Macworld Keynote--Wrap Up

Items from Steve Jobs' keynote that were not covered in yesterday's report right after the address include new monitors (displays), Mac OS X, Office:mac 2001, games, iMovie v2.0, and the revised HomePage feature of iTools. Here's Apple's Hardware Gallery of photos.

New Displays: Three new displays were introduced following the G4 Cube introduction. They all have the new Apple Display Connector and cable which carries power, video data and USB data in one cable to minimize cable clutter. They have 2 USB ports. The first display is a perfectly flat screen 17" CRT monitor. It has an innovative Theater Mode that provides increased screen brightness for enhanced viewing of full screen iMovie, DVD or QuickTime content. The $499 17" CRT looks like a slightly elongated iMac DV SE with the same clear graphite plastic. The second is a $999 15" LCD that has the same design as the Apple Cinema Display and is a perfect companion for the new G4 Cube. The third is the 22" Cinema Display, the largest LCD available, with the new Display Connector--no price was mentioned in the keynote. Nothing was said about the fate of the current 21" CRT monitor so that probably means it's history.

Mac OS X: The public beta is now due out early September with the final scheduled for early 2001. The interface keeps improving and becoming more MacOS-like at each demonstration. Mac OS X has true symmetric multiprocessing so it will be ideal with the new Power Mac G4 MPs. Bruce Chizen, President of Adobe Systems, came on stage and mentioned that Adobe was committed to Mac OS X and that the new Power Mac G4 MP is the ultimate Photoshop machine. He said he'd like to have one and Steve quipped "Send him one!" I'll bet Chizen wished he had asked for a G4 Cube instead.

Office:mac 2001: Kevin Browne, Manager for Microsoft's Macintosh Products Division, came on stage and demoed Microsoft Office:mac 2001. It has many, many features that will only be available in the Mac version. Kevin got the audience to say that over and over again as he went through the demo. The new application in Office:mac is called Entourage and it consists of a calendar, task list, and notes that are added to Outlook Express and the address book. Cool design wizards are included and PowerPoint presentations can be saved as a QuickTime movie. It will be out in October.

Games: Ed Fries, Microsoft Vice President of Games (what a job!), came on stage to announce that Microsoft is setting up a whole company to take all Microsoft games to the Mac. He said they did buy Bungie to bring Halo to Microsoft's Xbox game console but he stated that there would definitely be a Mac version of Halo. He had Alex Seropian, Bungie Co-Founder, come on stage to confirm Halo for the Mac but no time frame was mentioned nor did Seropian explain while Halo for Xbox was so important to gaming as Fries had asked him to do.

iMovie 2: The new version of iMovie was announced and Steve Jobs briefly demoed some of its new features. It has an improved use interface and will handle audio and transitions better. iMovie 2 also has new special effects like automatic speed up and slow down and reverse playing. The clip tray will have an unlimited capacity. iMovie 2 will come free with all new desktop Macs and there will be a $49 downloadable upgrade.

iTools HomePage: Steve demoed how easy it is to set up a photo gallery and demoed HomePage's Movie Theater, a QuickTime movie capability.

Other Musings: Steve Jobs stated that all Mac systems will have ATI Rage 128 Pro graphics. The press releases say nothing but the specs at the Apple Store confirm that all have Rage 128 Pro graphics. I guess the reported ATI press release on Businesswire was bogus.

The G4 Cube seems aimed at business executives who might get a Power Mac G4 but don't need the expandability or who might get an iMac but may want something a bit more elegant or who currently have PCs and lust after the G4 Cube's design and performance. I'll bet they sell like hot cakes, especially in Japan. If the new cell set in Apple's product matrix is the "Executive" set (added to the "Consumer" and "Pro" sets) and the G4 Cube fills the desktop cell, then what will eventually fill the currently empty mobile cell? A PDA? An iPhone? A subnotebook sized PowerBook? The G4 Cube is so fantastic that I can hardly wait to see its mobile mate!