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Live from the Steve Jobs Keynote -- "Fun new products"

by Ryan Block, posted Feb 28th 2006 at 12:51PM


9:50am PT - We're just ten minutes away now... (You can find all our pre-game coverage here).

10:05am PT - We're seated now, they're playing U2.

10:07am PT - "Good morning, thank you for joining us this morning. We've got some fun things and some medium scale things. All of us want all of them, we hope our customers do too. Let's start with the Mac -- the biggest thing these days, the transition to Intel. We're ahead of schedule, we're converting entire product line to Intel over this calendar year."


10:09am PT - "Introduced the iMac and it's doing really well out there. The MacBook Pro reviews are off the charts; one of the things helping this transition are universal applications. Rosetta turned out to be much stronger than we thought it would be, running most PowerPC apps. Today we're introducing our third Intel machine, the Mac mini based on Intel's Core Solo processor."

10:11am PT - "It's two and a half to three times faster in the same box. Also, putting a Dore Duo processor in the mini, it's 4.8x to 5.5x faster. We have a product that's over five times faster in the same form factor. We've added Gigabit Ethernet and doubled the number of USB 2.0 ports to four. We've added analog and SPDIF input and outputs. And it's really quiet, it's a pretty great product."



10:13am PT - "As you know, the Mac Mini has always been BYODKM, and it continues to be that way, you can use it with our products if you want, which looks the best of course." Shows slide with cinema display. "Or you can use it with anyone's." Shows slide of drawn in keyboard / monitor / mouse, like what a 3rd grader would sketch. Big laughs. "Of course you can always hook it up to televisions. It doesn't plug into cellphones though. One of the other things we're adding to the Mac mini is Front Row,  which means we have to add a remote control."

10:15am PT -  "The IR sensor is added next to the disc slot, and it uses the Apple Remote, which has only six buttons -- which is less than some of the other remotes out there." Shows media center remotes with over fourty buttons.

10:17am PT - Demoing Intel Mac mini: "I guess they forgot to load the content on this Mac mini. I guess I'll just have to demo a new feature." It's called "Shared music," and uses Bonjour allowing devices to communicate seamlessly -- and it's built into Front Row. Demos finding Phil's -- probably referring to Philip Schiller, SVP of product marketing at Apple -- MacBook Pro, browses his shared music. Steve "accidentally" stops on "Cocaine blues." Big laughs.

10:19am PT - Demoing streaming video downloaded from iTunes over Front Row via Bonjour sharing. They're releasing this as an update this week for the Mac mini and all other machines with Front Row.

10:20am PT - If you've got a Mac mini hooked up to a television in your living room, you'll be able to see the media that you've got on every machine you've got hooked up to your home network. "And, of course, the Mac mini comes with iLife 06... widely regarded as the best in the industry." Showing off iLife apps. "Let's look at the standard features in the new Mac mini, Tiger and iLife 06, Remote and Front Row, Airport Extreme and Bluetooth, DVI video out, SPDIF and analog in and out..."

10:23am PT - "We have two models, which has a 1.5GHz Intel Core Solo, 512MB RAM, 60GB hard drive, and Combo Drive. $599. Second model has a 1.67GHz Core Duo, 512MB RAM, 80GB drive Super Drive. $799."

10:24am PT - "Both of these models are available starting today. With the Mac mini this comprises 50% of our entire product line now available with Intel processors since we announced the shipment of MacBook Pros in January."

10:25am PT - "So, that's what's happening in the Mac world. Now, let's move over and talk about music. I think you're all familiar with our latest iPods.... iPods have a 78% marketshare of the entire MP3 market, and we're very proud of that. iTunes just passed a major milestone, we just sold our billiionth song. In less than 3 years we sold a billion songs." Showing ABC clip on the billionth song download.

10:27am PT - "Ok, a billion sold, so we beat McDonald's. Let's move on to some new products in the music space: a relatively simple product, but it's something we think a lot of people will want to use. iPod leather cases. We've been working on these for a while. We're gonna sell these for $99, they go on sale in mid March."

10:28am PT - "So that's the first thing, you know, we put a lot of work into making the iPod an indispensable part of on-the-go living. 40% of all autos offer iPod connectivity. So now it's time to add a second focus, in the home."

10:29am PT - "There are some products on the market that help you do that, they're powered speakers, but the problem with these products is none of them offer home stereo quality. You're not getting rid of your home stereo. What is home stereo quality? If you're an audiophile, if you close your eyes, you hear a soundstage, the speakers disappear... The second thing, maybe the most important, is precise imaging and separation."

It's obviously he's about to intro an iPod boombox given the size and shape of the veiled device on stage.

10:30am PT - "You want a wide frequency range... room-filling power without distortion. We're gonna introduce one today that has some of the attributes of some of the speakers out there. Today we're introducing the iPod Hi-Fi."

10:31am PT - "Your stereo's really ready to move to an iPod based stereo if we can get the quality up... The Hi-Fi has a three driver system... we have a dock right on top, you can plug in any iPod we've ever shipped with a dock connector."

10:34am PT - "It even has an auxiliary input in the back so you can plug your shuffle in. Let's look inside..." Shows dissection diagrams of the Hi-Fi. "We've integrated the electronics and the power supply in there, there's no power brick. You can power this off D size batteries, you can take it out the cabana or the pool, great sound wherever you are. We have two 80mm mid range drivers in sealed acoustic suspension. We have a 130mm dual voice coil woofer with a ported bass reflex design, we get great bass on this thing that doesn't distort when you crank it up. It has a sealed resin enclosure that doesn't vibrate. ... one of the things we've done is put a speaker option in the iPod menu. Update's already out, you can set the tone control, boost the treble or the bass."

10:35am PT - "You can have the screen go black and and just display the album art. Great for newer iPods." He's going over the aforementioned features... but it's still a boombox. "We think we can deliver home stereo quality for the first time in the iPod ecosystem. How much does this cost?" Slide starts displaying products for over $1,000, like Bose systems. It's starting to feel a bit like an As-Seen-On-TV infomercial. "We're delivering audio quality absolutely competitively with these products, we're gonna price it at $349. It goes on sale... today."

10:37am PT - "We have some rooms upstairs we want you to visit, we have a kitchen, a dorm room, a living room, and a study that are set up with the iPod Hi-Fi. Home stereo. Reinvinted for the iPod age."

10:38am PT - "I'm an audiophile, and I'm getting rid of my stereo."

10:39am PT - "So, what've we talked about today? Some really cool products, a new Mac mini that runs 5x faster... Front Row with Bonjour, update will go out later this week... iPod cases, they're really, really nice. And, of course, the new iPod Hi-Fi."

10:40am PT - "Thank you very much for coming today, and we'll see you all real soon..."

Jobs walks offstage, that's all! No "one more thing..." Guess we'll all have to wait until April for Apple's 30th anniversary for a more typically Apple-big announcement. See you next time!

 

 

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Tags: features

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