After seeing the keynote I can easily understand why Apple has decided to stop with these special events to announce new products. The pressure to deliver new products at specific timetables (forced by these events schedules) builds up a hype that most of the times leads to failed expectations. Yesterday's keynote was an example of that: people were waiting for a final and blasting Apple Keynote but all they got was a predictable software update (and not all that impressive) and an obvious small hardware update.
But now the pressure is off and Apple can surprise us at any time and anywhere. So, if it takes slightly longer to see some updates from Apple now...no problem...that just means that something big is probably coming. And then, at least, we'll know that is going to be huge.
But coming back to the keynote, let's analyse it a bit in detail.
About the keynote speaker
Phill is not as relaxed or as calm as Steve usually is but the keynote was fluid and appealing, so, not bad... But maybe he should cut by half the times he says "That's really cool" :-)
iPhoto'09
iPhoto'09 looks realy cool with its new Faces and Places features and since I'm an avid user of iPhoto, I would love to see those features on my iPhoto Library right now. It sure would save a whole lot of time to tag every person and place on the 15000+ photos on my library. However, I'm still reluctant as to whether the face recognition will be that effectice on photos that are not picture-perfect as the ones showed on the demo (which is the case for most amateur photographers).
Also, Facebook and Flickr integration seems to be a great step. Even though we can also have that on the current version of iPhoto, it requires you to install specific add-ons that are not as simple to use as a button on the event view.
iMovie'09
I still use iMovie HD (iMovie'06) because iMovie'08, besides being too buggy on my Macbook Pro, it's a lot more complicated than its previous version (I was really surprised about this, Apple). And what's funnier is that Phill (kind of) admitted Apple's error on that one :-)
It still looks quite similar to iMovie'08, but I'll give iMovie'09 the benefit of the doubt and hope it to be a lot better. At least, the demo looks cool: video stabilization, audio-only selection and real-time video effects...wow!
GarageBand'09
Yeah, learning the musics from the artists is great but $4,99 per lesson? I keep getting amazed on how Apple finds ways to earn money from simple ideas that anyone could have thought of that before...
iWork'09
Yes, I want that app on my iPod Touch to remotely control presentations and, yes, the new magic effects and transitions are really cool but is that it? Pages and Numbers updates are hilarious... Come on, in order to really step up against Microsoft Office, iWork really needs to do more than that.
iWork.com is the real interesting feature: sure, it's Google Docs à-la-Mac style (which means collaboration made easy) but the direct integration with all iWork apps is exactly what's missing on alternative platforms.
Mac Box Set
This is the most interesting news at least for me, a Mac OS X Tiger user :-) I'll get all three products (Leopard, iLife'09 and iWork'09) for the reduced price of $169.
The new 17'' Macbook Pro
This was an obvious update since this was the "soldier left behind" on the last Mac event when the unibody Macbooks family was presented. The good news is that Apple recognized the need to offer (I mean, with a $50 donation :-/) an anti-glare LCD display option to users that don't like the excessive reflection glass display. Too bad this won't be an option for the other Macbooks but I understand how difficult it is to manage stocks and manufacturing processes to allow all customers to customize their laptops.
Regarding the non-removable battery, I stand by my previous statement when this was first announced on the Macbook Air: "...innovative laptops have to make some compromises. And a removable battery is overrated. On my lifetime of "gadgetery" I only had to buy a new battery for a cellphone once."
iTunes news
This was the part of the keynote that I didn't quite get it. The only real news is the pricing tiers and the increased amount of DRM-free songs. iTunes+ has existed for quite some time now and the possibility to "upgrade" to DRM-free tunes is not a novelty.
Oh, and the possibility of using the iTunes Music Store on 3G in addition to WiFi...please...that should have been done from the beginning when iPhone 3G was first released.
What's missing?
Rumor-wise something's missing, but that is the usual consequence of the hype built around these events:
- No iPhone Nano: that one was caused by all the hungry accessory makers that wanted some attention towards their own products and, for that, made use of the usual hype around Mac events
- No Mac tablet or larger iPod Touch: duuuhhhhhh! Still dreaming of that? I don't think Apple will ever go that way, mainly because it doesn't represent a that bigger market
- No New Mac Mini: I was hoping for this one, mainly because I'm still considering buying one to act as a pseudo-media center on my living room and also because it doesn't have an update in a really long time
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