Macworld: Jobs unveils new iPods and iMac
Published: 17 Jul 2002 15:43 BST
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs on Wednesday defended the company's switch to the Mac OS X operating system and unveiled new iPod digital-audio players and a new flat-panel iMac.
Jobs used his keynote speech at the Macworld trade show in New York to make a flurry of announcements before the Mac faithful.
He kicked off the speech by showing off new TV ads for the "switchers" marketing campaign, which features PC makers who have moved to the Mac. One commercial features comedian Will Ferrell of Saturday Night Live.
Jobs then addressed concerns that sales of Mac OS X aren't going that well.
Earlier in the week, Kevin Browne, head of Microsoft's Macintosh Business unit, had charged that Apple had spent 20 times more money promoting the iPod music player than the Mac OS X operating system.
"We think the Mac OS X transition is going well," Jobs said.
Apple has 2.5 million active Mac OS X users. Currently, Apple ships OS X, as well as the older Mac OS 9, on new Macs. About 77 percent of new Mac buyers stick with OS X, Jobs said.
By year's end, he said, Apple expects the number of Mac OS X users to reach five million out of an estimated 25 million estimated Mac users.
Research firm Gartner puts the number of Mac users lower, at around 18 million.
"We are very confident we are going to reach five million active users" by the end of the year, Jobs said.
That would be a growth of zero to 20 percent in 24 months, said Jobs, who characterised that as the fastest operating system transition in history.
Jobs also previewed the next version of Mac OS X, version 10.2.
Jobs also detailed some of the major new features in Jaguar, or OS X 10.2 as it will be known in the UK, which will be in stores on 24 August for £99. The software will include Windows-friendly features such as VPN and Active Directory support, as well as desktop enhancements such as spring-loaded folders (a long-standing feature of the "classic" Mac OS) and a search engine integrated into each Finder window. "We are early, which is a rare thing in software," Jobs said.
OS X 10.2 includes a new Finder with improved search features, spring-loaded folders and the ability to change the background photo as often as every five seconds.
Apple's CEO also touted QuickTime 6, which is included in OS X 10.2. The company officially released QuickTime 6 on Monday, with one million downloads since then, Jobs said.
QuickTime 6 supports MPEG-4, the successor to MPEG-2.
He touted the advantages of open-standard MPEG-4 for making audio and video streaming more ubiquitous, regardless of the player.
"Everybody is going to jump on the MPEG-4 bandwagon, except Microsoft," Jobs said.
On Monday, Microsoft announced that the next version of its audio-video technology, Windows Media 9 Series, would begin testing on 4 September. Windows Media 9 does not currently support MPEG-4.
QuickTime wasn't the only streaming news for Mac enthusiasts. RealNetworks chief executive Rob Glaser demonstrated the RealOne Player for Mac OS X, which went into beta on Wednesday.
New features for OS X
Jobs also touted Sherlock 3, the new version of Apple's search feature, which has been enhanced in Mac OS X 10.2.
"Internet services for the rest of us is what Sherlock 3 is all about," Jobs said. The revamped program offers eBay, stock and address search, among other features.
One of the new features of OS X 10.2 is Rendezvous, a system-level component that automatically discovers devices over any Internet Protocol network -- including printers, other computers and Bluetooth devices. Jobs said Rendezvous would be built into applications such as iTunes in six to nine months.
Epson, Hewlett-Packard and Lexmark International plan to include Rendezvous in their printers. "We're not going to have to configure network printers again," Jobs said.
End of free iTools
Jobs announced that Apple's free iTools Web services will disappear on 30 September, and will be replaced with .Mac, which will cost $100 annually.
.Mac would be able available immediately for an introductory price of $49 for the first year for current iTools users.
"The world is changing," Jobs said of the disappearance of free Web services. "We're going to have to reflect that too."
Jobs addressed the .Mac name, which is similar to Microsoft's .Net. Apple saw that it already offered Web services, while Microsoft is still talking about them. "Let's jump in this boat," he said of the .Mac naming.
Apple also introduced iCal, a new calendaring program. Apple will host iCal calendars from the .Mac service. Apple plans to ship iCal in September. It will run on Mac OS X 10.2.
"Life is about multiple calendars," Jobs said. "You've got to be able to see them all."
People will be able to share iCal calendars over a network, the Web or even using iChat, the new instant messaging client in OS X 10.2.
Jobs proceeded to review the success of the company's digital applications. He noted that Apple had distributed four million copies of iPhoto editing software in six months.
As previously reported by CNET News.com, he also introduced version 3 of iTunes.
New iTunes 3 features include Smart Playlists, which use rules to do actions such as keep the top 25 played songs.
Jobs demonstrated making a Smart Playlist of Bob Dylan songs, which instantly organised all the songs in one place. Another new iTunes 3 feature lets people rate songs.
The new iTunes, which only runs on Mac OS X, will be available on Wednesday for free download.
To go with the new iTunes, Apple revamped its line of iPod digital music players.
The 20GB iPod will be on sale in early August for £399 ex VAT. The 10GB version has been cut to £329 and the 5GB iPod will now cost £259. The redesigned 10GB model is now 10 percent thinner. The PC version will be priced the same and will arrive 15 August but will synchronise with PC software called MusicMatch.
The 10GB and 20GB versions will come with accessories such as a remote control and a clip-on carrying case.
The new iPods also come with updated software, which supports the iTunes 3 Smart Playlist feature and offers more browsing features, such as organisation by composer. In another enhancement, Apple added calendaring to the iPod and a clock to support the calendar.
IPod for Windows
"But there's one more little thing," said Jobs. "So today we are introducing iPod for Windows."
Apple has partnered with MusicMatch for the syncing software. This means there are three iPod models for Mac users and three models for Windows users with MusicMatch software.
The iPod for Windows models will be in stores in late August.
"We want to take care of the Mac customers first," Jobs said.
New application: iSync
Jobs also introduced a new digital application, called iSync, for syncing data to the iPod, a Palm handheld computer and a mobile phone.
ISync, arriving in early September, simplifies the process of synchronising multiple devices such as mobile phones, the iPod and Palm devices. The application uses the SyncML synchronisation protocol to transfer data like contacts and calendar information to mobile phones over Bluetooth.
The iSync software also will work with .Mac, so that users can sync up address books, calendars "and who knows what else down the road" among computers, Jobs said.
Mac enthusiasts will need Mac OS X 10.2 to run iSync, which will be available as a free download in September.
"Bluetooth has arrived," said Jobs, referring to iSync's capability to connect to Bluetooth-enabled phones. Bluetooth is a wireless radio connection for devices.
"What we call it is Mac to mobile," Jobs said of iSync.
Katsumi Ihara, president of Sony Ericsson joined Jobs on stage to promise phone support for iSync.
Jobs pledged the technology would evolve dramatically over the next year. "We want to be able to sync iPhoto albums" with mobile phones, Jobs said.
New iMacs unveiled
"There is one more thing I forgot about, and that's the iMac," Jobs said.
As previously reported by CNET News.com, Jobs introduced a new iMac model with a 17-inch flat-panel monitor. The new model features a landscape display, a rectangular shape instead of the traditional square.
The new iMac has a 17-inch flat-panel display with cinematic aspect ratio, GeForce4 MX graphics and the same 800MHz processor and DVD-burning SuperDrive as its predecessor. It will cost £1,649 and is to hit shops in two weeks.
Jobs noted that Macs with DVD recording drives are very popular among Apple customers, representing about 50 percent of new sales.
ZDNet UK's Matt Broersma contributed to this report.
News.com's Ian Fried and Joe Wilcox reported from Macworld in New York.
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