Macworld and the lack of Steve

Wow. Just got through possibly the worst coverage of Macworld I have ever seen. One can see that Steve Jobs is truly the dynamic force behind the scenes in Cupertino. To wit: No Steve = No live video feed No Steve = No Snow Leopard update No Steve = No Blu-ray support announcement No Steve = No Mac Mini refresh No Steve = No netbook sized MacBook (MacBook Mini? MacNote?) No Steve = No vid card refresh for Mac Pro No Steve = No Cinema Display refresh Top that all off with MacRumors' live coverage getting hacked ("STEVE JOBS JUST DIED" was inserted into their comment stream by person(s) unknown) and then their site went down. Now, don't get me wrong, I know better than most people how dangerous anything happening to the pancreas is (I am a survivor of necrotizing pancreatitis - which has a 2% survival rate in 1 month vs, pancreatic cancer's 20% the first year), and I do not begrudge Mr. Jobs looking after his health. It just without Steve, Apple loses quite a bit of its zing. On a positive note, two new MacBook Pro models were introduced and the 17-inch unit looks amazing. I am going to have to head over to my favorite Apple store to get a gander at one. The thinness and high-gamut display bode well for photographers in the field, especially with photographer-centric Windows laptops already on the market (expect my review of the Lenovo W700 this week). The new iLife and iWork are worthy upgrades considering the amount of utility people get for the price and I am glad to see that Apple finally realizes that there is more to the net than MobileMe.

Battle of the Keynotes: Bill vs. Steve

Well the CES and Macworld keynotes are over and it's time to see how the two heavyweights fared. In this corner we have "Battlin'" Bill Gates, retiring founder and Chief of Microsoft and in this corner we have "Jammin'" Steve Jobs, co-founder and iCEO of Apple Inc.

Battlin' Bill Gates

vs.

Jammin' Steve Jobs

Round 1: "Battlin'" Bill moves in first and gets his keynote started 1 week before Steve. Opens up with a video about his last day at Microsoft and how he has no idea what to do with himself. Starts pestering such luminaries and Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton who politly tell him to shove off. Bill then goes after various rock stars, news figures and other notables who all send him packing. After the video, Bill announces Zune 2.0, the Silverlight/NBC/Beijing Olympics deal, crows a bit about the pervasiveness of the Windows platform and the awesomeness that is Vista, demos the SYNC system used in Ford vehicles, rehashes the Surface demo and shows off a new toy from the R&D labs.

"Jammin'" Steve retaliates with a pre-Macworld announcement of Mac Pro upgrades (available the day of announcement) for the entire Pro line of desktop systems.

Round 2: "Jammin'" Steve opens this round with announcements about the SDK for iPhone, a major software update for the iPod Touch (which turns it into a phone-less iPhone), major content deals with all of the Hollywood studios for brining their films to iTunes, AppleTV 2, Time Capsule for Time Machine and last, but not least, introduces the Macbook Air.

Touted as "the world's thinnest ultralight notebook" the Macbook Air sports a 13.3" widescreen display, fullsize (backlit) keyboard, an Intel Core2 Duo processor that is 60% smaller than the regular mobile version, an aluminum body, built-in iSight camera, 802.11n wireless and Bluetooth 2.1. Conspicuously missing is an internal optical drive (a USB powered external drive is available) and any form of wired ethernet. This is definitely a product for the wireless generation.

Round 3: Both fighters have retired to their respective corners and the judges will have to make the call based on the previous two rounds.

Actual Products: Well, it looks like Steve is coming out ahead on this one with 3 actual products vs. Bill's one product.

Content Agreements: Although Bill's Silverlight/NBC/Olympics deal is a real feather in his cap, he was thoroughly trumped by Steve announcing the content deals with all major Hollywood studios for iTunes.

Product updates: Steve announced updates for iPhone, iPod Touch, and Apple TV. Bill had no updates.

Based on the above, the judges award the match to "Jammin'" Steve Jobs with a TKO.