Macworld 2008 Roundup

Today is probably the best day of the year to be an Apple fan. Macworld 2008 kicked off as always with Steve Jobs giving the keynote. Steve's keynote was again nothing short of epic. He began by summarizing 2007. A few tidbits:


-In just 200 days, Apple has gained 19.5% of the US market on ALL smartphones. The iPhone has eclipsed Nokia, Palm, and Moto COMBINED.
-4 million iPhones have been sold, averaging 20K/day.


-iTunes sold its 4 billionth song in 2007 with 20 million songs being sold on Christmas day alone, setting the all-time single day record.

Then the announcements started. Firmware 1.1.3 was revealed for the iPhone! It has really helped clean up my home screen and I enjoy playing with the new maps features quite a bit. I also noticed a slight performance boost after the firmware update process. iTunes movie rentals (both SD and HD) were announced and they will now sync with Apple TV version 2. If you have been waiting to pick an HD format (pick Blu-ray!) now is a great time to find out what you've been missing. Apple has support from ALL major movie studios and will be offering HD rentals for just $4.99 (new release) or $3.99 (catalog). The HD rental store launches with over 100 titles and is available immediately via the iTunes 7.6 software update.

The Apple TV got a massive software update (to interface with the new rental store) and a price cut (down to $229). Time Capsule, the new wireless backup hard drive that will interface with Time Machine was announced next. It will come in 2 sizes, 500 GB ($299) and 1 TB ($499). Finally, the iPod Touch will be updated with mail, maps, stocks, notes, and weather, but it will cost $20 for the upgrade (kind of weak if you ask me).


Of course Steve saved the best for last. He announced the MacBook Air, the newest laptop in the MacBook line. It is an ULTRA thin, ULTRA portable version of the MacBook Pro. At its thinnest point, it is .16", and at its thickest point, its just .76". The MacBook Air is the definition of sexy. It is offered in 2 standard configurations, 1.6 GHz Core 2 Duo ULV / 80 GB HDD for $1799 or a 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo ULV / 64 GB SSD option for $3098. Both models come with 2 GB RAM and can be customized based on your needs.

The MacBook Air is priced extremely competitively and has enough features to easily dominate the sub-notbook market and makes a superior alternative to similarly sized Sony and Toshiba notebooks (both are priced at over $2500).

Cheers to all my Apple fans out in the interwebs!

Blu3