We have word from a couple of Observers attending MACWORLD Tokyo. These folks have seen the iMacs first hand, and with the controversy surrounding the new iMac colors, we wanted to share their thoughts with you. Both sets of comments came from comments to our articles. The first comes from Observer Stig Bjorge:

Hello there!

I attended yesterdayis Keynote which was excellently done by Steve jobs. Myself, a Cube user, was happy with everything I saw and heard.

The new Flower Power and Blue Dalmation iMacs look a lot better "in person" than on pictures. To realize that some pretty advanced technology is at work here molding the patterns and colors INTO the plastic enclosures.

My 8 year old daughter (and 6 year old son) can hardly wait to get one! (Maybe I have to consider one sample of each version?)

And this is exactly where Apple is heading with these machines. I am sold on this concept (although personally I will stick with my Cube).

Stig Bjorge
Setagaya, Tokyo

And this from Observer John Konopka, who says he still doesnit like the colors:

We attended the keynote yesterday morning and after that toured the Apple booth at the exhibition. When viewed up close the new iMac colors are not as loud or as intrusive as they seem in photographs. They somehow look very soft or translucent. Having said that I still donit care for them. Patterns of some sort are a nice idea but they should be softer making them easier to blend with the rest of your decor.

However, maybe this attention is what Apple wants. Steve showed five new iMac commercials. They rely heavily on the visualization feature of iTunes. Four of the five are very, loud, intense and in-your-face. The only one I like featured music by J. S. Bach.

It was interesting that the music played before the keynote started was a selection of works for solo cello by J. S. Bach (probably performed by Yo Yo Ma).

John Konopka

Very interesting observations to be sure. As the debate continues to rage, we would like to hear from anyone else who has seen the new iMacs in person.