Jobs Fails To Wow At Macworld
Brian Caulfield and Wendy Tanaka 01.15.08, 6:50 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO -
You could hear the collective sigh from the crowd. When Steve Jobs unveiled the newest member of the Macintosh fold, the skinny MacBook Air laptop, the Mac-faithful sighed with pleasure. But it was just a momentary exhale.
Once the magnetic affect of Jobs' personality wore off, even fans who had lined up by the thousands at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco to hear Jobs Tuesday morning were groaning.
"Lame," said software developer Jukka Laiho, when asked for his opinion of the keynote address.
It didn't help matters that Laiho was one of hundreds of attendees who arrived early, only to be shut out of the keynote as the show's organizers tried to suck in a long line of people. "I woke up at 5 o'clock this morning and stood three hours in queue, only to miss the first 50 minutes of it," Laiho groused.
One man even burst into the press room following the keynote to shout out his displeasure. "There are 10,000 people gathered outside and they're only printing out a badge every three minutes!" the man shouted, before scuttling down the hall. "You guys should get up off your Powerbooks and cover that."
The dramatic moment elicited little more than an eye roll from the press. "Someone forgot to take his meds this morning," a journalist muttered.
Tech journalists could have used some tranquilizing meds of their own. In the days leading up to Macworld, media predications included that Apple would introduce notebooks with built-in support for wi-max, a long-range version of the wi-fi wireless networking protcol; even a far-out technology known as ultra-wideband proved too optimistic. Those were all flat-out wrong.
"I was hoping there would be one more thing," Laiho said, referring to Jobs's habit of making a dramatic, surprise announcement at the end of his keynote speeches. "My guess is they had planned something that didn't materialize."
While the MacBook Air impressed, laptop buyers at the show didn't seem desperate to plunk down $1,799 for it. "It doesn't look like it made quite the splash it did last year," said Jaime Arbona, who watched the keynote on video before wandering down to the show to nose around the booths. Arbona said he's in the market for a new laptop and "will take a look at" the new MacBook Air. But he didn't sound committed.
Rick Prall said new machine is out of his price range, so he'll get an ordinary MacBook instead. "I love the Air, though," he says. As for Apple's announcement that it will offer online movie rentals, Prall said he thought the price--$2.99 for old movies, $3.99 for new releases--was too steep.
Analysts were more bullish than Apple's longtime fans. Incremental improvements to products are useful for building market strength, argued analysts. "This was the fix-it Macworld," says IDC analyst Richard Shim. "You're looking at a lot of incremental, yet significant, improvements to existing products. It's a lot to ask of one company--to wow us every year."
The MacBook Air opens up a new category for Apple, namely that of the ultra-light notebook. Sony and Dell both offer devices in this category. Even so, the market segment is tiny. "At some point, someone's going to make this category work," says James McQuivey, an analyst with Foster Research. "So Apple has to be in the space."
It will take some getting used to, however. To stay light, the MacBook Air is optimized to run on wireless networks--and thus is not well-suited to a more wired world. "There's no Ethernet port; the battery can't be removed," notes Shim. "It's not perfect," he says.
Even so, Apple has succeeded in the past when it was ahead of the market. "All-in-one desktops weren't popular till the iMac came out; 13-inch displays weren't popular, then Apple came out with the MacBook," notes Shim.
The first group of users who might snap up the devices are road-warriors in the graphics and design business. The MacBook Air "isn't a market changer—but it's the missing link in Apple’s laptop business," says Jason Tempestini, color-services manager at AMP Printing in Dublin, Calif., who attended Macworld. He expects to see his company's sales reps clamoring for the machine.
"Apple is sometimes a victim of its own success," says Michael Greeson, president of technology and media consulting firm Diffusion Group. "Now it's about improving functionality, rather than introducing a revolutionary new platform."
Brian Caulfield and Wendy Tanaka 01.15.08, 6:50 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO -
You could hear the collective sigh from the crowd. When Steve Jobs unveiled the newest member of the Macintosh fold, the skinny MacBook Air laptop, the Mac-faithful sighed with pleasure. But it was just a momentary exhale.
Once the magnetic affect of Jobs' personality wore off, even fans who had lined up by the thousands at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco to hear Jobs Tuesday morning were groaning.
"Lame," said software developer Jukka Laiho, when asked for his opinion of the keynote address.
It didn't help matters that Laiho was one of hundreds of attendees who arrived early, only to be shut out of the keynote as the show's organizers tried to suck in a long line of people. "I woke up at 5 o'clock this morning and stood three hours in queue, only to miss the first 50 minutes of it," Laiho groused.
One man even burst into the press room following the keynote to shout out his displeasure. "There are 10,000 people gathered outside and they're only printing out a badge every three minutes!" the man shouted, before scuttling down the hall. "You guys should get up off your Powerbooks and cover that."
The dramatic moment elicited little more than an eye roll from the press. "Someone forgot to take his meds this morning," a journalist muttered.
Tech journalists could have used some tranquilizing meds of their own. In the days leading up to Macworld, media predications included that Apple would introduce notebooks with built-in support for wi-max, a long-range version of the wi-fi wireless networking protcol; even a far-out technology known as ultra-wideband proved too optimistic. Those were all flat-out wrong.
"I was hoping there would be one more thing," Laiho said, referring to Jobs's habit of making a dramatic, surprise announcement at the end of his keynote speeches. "My guess is they had planned something that didn't materialize."
While the MacBook Air impressed, laptop buyers at the show didn't seem desperate to plunk down $1,799 for it. "It doesn't look like it made quite the splash it did last year," said Jaime Arbona, who watched the keynote on video before wandering down to the show to nose around the booths. Arbona said he's in the market for a new laptop and "will take a look at" the new MacBook Air. But he didn't sound committed.
Rick Prall said new machine is out of his price range, so he'll get an ordinary MacBook instead. "I love the Air, though," he says. As for Apple's announcement that it will offer online movie rentals, Prall said he thought the price--$2.99 for old movies, $3.99 for new releases--was too steep.
Analysts were more bullish than Apple's longtime fans. Incremental improvements to products are useful for building market strength, argued analysts. "This was the fix-it Macworld," says IDC analyst Richard Shim. "You're looking at a lot of incremental, yet significant, improvements to existing products. It's a lot to ask of one company--to wow us every year."
The MacBook Air opens up a new category for Apple, namely that of the ultra-light notebook. Sony and Dell both offer devices in this category. Even so, the market segment is tiny. "At some point, someone's going to make this category work," says James McQuivey, an analyst with Foster Research. "So Apple has to be in the space."
It will take some getting used to, however. To stay light, the MacBook Air is optimized to run on wireless networks--and thus is not well-suited to a more wired world. "There's no Ethernet port; the battery can't be removed," notes Shim. "It's not perfect," he says.
Even so, Apple has succeeded in the past when it was ahead of the market. "All-in-one desktops weren't popular till the iMac came out; 13-inch displays weren't popular, then Apple came out with the MacBook," notes Shim.
The first group of users who might snap up the devices are road-warriors in the graphics and design business. The MacBook Air "isn't a market changer—but it's the missing link in Apple’s laptop business," says Jason Tempestini, color-services manager at AMP Printing in Dublin, Calif., who attended Macworld. He expects to see his company's sales reps clamoring for the machine.
"Apple is sometimes a victim of its own success," says Michael Greeson, president of technology and media consulting firm Diffusion Group. "Now it's about improving functionality, rather than introducing a revolutionary new platform."
