A REALLY Big Apple
(AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Watching Steve Jobs in action as a showman and a salesman is always impressive. Watching him introduce Apple’s new iPod/cellphone device, I thought Jobs seemed to revel in unveiling something that will drive competitors crazy.
I have attended several MacWorld conferences and Jobs’ keynote speech always follows the same format. The hall is packed with several thousand Mac enthusiasts, tech analysts and news reporters. Rock music blares through the hall. A giant screen at the front carries the Apple logo.
To cheers, Jobs strides alone onto the stage, dressed in worn blue jeans and black turtleneck. Using a remote control and a laptop and apparently with no script, he demonstrates Apples’ latest advances in hardware and software. It is always a flawless performance, both humanly and technically. Then at the very end, when Jobs seems to have finished he pauses and says: “Oh, and one more thing.” The crowd cheers and applauds in anticipation. Then Jobs presents Apple’s biggest new product.
But this time, introducing Apple’s iPod/cellphone, Jobs didn’t wait until the end and “one more thing”. He said at the very top it was day that would make history. The device he unveiled -- and the crowd’s reaction -- showed that he might just be right.
It’s a slim aluminum and stainless steel cellphone, no buttons, just a huge (3.5 inch diagonal) screen. Everything works by just touching the screen with your fingers. It’s not just an iPod and a cellphone; it can also access “the real Internet” as Jobs put it. It is in fact a tiny computer, running a full version of Apple’s OS X operating system. It will carry photos and music, send and receive email. The internet looks exactly the same on Apple’s iPhone, as it does on a regular computer screen.
I think everybody in the hall watching Jobs show off the iPhone immediately wanted one. They won’t go on sale until June (and at $500) but there is little doubt that Jobs will meet his stated goal of selling 10 million of the phones in 2008.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about the iPhone is that Apple managed to keep it pretty much secret during two and a half years of development. There were rumors, of course, but nothing that really hinted at what a breakthrough this would be. Maybe one reason the rumors didn’t tell anything close to the whole story is that you have to see this phone, hold it in your hand, use it, to appreciate how very different it is. (You can a demo in the monitor on the left.)
Video: Analysts repeatedly said Apple was so late getting into the cellphone business it could have a hard time catching up. But remember, there were plenty of MP3 players around when Apple introduced the iPod and iTunes but now iPod dominates the market.
Oh, and one more thing. Jobs announced that reflecting the company’s growth in music and the phone business it will now longer be known as Apple Computer. From now on it will just be Apple Inc.
