A Keynote for the History Books
By Eddie Hargreaves
Most Macworld Expo keynotes are breathlessly anticipated. But that high level of expectation often leads to disappointment when it's over. And by the next year, its events are largely forgotten (remember the Virginia Tech supercomputer?). But Steve Jobs' 2007 keynote not only lived up to the media hype, it left attendees with their minds blown and garnered a standing ovation. And it will long be remembered for good or bad thanks to Jobs' famous reality distortion field, which was at its strongest ever.
The first shock of the morning was when Steve said "This is all we're gonna talk about the Mac today" after only four minutes. Whaaa?!
And after another eight minutes of iPod recap and the announcement of Paramount adding its movie stable to the iTunes Store, it was on to the product previously code-named iTV.
The Apple TV has been largely overlooked post-keynote and I think it's perfectly fair to do so. As much fun as it was to watch clips of Zoolander, Heroes and 30 Rock, I can already watch those on my TV without paying Apple $300 for the privilege.
And then, only 26 minutes into the keynote, when we would normally be watching endless iDVD themes being demoed, Steve said "This is a day I've been looking forward to for 2-1/2 years." Clearly there was not going to be "one more thing" at this keynote. This was going to be the one thing. And what a thing it was.
For the next hour-plus, nearly every crazy Apple rumor was delivered in a single device: Widescreen video iPod? Check. Apple cell phone? Check. New Apple PDA? Check. Touch-sensitive tablet screen? Check. Stripped-down version of OS X? Check. The name iPhone? Check. Kitchen sink? Uh, sure, check.
Yet even though the rumors of a phone had been so loud and varied, there were plenty of never-considered features that consistently amazed those in attendance: proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, accelerometer, multi-touch, 160 ppi screen.
I typically try and resist Steve's reality distortion field and think of things he's not talking about, like 'how many movies can you fit on this?' or 'what will the monthly cost be?' But even my shields were completely shattered as Steve continued demoing snazzy software features: Coverflow, Visual Voicemail, Pinch-zoom, Google Maps with location pins flying in from off-screen... Boom! Boom! Boom!
Unfortunately, the distortion field cannot be extended to guests, as the CEO of Google and Yahoo discovered. I can hardly remember what they had to say as I felt like shouting "Get back to the iPhone!" The worst moment was when Cingular CEO Stan Sigman got 'thank you, goodbye' applause before he was finished getting through his "Inside the Actor's Studio" stack of notecards.
If you really don't think Steve's field exists, consider some things he said that have essentially gone unnoticed since: 'Announced the switch to Intel just a year ago and completed it in seven months' No, actually it was in June 2005 that he announced the switch to Intel and it took 14 months (still impressive numbers). 'All six Star Trek movies are available' There are 10 Star Trek movies (maybe he meant to say all six good Star Trek movies). 'Apple's first revolutionary product was the Macintosh in 1984' What about the Apple II?
Positioned as the next Apple product to go on the history mantle next to the Macintosh and the iPod, the iPhone has a lot to live up to. A few years down the road, this keynote will either be seen as a momentous occasion in the history of mobile devices or a hilarious hour of hyperbole. And I can say I was there.
