[adobephile]

Def: "Keynote: a prevailing tone or central theme, typically one set or introduced at the start of a conference." Am. Heritage.
The theme was non-computer products and the new corporate identity. Steve kept to the theme well.
You sound like a disgruntled "article poster". Get over it.
It was an excellent keynote. The iPhone deserved every minute and more. Its postulated impact on the phone industry can't be overstated.
Apple Inc. deserved its focus as well, as did AppleTV.
This was a very timely theme, especially in light of MS's "theme" keynote by Gates at CES. Steve's easily one-upped Bill's. I trust the Windoze drones are duly cringing. Nice jab of Steve's in referencing Zune and Vista sarcastically. Love the new PC/Mac ad.
The other products will come in due course. As is Apple's policy, they don't talk about stuff that isn't ready. As strapped as they've been to get all these new products out, they shouldn't necessarily be held to an arbitrary "deadline" of the MacWorld Expo to have ALL of their projects ready.
Plenty of opportunities for special announcements over the coming months.

[griffman]

Please read my article and comments before posting. Your arguments do not at all address the reasons why I was disappointed by the keynote.
And, the bigger point is, I do not necessarily disagree with much of what has been written here about the iPhone, it's importance to the company, what it can do for the future direction of Apple, etc. I'm a stockholder. I care about such things, and I think the product is killer (with some pretty heavy v1.0 restrictions).
But none of that can change the fact that I was disappointed that the Macworld Expo keynote didn't spend any time at all talking about Macs. Period. There's nothing to be argued, because I'm stating my opinion based on facts: they didn't introduce any new Mac hardware or software.
And I'm not disgruntled. I'm thrilled with the direction and the product. I'm just disappointed in the lack of new Mac hardware and software in the keynote. End of story.
-rob.

[takabite]

the stockholders were not idissapointed they were iprofitable up 8% yesterday

[fitz]

"Macworld is now geared towards products marketed to the masses."
Only if you define 'the masses' as those willing to pony up $500-$600 for a cell phone on steroids and also willing to put up with the hit-or-miss coverage of Cingular. I quick poll of numerous folks I work with determined that none of us qualify to be part of 'the masses.'

[kerby74]

I couldn't have stated my feelings more accurately.

[xray01]

It's just a matter of time before we see updated iPod line with touch screens similar to the ones on iPhone. And how about touch screen keyboards or touch screen iMacs?
Don't be too disappointed. I think the spill-over effect from the iPhone will be huge on many levels and on many products.

[wpwily]

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And I'm not disgruntled. I'm thrilled with the direction and the product. I'm just disappointed in the lack of new Mac hardware and software in the keynote. End of story.

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That about sums it up. As a Mac user, like many of us I was hoping for new/updated stuff. I do think we will be seeing at least some speed bump/upgrades soon. But Steve has always used the keynotes to talk about the Next Big Thing - updates to existing lines didn't make the cut this time (obviously).
On the other hand, as a stockholder I am ecstatic. Apple is diversifying even more into the high-profit upper-end tech market. What's not to like? With the Zune out, there were the inevitable "Apple is doomed since iPods are passe" articles again. With Vista coming out, "Macs are dead", yadda yadda yadda. Getting into some other product lines is the exactly correct and responsible move to keep the business on top.
The deal about changing the company name is a pure PR play. The only time I remember seeing the "Apple Computer" name is copyright notices, at the bottom of press releases, and maybe on some mailing labels.

[hanshoff22]

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Regarding your examples...
#1 (presentation on the phone):
Sorry, not possible. There is no interface on the iPhone to accept random files from the Mac. There is no ability to run applications other than what's on the phone today. There is no ability to add your own programs to the phone. There is no developer kit for third parties to write applications for the phone.
Yes, I know this is version 1.0. Yes, I know things can (and probably will) change in years to come, as flash gets cheaper and the phone becomes a more mature product. As I've repeated many times, I get it.
#2 (synchronize):
Not gonna happen with v 1.0, or probably 2.0, 3.0, or perhaps even 4.0. The phone is, at best, an 8GB device. For all your music, photos, video, contacts, calendar entries, email, etc., we'll need to get up to 80GB or 160GB of flash RAM before such a scenario is possible. And yes, I know it's coming. I get it. But that in particular is going to take years. I'll go out on a limb here and suggest that we're at least three to five years away from having an iPhone that's got enough capacity to handle a user's entire collection of stuff. In my case, it would have to have over 500GB of capacity to carry absolutely everything.

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Ahh -- that's what I've been trying to figure out. Would we be able to use the iPhone as a portable Mac? When we can use any application we want on it (Office, Photoshop, Illustrator, Keynote, FCP, (even) Parallels) then it will be a Newton on steroids.
The iPhone may just be a pre-cursor to a Tablet Mac.

[feefer]

So Rob, would a tiny MBP speed-bump make you happy? /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Turns out that Jobs said that the reason he released info on the iPhone at MW was because pending FCC disclosures (needed to obtain device approval) would've resulted in a leak anyway, so as I've said earlier: there's lots of good business reasons for timing product announcements at a particular time. It's not just "we'll announce at Macworld" any longer.
As someone else said, Apple is not some small-potatoes Mom and Pop company that has the luxury of releasing their product announcements on a whim: for one, 500 iPhone patents needed to be secured (not only in the U.S., but also in Worldwide markets). So timing of such an announcement is not a trivial question, and the logistics of such a release requires a team of lawyers, etc.
Bottom line is, aside from the 'free' publicity, Macworld IS less relevant as a forum for Apple product announcements, and trying to hit that deadline makes little sense for a big company like Apple. Apple got tons of coverage on the iPhone yesterday in Wall St Journal, New York Times, CNN, etc, and it would be the same level of publicity had they announced it at CES instead. Perhaps MW should be thankful Jobs threw you the bone of releasing it at MW, instead of publicly chastising Jobs for not releasing any Mac products, since he helped legitimize the relevance of MWE! His endorsement of MW benefits you guys more than it benefits Apple...
Macworld is a fine (if not only) venue for publicity for many of the little companies that offer 3rd-party products for Apple, but Apple is now too large to benefit from, or even to be constrained by, Macworld Expo.
Chris

[Macdudenh]

All of the things he has mentioned about Apple is in the pipe and ready. If you are going to change the name Apple Computer to Apple Inc., the two items that took stage were by far the most important. The problem with us loyal mac users is that we read all the rumors, we read all the hype, and then we whine. Apple has shifted from making every announcement at MacWorld to begin to diversify their market. But hey, Steve didnt talk about the options fiasco either!

[Mav]

JDW,
Let me clarify. I also was slightly unnerved by the complete lack of Mac mention...I said so in my post. Here was the punchline: "The digital universe ain't just about PCs anymore, not to a company that thinks as differently and as big as Apple does."
My point is more along the lines of, well, it's the ultra-ambitious Steve Jobs we're talking about. I think he's positioning his company to become the next Sony, in a sense...and Sony isn't all about computers. I'm not shifting the dialog -- but I am suggesting a possibly critical shifting point. I'm saying don't be surprised if Steve starts changing the "message" at future keynotes. Don't be surprised if the Mac gets much less attention than before if he starts seeing the iPhone as The Future™, even if the Mac continues on its merry path of coolness and innovation under the radar. To be cynical, as Apple users and fans (a captive audience), we're just gonna get dragged along for the ride, emotions, expectations and all.

[wardoggie]

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As others have asked, why wasn't the iPhone launched at CES?

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Okay, I'll take a stab at it.
1) Focus/ego: Jobs is the center of attention at Macworld, but he's just another high-profile CEO at CES.
2) Fan support: Everyone (well, a high percentage of attendees) at Macworld is going to love whatever Jobs has to say. At CES, the crowd would probably be a little harder to please, ask harder questions, etc.
3) Timing: CES and Macworld happened at the same time and Jobs could only launch the product once. If CES happened a week after Macworld, it wouldn't be an issue. If CES happened a week before Macworld, it would be an interesting decision.
4) Attracting more attention for Macs: By choosing to launch the iPhone at Macworld, every news organization that wanted to cover the launch had to send someone to Macworld, where they'd be surrounded by Apple (and Apple-related) products. And those that didn't would think, "Damn, I should've sent someone to cover Macworld." Launch iPhone at CES and there's a ton of other stuff to see, most of which has nothing to do with Apple, and Macworld would remain only on the radar screens of the Mac faithful.
I don't see an upside to launching at CES -- other than shortening the keynote address by 90 minutes. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif And considering how some people on this forum have reacted to dropping "Computer" from the company name, I'd say that launching the iPhone at CES would only reinforce the message, "See? We're much more than Macs now." And there would be even more vitriol posted here about that.

[adobephile]

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Please read my article and comments before posting. . .There's nothing to be argued, because I'm stating my opinion based on facts: they didn't introduce any new Mac hardware or software.

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Please read my response before telling me I can't have and state my own opinion--about YOUR OPINION. And I DID read your article. Your arrogance is showing.
BTW, I agree with feefer. Apple did you a favor by appearing at your expo. Your subsequent whining is distinctly bad manners.