Mac Soda

The last Macworld keynote ever has just ended, and while the general consensus was disappointment, there were definitely some great things that came out of it. However, there were also some bad, and there was even one that was plain awful. Time for the last Macworld recap.

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The Good

1. Phil Schiller. He did an awesome job giving the keynote, and was very humble throughout the time, at one point thanking the audience for coming.

2. iPhoto Faces. I’ve always thought of a concept like this, but never thought Apple would implement it. Obviously they are a step ahead of the game, as this face detection seems like it will actually work as advertised. The tight integration with Facebook and Google Maps is also a major plus in my book. iPhoto overall is a winner.

3. iMovie 09. While the original app struggled to win diehard iMovie 06 aficionados, iMovie 09 perfectly fills the gap, offering features that previously could only be found in Final Cut Studio 2. The image stabilization is a major winner, considering how shaky the footage of people who use iMovie will probably be, and the precision editing and green screening are major steps in the direction of narrowing the gap between simple software and professional results.

4. Garageband. I thought the idea of learning instruments from artists was extremely gimmicky when it was rumored, but the actual product is awesome. I love how artists tell the story behind their songs as they teach you how to play it. Great idea, and seemingly great execution. My only gripe is the price… 4.99 is a bit steep. 2.99 would have been the sweet spot. Then again, considering music lessons are 70 bucks an hour, this isn’t too bad. 

5. iWork 09. I have played around with it, and am very impressed so far. Keynote is magic, Pages is the best in its class, and iWork.com has great potential. 79 dollars, 49 with a new mac, and 169 with iLife and Leopard are very reasonable prices.

6. Tony Bennett. How amazing that Apple can get such fantastic artists at keynote events. Tony Bennett is a living music legend.

The Bad

1. No Mac Mini, iMac, Mac Pro, Cinema Display, Apple Server, Apple TV, Snow Leopard, or new hardware whatsoever. I understand it was a Mac only event, and frankly I think that’s excellent. But the fact that the only worthwhile announcement was a yearly upgraded software bundle was kind of a letdown.

2. 17 Inch MacBook Pro. I’m not calling the product bad… in fact the opposite. I love this computer. However, I along with many others sprung for a new laptop at the October Event because we thought the lineup wouldn’t get updated in a while. Two months later, Apple announces the product I actually wanted. There is no reason this laptop shouldn’t have been announced at the October Event. Even if they couldn’t ship it, they should’ve announced the product with a January ship date. Forget a measly 200 dollar price drop… Apple really screwed early adopters this time.

3. The 10 year old kid’s acting in the iMovie 09 demo. Watch the keynote and you’ll agree with me.

4. No other executives. Considering Jobs wasn’t there, I thought that other executives like Scott Forstall, Johnny Ives, and Tim Cook should’ve been given a shot to present. I’m not harping on Phil Schiller at all… I thought he was fantastic. Unless the other VPs get a chance to do a keynote solo in the near future, I think that only allowing Schiller to speak was a mistake.

The Ugly

1. The one more thing. Not only was this an extremely underwhelming one more thing (the final announcement at any Macworld), but it wasn’t even something positive. What we got is word from Apple that the traditional, beloved .99 cent track model for all songs was going by the wayside in favor of three tier pricing. Essentially this means that the good new songs will be 1.29, and the songs no one really wants will be .69 cents. While DRM is going away as well, they should have kept it the way it was… Amazon could work that deal out, why couldn’t iTunes? Apple also made the mistake of acting like paying the same price for downloads over 3G was a big deal. While I know that Apple spent plenty of time fighting the record companies and AT&T in order to achieve this, the fact is this is what people expected. It is not breakthrough of any kind. In Apple’s eyes it was, because they put a lot of effort into making it happen, but they made the rare mistake of not viewing it from the consumer’s eyes. The last One More Thing might have quite possibly been the worst in the History of Macworld. I guess the saying “Save the best for last” isn’t that important in Apple’s eyes…

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Overall, while the keynote may have been viewed as a disappointment to some, I found that there were definitely some gold nuggets buried within the dirt. Phil Schiller was awesome and iLife+iWork were great as well. Even though this last Macworld was tainted in part to high expectations, and disappointment over the one more thing, I feel that it was an okay end to the trade show that helped bring Apple back to the top of the tech world.