Nobody was expecting Apple CEO Steve Jobs to drop any bombshells at his keynote address at MacWorld today. Certainly nothing like last year’s announcement of the switch to Intel processors. Basically, Jobs started out talking about the success of the Intel transition, then discussed the company’s iPod, confirming its continued dominance in the marketplace despite the fact that quite a few companies have released MP3 players and are scrambling for share (and not doing all that well at it, because let’s face it, nothing is as hot right now as the iPod). Next up was the introduction of Apple TV, which is an Intel-powered box that can stream media (videos, photos, audio and so forth) directly to your TV set from up to five computers. It’s expected to ship in February with a retail price of $299.
Next up was the iPhone, basically a widescreen iPod with smart controls that Jobs feels will “reinvent the telecommunications sector” and leapfrog past the current generation of smart phones, which are notoriously hard to use. With iPhone, you just use your fingers on the multi-touch screen and it runs on (are you sitting down?) OS X! It will sync with iTunes and has a 3.5-inch screen with 160 pixels per inch, either four or eight gigs of memory, email and bookmarks support, and a whole lot more. The iPhone will be Quad-band GSM with EDGE, Wi-Fi and bluetooth. We’ll be filling you in on all the specs soon, but battery life is expected to be 16 hours for audio and about five for phone use and will be priced from $499, which includes a 2-year contract with Cingular. Want one? It won’t be available until June.
Finally, Jobs announced that based on all these cool new products, Apple Computer Inc. will now become Apple Inc. Apple shares jumped 5% following the announcements.
