Steve Jobs may not be here, but there's no lack of interest. The hall where the keynote is taking place is packed. There are over 1,000 members of the press here.
Interestingly, outside the keynote old-fashioned "church fans" (the kind that keep you cool, not people who admire you) with Jobs' mug and a note to bring back Steve" were being distributed. And someone had a life-sized cardboard cutout of the main himself.
Phil is keeping us waiting. I guess he's being fashionably late.
Phil is coming onstage. He's dressed in jeans, but no black turtleneck. And despite an online petition to the contrary, there's no silent treatment. He's getting lots of applause.
He's talking about "exciting times" at Apple, and showing photos of new Apple stores around the world. Phil says that Apple retail stores get 3.4 million visitors per week, the equivalent of 10 Macworld Expos. He says that the Mac has seen a resurgent and that he's talking about the Mac today.
"I think it's appropriate that we talk about the Mac at Macworld," he says.
Phil talks about the strong Apple sales and that Apple has the strongest line-up in its history. He says that he has three new things to tell us about.
First is iLife '09. Phil says there's nothing as good as iLife. iPhoto '09 adds a Faces feature that lets you organize by, well, faces to organize photos using face detection and recognition technologies. iLife also adds a Places feature that lets you organize photos by places you've taken photos of. It uses GPS geotagging. iPhoto 09 also adds online support for Facebook and Flickr and new themes.
iMovie '09 was entirely new last year, Phil Schiller says. Some people weren't happy with missing features. With the new version added so much more power and new features, he says. iMovie '09 adds a precision editor, advanced drag and drop, dynamic themes, animated travel maps, video stablization, and more. iPhoto '09 was demoed by Randy Billos, chief architect-video applications at Apple.
GarageBand '09 adds new features, including the ability to help folks learn to play a musical instrument. Learn to Play lets you learn to play guitar, keyboards, etc. Phil says you're in complete control of learning experience. It includes nine basic lessons for guitar and piano. Once you start to learn instrument, you can access Artist Lessons done by folks such as John Fogerty, Colbie Caillet, Sting, Ryan Tedder, Sarah McLaughlin, Norah Jones and others. Artist Lessons are US$4.99 per lesson.
Also new version of iWeb and iDVD. Upgrades are $79 or $99 for Family Pack for five computers.
Phil now moves onto iWork '09. Keynote '09 focuses on new animation tools, he says. New features Magic Movies (which does transitions for you), object transitions (such as zoom, push-up, etc.), text transitions, chart animations, Keynote Remote (which will cost 99 cents in the Apple App Store) for wireless controlling apps with iPhone or iPod touch, and new themes.
Pages '09 adds full screen view, dynamic outlines, mail merge with Numbers, support for MathType and EndNote integration, and 40 new templates.
Numbers '09 adds table categories, more powerful formulas and functions, easy formula writing, new chart options, linked charts, new templates and more.
iWork is $79 and $99 for a Family Pack. You can get it for $49 with a new Mac. iWork '09 requires Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard"). iWork is shipping now.
Apple has introduced a bundle of Leopard, iWork '09 and iLife '09 for $169.
Apple has also introduced a service that lets you upload iWork documents and share them with others at iwork.com, which is now in beta testing. You can view documents online and work with others. When it's finished it will be a fee-based service. However, pricing wasn't announced. The beta launches today.
Phil then introduced the 17-inch MacBook Pro. He touts Apple notebook sales. It's .98 inches thin, the world's thinnest 17-inch notebook, and also the work's lightest. It has a backlit displays and has 60 greater color gamut than previously model. Apple is offering a $50 anti-glare option.
The new pro has a FireWire 800 port and supports MiniDisplay Port technology. It comes with a 2.66GHz Core Duo 2, 320GB hard drive, up to 8GB of memory, new Nvidia graphics options. Pricing is $2,799 for the standard model. Phil says the battery is Apple's longest latest battery life ever. It will purportedly run up to eight hours on a single charge and can take 1,000 charges (which Apple says is three times that of the typical laptop battery).
However, the battery isn't removable by end users. Apparently, once the battery dies, it can only be replaced by Apple and Apple vendors. Also noteable: the 17-inch MB Pro doesn't have quad core chips as some had predicted. The upgraded laptop will start shipping later this month. Phil says the laptop is also very environmentally friendly.
Now it's time for one last thing. But it involves iTunes, not an iMac or Mac Mini, as everyone expected. Phil says that it's still the number one channel for music in the US. There's no longer one pricing model of 99 cents per song. Starting in April, there will be three pricing tiers: 69, 99 and $1.29 per song. Apple is also announced iTunes Plus for DRM-free music and higher bit-rate encoding. Starting today, Apple is offering eight million songs DRM free. By the end of quarter, will add two million more, Phil says. All songs will then be DRM-free.
What's more, the iTunes Store now supports buying over WiFi and 3G networks at same price as normally at the store. You can now preview and buy music with iPhone and iPod touch, and sync back with your Mac. This starts today.
The keynote is ending with a performance by Tony Bennett.
