Soup of the Day

Apple, Inc. Macworld Keynote

So Apple Computer, Inc. lives on, without the ‘Computer’. It was the last announcement at what was a relatively surprising Macworld keynote speech by CEO Steve Jobs. Apple have dropped the ‘Computer’ because they do so much more than just computers now, including their launch this year into the mobile phone market. But more on that in a bit.

The first product announced was the ‘iTV’, now rebranded to Apple TV to avoid confusion in the UK with the televisions company ITV, plus a few associated lawsuites. Along with this announcement came the news that Paramount was joining Disney in distributing films through the iTunes Store, although unlike Disney, Paramount were limiting their releases to the back catalogue. But that isn’t so bad as it includes the Indianna Jones Series, Star Trek (TV and Films), The Godfather I II III and Mission Impossible (although the first is the only one worth watching) to name a few.

Currently the Apple TV has about as much value as an AirPort Express with Video outside the US as the rest of the world has no purchasable video content to stream to it. However the UK has been promised video downloads in the coming months, which will help boost sales here no doubt. The Apple TV is definately a worthwhile device without purchases, allowing content to be streamed or uploaded to the box for viewing on a normal, or preferably an HDTV. In addition, you can watch HD trailers from Apple.com, play music, look at photos and watch user generated videos.

The Apple TV comes powered by Intel and Mac OS X, plus a 40GB internal Hard Disk Drive. Connectivity wise the Apple TV has AirPort (802.11a/b/g/n) although the N specification is still draft, Ethernet, Component video, Optical and Analogue Audio and HDMI.

But the Apple TV was not the star of the show. There have been many rumours about a new video iPod and a iPhone. I was always slightly suspicious of the fact that both devices seemed to be one and the same to me and it seems Apple were way ahead. So Steve Jobs announced the new Apple iPhone, scheduled for release in the US in June and Europe in Autumn. Asia will have to wait until 2008.

The Apple iPhone is what I would call the next generation of mobile communications. All previous phones and PDA’s can go to preverbal hell, this is how it is done and to be honest it is no suprise that Apple software engineers and hardware technicians were behind it. Microsoft Windows Mobile this isn’t, and Symbian will have to up its game to beat this device.

Firstly this phone is running Mac OS X, albiet a lighter version, but it is Mac OS X. This means that it gets all the built in benefits right out of the box, such as CoreAnimation, CoreImage, CoreSound, etc. etc., Bluetooth, Wifi, Safari, Widgets and so on. This phone has almost everything you could need, and I’m sure it will support third party applications. In addition to the normal Mac OS X perks, you also get Push IMAP email from Yahoo! and integrated Google Mapping (including satellite images), which hints that this may also be integrated into Mac OS X Leopard.

On the mobile side, the phone features quad-band GSM so it should work everywhere in the world. In addition, the phone supports 3rd Generation Networks (3G in Europe, EDGE in the US) allowing the phone to access high-speed communications for internet and e-mail. This is when there are no Wi-Fi connections the phone can utilise.

Of course the phone is also an iPod too, with full screen video capability. A nice touch is the fact that the iPhone knows which way up the phone is and if you rotate it, the video switched to widescreen mode automatically. The system either has four or eight gigabytes of memory, so you won’t be able to pack too many movies on it, but enough for a train ride between Manchester and London and back again.

But this is more than just an iPod iPhone toy, this device is also an internet appliance using Safari as the default browser. Nokia are probably the only company to make real inroads into this sector, but now Apple are right behind them. This device really can act as a mobile office, supporting Video Voice Mail, Rich HTML E-Mail (Push and Pull), Mapping, Camera (2 mega-pixels) and Calandar.

Overall this is an awesome device and the only downside is that we have to wait so long for it. The iPhone will retail at $599 for the 8GB model or $499 for the 4GB model in the US. Probably £350 ish for the 8GB model and £250 ish for the 4GB model here.

Images courtasy of Apple, Inc. Apple iPhone, Apple TV and all other trademarks © 2007 Apple, Inc