Two year ago , I sat in Moscone Center as Steve Jobs used his Macworld Expo keynote to usher in his self - proclaimed “ Year of the laptop computer . ” If the exact details of that tonic have languish from memory , that was the good morning Jobs pull back the drape on the 12 - in and 17 - inch PowerBooks , which stay part of Apple ’s portable offerings today . But beyond introduce the new laptops , Jobs ’s name and address to the Mac close — which also marked the entry of Keynote , Safari , Final Cut Express , and the integrated iLife suite — also kicked off a very productive year for Apple . By the time the Worldwide Developers Conference kvetch off that June , the company had updated its Power Mac , eMac , and iMac lines , wheel out new versions of its professional digital - video redaction dick , and launched an online music entrepot that wound up grab a headline or two . That ’s a moderately impressive fit of activity , and it all stem from the January morning Jobs took the degree at Moscone to hold his deathless support for all thing laptop .
That ’s what we call an effective Expo tonic .
allow ’s rewind a trivial bit to July 2002 . It ’s another Macworld Expo — the last New York event Apple ever attended , actually — and another Steve Jobs keynote . And this time the Apple CEO took center stage to announce … well , not much of anything actually . Yes , there was the 17 - inch iMac , but that machine was virtually the same as the plane - panel desktop that debut with such a splash six months earlier , only with a somewhat big screen . Oh , and there was the launching of .Mac , the repackaged offering of online services that had previously been uncommitted for free but now be $ 99 a class — a turn of events that whipped the masses into something a few degree short of a craze . With the air sufficiently drained from the room , it should be little surprise that Apple and Mac user reel out of that exposition and spend the next six month adrift until Jobs hatch on to that Year of the Laptop occupation .
That .Mac keynote ? Less efficacious than the other one .
There ’s an important stage to be found in these two wildly diverging keynote , and no , the takeout lesson is n’t that if Steve Jobs starts talking about .Mac tomorrow , you ’d best to beat a hasty hideaway to the exits . Rather , the thing I think this object lesson underline is how crucial Steve Jobs ’s Expo appearances in reality are — not just when it comes to the obvious task of unveiling new products but also for the far more important purpose of dress the tone for the Mac universe for the coming calendar month .
Yes , much of the chatter immediately following a keynote focuses on the reaction to whatever newfangled gadget or program or Mac turns out to be behind the drapery . ( We ’ll certainly have our share of post - keynote chatter in this space by this clock time tomorrow . ) But what often gets lost in the shuffle is the entailment for what this means for gadgets , broadcast , and Macs three months , six months , or even a class down the route . The tonic is Jobs ’s opportunity to let Mac users know not only what Apple has now , but what it might offer in the very near future . And I ’m not just talking about a product that gets herald during the keynote but roll up shipping in mid - February .
In the immediate aftermath of tomorrow ’s keynote , everyone will be talk about whatever new intersection job announces — the specs , the damage , the accessibility . And that ’s probably how it should be . But there are cash in one’s chips to be some other every bit important enquiry about tomorrow ’s new ware proclamation : Is this mathematical product part of a new strategic displacement for Apple ? Is it designed to draw in new client to the program , or is it train at exist Mac users ? And perhaps most significantly , what does this Cartesian product portend for Apple ’s immediate future tense ?
Ah , but what will those product wind up being ? That ’s the million - dollar query , and one that , regrettably , I ’m not in any position to answer . Because after half - a - twelve keynotes where I ’ve forecasted Apple - branded personal organiser and cadre phones that never in reality materialized , I ’m staying out of the prognostic business for the childlike reason that all my prediction as of late , whether Apple - related or otherwise , have turned out to be pitiably , ridiculously faulty . ( Or perhaps I ’ve plainly forgotten about the St. Louis Cardinals ’ stirring seven - game World Series win amid my grooming for President - elect Kerry ’s inauguration . ) And I just ca n’t bear the sentiment of another prediction gone publicly wonky .
Besides , with my destiny , the one year my predictions turn out to eerily coincide with realism will be the same year Apple files lawsuits against anyone claim to have the slight intimation what it ’s up to . So I think I ’ll take a pass at any crystal egg - gaze , if you do n’t mind .
alternatively , I ’ll lease others speculate on whether tomorrow ’s keynote will deliver a photoflash - base iPod or a sub-$500 monitor - less iMac — two of the more popular rumor being circulated on sites lacking my fear of litigation . I have no approximation what Steve Jobs has in store for us tomorrow , other than whatever it is will go a long mode in determining whether Apple has a shiny leap or a foresightful wintertime ahead of it .
