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TMO at MWSF - Keynote Attendees Positive On Mac mini, Unsure Of iPod Shuffle
by , 5:05 PM EST, January 11th, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Steve Jobs delivered another killer keynote Tuesday at Macworld San Francisco. TMO was out in the halls following the keynote, and as always, attendees had a lot to say.
"Perfect," said Michael, who is a corporate research director. "Well done, well prepared, good reception, and amazing new products."
Bill, an IT Manager, summed up the prevailing opinion: "All of the products that they introduced were exactly what they needed, and at exactly the right price point. Particularly the Mac mini and the iPod shuffle." John, who works for a computer networking company said simply, "I thought it was better than last year!"
Not everyone was fully pleased. One attending IT technician explained: "It was okay. He didn't speak to the things corporate users are looking for. I'd love to see them get into switches and things like that."
Mini Mac, Big Reaction
Bill expressed the most common type of approval for the Mac mini: it's the right computer at the right price point to get people to switch. But many attendees saw other reasons to buy. Michael, a long time Mac user, will get one for himself. "The only thing [I own] to be replaced is a bare-bones PC, which will be replaced with a Mac mini in the next couple of months."
Tor, software programmer: I think a lot of people are going to find a use for a second Mac if it's that small and that cheap. I know I will, and I know a lot of people that I think will as well."
Brian and Sean, Mac sales and support representatives for an Apple specialist, were also pleased with the Mac mini. Sean explained, "I can buy that for my parents, and never have to worry about having to fix it from viruses or anything else. I can config it and ship it off to them, and they'll be set."
Delmar, a systems engineer, hopes to find a use for the Mac mini as a terminal computer in the corporate environment. "I'm interested to see the new mini Mac. It'll make my job, which is to integrate Macs into Windows-based [enterprise systems] possibly more complicated or more easy."
Unsure about the Shuffle
Despite full faith that Apple will sell gobs of the iPod shuffle, the reaction to that device was more mixed. Bill was certain that his kids "are going to want the iPod shuffle." John, meanwhile, "thought it was cool for people that don't have one [already]. I'll probably buy one; I have three iPods, so I'll probably get one of those too.
Michael expects the product to sell well: "It's fairly straightforward to develop the market from [the] top down and that will get a high level of customers' attention buying cheap stuff." Clarise, a graphic designer agrees: "I think the iPod will really help Apple expand their market share."
But Delmar voiced a common concern with the display-less player: "I'm a little apprehensive about the iPod shuffle. Now, if folks are comfortable with the fact that what they configure on the desktop is there [on the iPod], then that's fine. But I'm a little more feedback oriented." Kumiko, likewise, thinks a player without an LCD would have limited use.
No one, however, complained about the price. As Brian said, "I was happy with the price. The US$100 price mark and the US$150 price mark were perfect."
Software Delights
Few people mentioned software without any prompting, but a few were particularly excited about the new Pages application. Bill explained, "I'm excited about the new iWorks. I think pages could be a [Microsoft] Word killer. The key is it's compatibility with Word. I think it could also be a replacement for [Adobe's desktop publishing software] Frame Maker."
Delmar agreed: "Pages seemed to be very similar to Microsoft's Publisher and some of the other publisher applications. For the price, iWorks would be an excellent addition to the Mac product line."
Brian was also excited about Apple's new HD focus. "I think iMovie HD is going to have a great impact. People are just starting to get to know HD. This year, I think we're going to start seeing [HD cameras] go below US$1,000."
All in all, the keynote seemed to produce solidly positive reviews.
Observer Comments
Tue Jan 11, 2005 7:43 pm Subject: don't hold your breath
Tue Jan 11, 2005 7:46 pm Subject: have you not been reading the Mac sites?
How can anybody ask about Powerbook and Powermac updates now after we've had months of everybody telling us this would be the show and tell for the flash based iPods and cheapmacs. Like it or not, rumor sites did predict this one pretty well and we knew what was coming. Then again, don't we usually?
And G5 laptops? Are you kidding? Do you have full body armor to protect you from the massive heat buildup?
Apple will do better to go with the G6s for the laptops (though Pontiac just usurped that name thank you very much).
I was pleasantly surprised with the Mac mini announcement. I knew it was coming, but the overall footprint was smaller than I thought it would be. I ordered one today - high-end model with SuperDrive (it would be a real pain to add one later, I am guessing) and Airport Extreme. I plan to use mine as a silent webserver, unless I decide to use it as my desktop machine! 
I can see this model eating into iMac and G5 tower sales. But Apple absolutely had to do it. This is the marketshare grabber that we have all been waiting for.
I also decided to order the iPod Shuffle 1GB. The primary reason was because I need to carry a USB drive around anyway; I am assuming I can drag and drop files to it. Secondly, I don't want my main iPod to be busted or stolen. This one will be great for airplane flights.
Wed Jan 12, 2005 12:59 am Subject: Too much to wrap my mind around
This was a killer Keynote and I'm still trying to wrap my poor old mind around all that was released.
The biggest news for me was the iMac mini because I believe it will appeal to a lot of PC user who own a Mac. People can talk specs until they are blue in the face, but THAT design is going to wow the PC user - just like the iPod did. It's also priced very nicely for them - a no brainer to give it a try.
iPod shuffle? The entire family has iPods and I have a gen 1 in a drawer somewhere. It will be great for the kids whose families are on a tight budget and should blow out the door.
Bigger than the iPod shuffle for me is iLife 05. I think that this will be a huge improvement over the current iLife - and the current one is pretty damn awesome. I believe that iLife 05 is going to blow away the PC converts who go with an iMac mini and will generate sales at the iMac or PM when they play with it for a while. I just hope that there is a family pack available - we have 5 Macs that will need upgrading!
iWork is also interesting as, I think it moves in a different direction than AppleWorks has. AppleWorks will still have value for the newbie as there are a lot of templates that will be valuable for them. I work moves Keynote and Pages to a new level - lots more sophisticated than a word processor. Hope to see a spreadsheet and data base following in June.
Money to spend now? iLife 05 and iWorks. 04 was the year for converting everything to Macs so there is no place (yet) for the iMac mini. Pity.
Wed Jan 12, 2005 10:37 am Subject: Re: Too much to wrap my mind around
Quotekenaustus wrote:
Bigger than the iPod shuffle for me is iLife 05.
I just hope that there is a family pack available - we have 5 Macs that will need upgrading!
Yeah, and it's only $100, which is only $20 more than a single. Not too bad, huh?
I agree, iLife gets over-looked because it's "just updates" but I think this was the best part of the keynote as well.
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