From The Expo Floor - What Are Attendees Saying About The Keynote?

by , 10:00 AM EDT, July 18th, 2002

It wouldn't be MACWRLD without a Steve Jobs keynote and the Mac community's incessant commentary. It is in that spirit that we ventured onto the show floor to capture and preserve for posterity your reactions to the new software, new hardware, and all the stuff in Apple's booth.

"I really like the 17" screen iMac," said TJ, a college student. Aaron, a student and Mac technician, agreed that it is "kinda cool." Aaron also owns a bluetooth-ready phone and said he was excited about iSync. TJ said, "iSync sounds really cool; [I] don't really understand how it works." Mike, who works in Internet ad sales, works on both Mac and PC and was "looking to find out about this iSync," with the hope that it might make managing two platforms easier. And Renae, who works in publishing, said, "iSync was a big surprise. I didn't expect that at all....I'm very excited."

The new iPods also drew positive reactions. Renae was glad to see the refinements to the line (which include a motionless scroll wheel and a thinner 10GB model, as well as lower prices). Nick, an ad designer, was pleased that there is now an iPod that can hold his whole music collection. And Jim, also in advertising, thought that the new iPod and Rendezvous were the best features of the keynote.

Somewhat surprising considering the vagueness of Apple's message, Rendezvous is the other pleaser for many attendees. Greg, who works in advertising sales, said, "this is the beginning of self-configuring devices" -- the type of technology that could turn IT positions from full-time jobs to consulting work. Other people were happy that Rendezvous would make stealing music even easier.

Among the disappointments, Jim and TJ were hoping to see the G5 released in a tower system, while Aaron would have been satisfied with a mere speed bump in the G4s. Several attendees had an air of resigned displeasure at the elimination of iTools. "Being that I'm a college student with no money," TJ said it was too bad that he would have to pay for .Mac services. Jim said, "I thought it was a big surprise [that Apple is charging for .Mac]. I was bragging to a friend that Apple gives you this stuff for free....Yeah, you pay more for the computer, but you get extras."

Andrew, another student, had even stronger reservations about .Mac. "I really don't like the idea," he said. "If it gets popular...and people start depending on it, they can do whatever they want, like Microsoft's .net."

It's all part and parcel of the peanut gallery's commentary. Stay tuned for more coverage of MWNY.