Apple, Inc.
Tuesday, January 9th, 2007
Apple did three significant things today that Steve Jobs talked about in his Macworld Expo keynote:
1. They released AppleTV, a box that will allow wireless sharing of digital media on television sets, streamed from computers.
2. They announced iPhone, an incredible device that folds mobile phone, iPod and most important of all, computer into an innovative, beautifully designed, have-to-have-it device.
3. They dropped the word “Computer” from their corporate name: went from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc.
Many will be disappointed that the new version of Mac OS X (Leopard) wasn’t discussed by Jobs nor were any computers speed bumped. He didn’t even demo the iLife ‘07 suite which almost always gets him all excited.
But, I think this was his most significant keynote ever and here’s why:
Today Apple went from a computer company to a consumer electronics and entertainment company in one fell swoop. This is a very big deal and I, for one, am delighted to see this change.
Jobs said that Apple sells five million songs a day at the iTunes Music Store. A day. Every day. My god, that’s incredible. These songs are being bought by Mac and Windows users to put on their iPods. So, obviously, the iPod and Apple’s music distribution system is a huge success and coupled with today’s announcements and name change means a gradual sea change for Apple.
The fact that Mac OS X and computers in general weren’t discussed can mean many things but to me it means that Apple is de-emphasizing the computer and OS and putting more focus on specific tasks and specialized tools (computers) for doing them. The iPod is a computer but we never think of it that way. The iPod has a processor and an OS and the OS gets updated from time to time but we just don’t think about the OS, we think of the iPod as a digital music appliance. The iPhone will run some flavor of OS X but few will be thinking of OS X the way we do on our Macs when they use it, they’ll think about what a cool device it is and learn it’s UI and have fun with it. In reality, iPhone is a tablet computer but no one will think of it that way which is good, great even. It’s a phone primarily for some, and maybe an iPod for others. It’s a general purpose digital device in tablet form. Categorizing it may be a mistake. The iPhone is as close as Apple has come to date to making something like a Knowledge Navigator. If you don’t know what a Knowledge Navigator is, watch these videos.
This embedding of computers in everyday things has been going on for years: visit Japan and you see toilets with microprocessors in them and enough electronic rice cookers to fill a stadium. Today, Apple went a long way toward bridging the gap between general purpose personal computers and specialized appliances with processors and limited intelligence. I think this is significant and we’re just beginning to see the possibilities.
I couldn’t agree more. I thought it was a fantastic keynote and i’m very excited about where Apple is going. They just seem to know how to make devices that work the way that people want them to work. Can you imagine Microsoft making something like the iPhone? Look at the Zune! Squirt me? Gimmie a break.
I’m turning into a Mac zealot. God knows what I will be like when I eventually update my old iBook and get a MacBook Pro :)
[...] Apple has unveiled the iPhone. More info from Apple here. Here’s how the iPhone stacks up against other smartphones. The price will be $499-599, which, yes, is steep — but perhaps not so bad when you consider it’s not only a phone, bus also a 2 MP camera, an MP3 player, a Web browsing device, and, as Richard Wanderman observes, essentially a computer. [...]
Jamie: thanks for the comment. In thinking more about this, offline this evening, I keep coming back to how important this announcement is and over the next week it will be interesting to see how it’s spun both by the media and by Apple.
Your old iBook is still a Mac and while faster, cooler, newer is sometimes better, if it ain’t broke, don’t be too quick to replace it. However, an iPhone… now that might be worth having when they make it to Europe.
I want a better cleaner computer, with all the nuts and wistles in it. I like the iphone. Looks so fun, I have verizon, sucks. I love gagets like the iphone. But will the screen get dirty and smug. I think they need to add more battery life in to it. I hope they come out with an ipod with this technology of a touch screen with WIFI, so you could use the net with your ipod and do not have to sign a 2 year contract just to use the phone.
I think the most significant aspect of the IPhone is that is run on os x, the end user will maybe be able to install app on it and the other part is the amazing browser. but i agree with you drew it would be nice to see an ipod with all of that technology, video ipod maybe.
non the less it is kind of amazing and it demonstrate that once again apple can create a better product then everyone else.
I thnk both of you missed the point of my post. The iPhone is not what the post is about, it’s about Apple’s change of direction and how the iPhone is a lot more than a phone, it’s a computer. Comparing it to other phones or iPods completely misses the point. It’s a new class of device with a new UI running a mature OS. Whether it does well or bombs I give Apple, Inc. a huge amount of credit for pushing where no one has gone before and doing it in an elegant and thoughtful way.