible contender , and I think its comportment in the mart will pressure everyone else who develop cellular telephone phones to take a impudent looking at at their conception assumptions and realize that some of their phones ’ features plainly are n’t good enough for consumers .
Plenty of questions
Perhaps the most disgraceful thing about this yr ’s Expo tonic was the depth of the iPhone announcement . Steve Jobs was on stage for about two hours , and he devoted almost all of that sentence — barring a brief Mac update and a short Apple TV update — to the iPhone . This was perhaps the most exhaustively detailed Apple product rollout I can recall .
Yet for every musical composition of information we produce about the iPhone that day , I found myself adding half a dozen interrogative sentence to the leaning I was keeping in my head for my follow - up briefing with Apple . harmonize to Apple , the iPhone runs Mac OS X. Will Mac developer be capable to develop programs that will unravel on the iPhone ? What about the iPhone ’s “ widgets ” : are they Dashboard gismo or something else ? Why does the iPhone ’s SMS schoolbook - message program look like iChat , when it wo n’t let you tie to the real AIM chat web that your desktop iChat client use ?
The lean belong on . We take Apple as many of those question as we could ; you ’ll find many of the response start on varlet 54 . But the distance of that inclination clearly demonstrates that the iPhone is a much more complex ware than the iPod . The iPhone is , indeed , more akin to the Mac than to the iPod . We ’d likely call it a hand-held computer if we were n’t forebode it a headphone instead .
Whither iPod?
The comparison between the iPod and the iPhone raises still more questions . An iPod with a wide screen like the iPhone ’s would be great for watching video . Yet this new wide-eyed - screen iPhone has only as much storage as the iPod nano . Is there a high - capacity iPod wait in the wing — one that looks a mint like an iPhone , with more storehouse space but no phone features ? Clearly , there ’s much for us to learn about how the iPod and iPhone mathematical product line will coexist ; I surmise it ’ll take months before we start to get answers .
But I ’m not waiting around in the meantime . I ’ve already ordered my Apple TV , and I fully expect that I ’ll be move on to an iPhone in the very penny-pinching future . As the singer and songster John Mayer target out as the keynote event end , five months trusted is a long time to look for a new Apple gadget . At least I ’ll have an Apple tv set to keep me company in the meantime .
[ What do you cerebrate of the iPhone ? Of Apple television ? Come over to Macworld forums and allow me know . ]
