It's hard to describe the atmosphere at a Macworld Expo, for this isn't your standard trade show. There are the product announcements, free literature, buttons and pens that you would expect, but there's something unique to Macworld -- the people.
This became obvious from the start of this year's Macworld Expo New York (held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center), in which an audience of rabidly enthusiastic fans greeted jeans and turtleneck-clad Apple CEO Steve Jobs for his keynote speech. Jobs is a legendary showman, (in)famous since his initial rise to prominence in the '80s for his "reality distortion field," whose sometimes temporary, sometimes permanent effects leave one utterly enamored with everything Apple makes. I know, the "field" is a laughable notion, but once you've been there, you'll stop rolling your eyes -- it's real.
Jobs' keynote this year began with a rarity when he admitted a mistake. "We may be flawed, but we do listen," he said as he stood in front of a monstrous projection screen displaying Apple's standard "hockey puck" mouse, which ZDnet called "Quite possibly the worst mouse ever made." As any Dartmouth student who's used a Blitz terminal in recent years can attest to, the mouse is too small, and its round shape makes it difficult to orient.
So relief for hundreds of Dartmouth students' cramped hands comes in the form of the new Apple Pro Mouse. This crystal clear little number improves on the puck in a number of ways. Not only has it returned to a more comfortable large and oblong shape, but it's also lost the button altogether. The entire lid of the mouse works on an adjustable-tension hinge, to accommodate "any clicking style," according to Jobs.
The Pro Mouse also uses optical technology, so it doesn't need a mousepad, and it won't clog up and slow down over time as a ball mouse is wont to do in an unkempt dorm room. Complementing the Pro Mouse is an extended keyboard that full-size function and arrow keys along with other small niceties such as a disc eject button. Both will come standard with new Apple desktops and are available separately for $49.
Jobs proceeded to announce changes to the Power Mac G4 line. First, he employed a familiar keynote trick by pitting a top-of-the-line Mac against a top-of-the-line Pentium machine in a Photoshop test. As expected, the 500 MHz G4 outperformed the 1 GHz Pentium III.
Then, declaring that "two brains are better than one," Jobs unveiled a Power Mac with two G4 processors, which defeated the Pentium even more convincingly. The best news that the new line of G4s (a single-processor 400 MHz, a dual-processor 450 MHz and a dual-processor 500 MHz) would be available at the same price as the old line.
But this news received mixed buzz afterward on the show floor. The multiprocessor features won't be of much use to anyone other than graphics professionals until, at the earliest, the release of Mac OS X next year. And most Dartmouth students would have benefited more from a price cut than for flashy new features such as gigabit Ethernet.
Jobs took a brief interlude from his parade of new hardware to bring some third-party bigwigs on the stage. The president of Adobe dutifully expressed his support for Mac OS X, Apple's next-generation operating system due out next year, and the "Vice President of Games" for Microsoft talked about Microsoft's recent purchase of longtime Mac game producer Bungie.
Perhaps inevitably after following Jobs, the executives looked awkward as they plodded through their bits. Of course, they probably know that a Macworld keynote crowd can be tough -- they booed and heckled both Jobs and Bill Gates three years ago in Boston when Jobs announced Apple's landmark investment deal with Microsoft. The Microsoft VP had an especially difficult time this year, nervously discussing an acquisition that had angered Mac gamers.
After the mundane third-party pageantry, Jobs moved on to the iMacs. "Four new models!" he exclaimed before he painstakingly unveiled each one.
On the low end is the standard iMac, which, aside from slight processor and hard drive increases, is technologically the same as its predecessor. The changes are in color -- Indigo, a deep blue that puts blueberry to shame -- and price -- $799, a $200 reduction that brought a spirited cheer from the crowd.
This cheer was indicative of the nature of the event. Most of the people in the auditorium paid at least $200 for conference passes (exhibit passes are cheaper but don't include keynote admittance), the rest being media and VIPs, so this was generally an audience of power users -- not the target market for the basic iMac. The cheer wasn't because we planned to buy the $799 iMac; we cheered for Apple, for the idea that it would be easier now for people to enter what Jobs called "the Macintosh family."
Jobs played off of this theme in demonstrating the rest of the iMac line, which comes with iMovie 2, a new version of Apple's consumer video-editing software. He made an "iMovie" on the spot, under the pretense that he was making a video of his kids at the beach to send to their grandparents.
Sentiment aside, the $999 iMac DV (for Digital Video) comes with FireWire for digital video and AirPort for wireless communication, and comes in both Indigo and Ruby, a cherry red to complement Indigo. Stylish Dartmouth students and alums will want to opt for the $1,299 model, which boasts the obligatory speed and storage upgrades along with another color option, Sage. Sage is a subtle forest green that fits Dartmouth much better than the yellowish Lime did.
(Confused by now? So was I. A trip to apple.com will give you more details.)
At the top of Apple's consumer line is the iMac DV Special Edition, tricked out with $1,499 worth of technology. The SE is marketed as a computer for non-professionals who want to get into video editing, but it's more like the Ford Mustang of computers -- for people who want the cachet of a sports car but don't want to pay for the Ferrari. Evidence for this theory comes from the fact that the SE is the only iMac that comes in graphite and yet another new color, Snow -- so the buyer is secure that friends can identify his iMac as the Special Edition just by looking at it. For students not concerned with vanity, one of the less expensive models will deliver plenty of power.
Not that vanity is a problem, for Jobs' final major item was the introduction of the extremely elegant G4 Cube. At first glance, it doesn't look like much: a frosty white eight-inch box with a graphite apple emblazoned on the side, housed in a plain transparent stand.
And that's the idea -- it's not supposed to look like much. Jobs made it clear that simplicity was the unifying concept behind the G4 Cube, so that the computer will perform its function as inconspicuously as possible. The small footprint is a boon for students, especially those living in a closet this fall as a result of the housing crunch. Your roommate should appreciate the fact that like the iMacs, the G4 Cube is cooled by convection currents, so there's no noisy fan.
Another highlight came when Jobs flipped the cube over and pushed something on the bottom of the unit. A handle slid up from the chassis in "Mission: Impossible" fashion.
Jobs then lifted the guts right out of their pretty container and showed that not only had the Apple engineers packed the components into this little box, but they had put all the expansion slots on the outside edges in order to make upgrading easy.
New displays completed the package. The $499 17" Studio Display, which uses a traditional CRT mechanism, will the best choice for most. The 15" LCD Studio Display is a bit easier on the eyes and, despite the smaller size, offers about the same practical screen real estate as the 17" model, but at double the cost. And if you can afford the 22" letterbox-format Cinema Display, you're not worried about price (but for the curious: $3,999).
Just before leaving the stage, the CEO triumphantly gave the audience one last surprise, a truly Jobsian finishing touch. "I started with the mouse, I'll end with the mouse," he said. "I'm so proud of this that I want you all to have one." He told us to reach under our seats for a ticket that entitled us to a free Pro Mouse as we exited the auditorium.
After escaping the ensuing mob with my Pro Mouse, I roamed the show floor. The Apple pavilion easily had the highest attendance, with attendees eager to try out the new Macs. But the show in general seemed more crowded than it had been in recent years, perhaps thanks to an offer that made exhibit passes free to anyone who pre-registered.
This was good news for Apple. The summer Macworld had suffered after its move from Boston to New York (the winter Expo has always been in San Francisco), seeing a decline in attendees and exhibitors alike. Apple's return to mainstream popularity has reversed that trend, but the exhibit floor now has an odd mix of the families and fanatics that had dominated in Boston with the three-piece-suited businessmen that benefited from the switch to a New York venue.
Exhibitors' reactions to Jobs' announcements were mostly positive, but the CEO's surprises sometimes turn into "gotchas" for third-party interests. A representative from 3Dfx, a video card manufacturer, was concerned that Apple's new monitors used a proprietary connector, meaning they would require an adapter to connect to non-stock video cards -- an adapter that doesn't exist yet. Booth staffers for a number of small companies that make a rainbow of iMac peripherals groaned at having their fruity product lines obsoleted without any advance notice -- everything Blueberry would have to be cleared out to make way for Indigo.
No-shows were as noticeable as the companies in attendance. Neither Palm nor Handspring, leaders in the burgeoning handheld market, had booths this year. ATI, Apple's video hardware supplier, was present, but there was scant information about its new flagship product, the Radeon chip. Rumor was that ATI leaked secrets about Jobs' keynote before the show, and he ordered all Radeons removed from the floor, a theory that was uneasily evaded by the ATI staffer I asked.
The number one way to get a crowd at your booth: raffles. Peripheral maker Macally had drawings hourly, creating permanent gridlock on that section of the floor. Mice, keyboards, software, t-shirts, etc. were raffled off at various booths to lucky winners, as long as they were willing to sit through a product demo.
Iomega, which became notorious three years ago after handing out hundreds of loud "clickers" upon the introduction of its Clik! drive, continued its tradition of annoyance by conducting its demonstrations with a performer who was evidently supposed to be some sort of beatnik stereotype. The beret-topped staffer rattled off product specs as the vocalist in a mediocre jazz quartet, amplified by piercingly loud speakers.
But as I was saying, the people are what make Macworld Expo different from a standard trade show. As Apple's "Think Different" commercial goes, they are "the misfits, the crazy ones." There were a few folks there, including one woman who wore a tutu and dragged a neon-green stuffed dog behind her, who can go by no other definitions. And there are the diehards who still hang on to an ill-famed cult mentality regarding Macs, who are out for Windows blood.
Some would argue that "the Macintosh family" is an indication that this cultism is alive and well, but the family is a much more benign entity. This is just a group of people who love their computers, who pay $200 to see a CEO give a speech, who have used Mac since 1984 not just because of the machine but also what it represents -- user-friendliness, access to knowledge for "the rest of us," the success of a superior product, individuality in the face of a great majority. And foremost, keeping it simple and easy.
After all, it's just a computer.
