Express Yourself With Keynote, Win An Apple 23" Cinema HD Display

by , 10:00 AM EDT, May 19th, 2004

Do you have something to say, something that requires more than just words on paper? Perhaps you have an idea you'd like to express to your boss, or a collection you'd like to show off to your friends and family. Maybe you want to propose marriage in a special way, or explain why a situation is the way it is.

You can express these things in many different ways, but if you use Keynote, Apple's presentation application, you may find that your thoughts and ideas can be expressed in ways you never thought possible*.

Apple would like you to consider the possibilities, create something cool with Keynote, and then enter your Keynote presentation in a new contest. As incentive, Apple is offering the grand prize winner a new 23" Apple Cinema HD Display, and US$1000 in iTunes Music Store (iTMS) downloads to the 1st prize winner. The 2nd place winner will get US$500 in iTMS downloads. Here are some of the details from Apple:

Show Apple what you love. Create a killer presentation expressing your favorite passion, using Keynote -- Apple's innovative presentation tool. You could win a 23-inch HD Cinema Display, or up to $1,000 from the iTunes Music Store.

Entries must be 20 slides or less, and may include text, audio, video, and images -- whatever you can dream up. Winners will be judged on artwork, slide design, creativity, and overall effectiveness.

The contest ends June 27, 2004. For more information about Apple's Keynote Contest, visit Apple's Web site, and be sure to check out the Keynote samples on the page. Keynote is available from the Apple Store for US$99 (US$89.99 from Amazon -- add it to your shopping cart to see that price).

* TMO does not endorse or suggest proposing to your fiance via Keynote, or any other presentation software; your mileage may vary.

The Mac Observer Spin:

This epitomizes the difference between Apple and, oh, let's use Microsoft for an example: Big Redmond gives us PowerPoint and highlights all of the things PowerPoint can do. In a business environment, having PowerPoint skills are needed almost as much as a college degree. A good PowerPoint presentation can make or break a multimillion dollar deal, but the thing is, you need an art degree to use PowerPoint effectively.

It's obvious that Keynote is business savvy -- Steve Jobs uses it for any presentation he makes -- but Apple is not pitching Keynote as just a business tool. Apple is pitching Keynote as a tool for use in your every day life. Using Apple's famed ease of use, anyone can create a presentation that looks great, even if you have no art degree. You just need a creative mind.

Can you make equally impressive presentations in PowerPoint? Most likely, but doing so won't be as easy, or nearly as much fun. That said, we haven't used PowerPoint 2004, which officially shipped today, so it is possible that PowerPoint for Mac has made strides towards being better.

We also think it's cool of Apple to use a contest to get people thinking about the possibilities of using Keynote. In fact, we wonder why Apple didn't use Keynote to make a presentation about the Keynote Contest? Things that make you go Hmmmm...

Apple's Keynote Contest