Geekanoids: MacWorld Expo 2007 Announcements

MacWorld Expo 2007 Announcements
Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Steve Jobs took to the stage today for the MacWorld Expo 2007 keynote speech. His announcements were what we expected and wanted, but with some serious things amiss.

What we got was about 20 minutes on AppleTV, which is available to order now, shipping February, at £199. The deal is much as we thought, streaming of content to a large TV, but with the addition of a 40GB hard drive. So nice, but we knew it was coming.

Then came what we all wanted to hear, but with some spoilers at the end of the announcement. The new iPhone, which has loads of features (TBC) all listed below;

• 3.5 inch widescreen display
• 2 megapixel camera
• iPod dock connector
• A proximity sensor which switches between modes and screen orientation based on how the device is held
• 11.6 mm thin
• Synchronises with iTunes
• GSM/EDGE
• Wifi & Bluetooth
• Googlemaps and Yahoomail
• Cinglar only at present
• Visual voicemail - shows a list of your voicemails so you select what you want to listen to
• Gestural interface
• Mail & Safari apps
• Widgets.
• Free Yahoo! IMAP email to all iPhone customs
• 5 hour video battery life
• 16 hour audio battery life

All this was great, with a 4GB model costing $499 and 8GB at $599, then came the spoilers. The USA has to wait until June, UK until the end of 2007, and Asia until 2008. So another pre-anounced product, similar to the iTV announcement which came to fruition as the AppleTV today. Now, I don't mind waiting a couple of months, but the end of the year is a big shame. On a more positive note, it will sell so so well, with all those great features and a Lite version of OSX built-in.

Then we waited for the "one more thing", but that was it, no more announcements, no details of Leopard, no pricing, features, shipping date. What a disappointment, as everyone was expecting this. The only other product that appeared on the AppleStore was a 802.11n Airport Extreme BaseStation, again shipping February, prices at £119. This has a WAN port, three 10/100 ethernet ports, USB port for printer or hard drive, and a security slot. Styling is nice, very Mac-like and the device contains three aerials for increased coverage and to deliver that 'n' speed. It also comes supplied with a CD containing a new Airport Utility 802.11n Enabler for Core2Duo and Xeon based Macs and Windows based PC's. This device did not even get a mention in Steve's Keynote, unless it was just missed in the coverage I have read so far.

Anyway, to recap, we got some goodies, a new AirPort Extreme and AppleTV, the pre-announced iPhone and that is it for now. Check back soon for a full write-up on the iPhone.

posted 19:48,

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Dave

Dave has been in the graphic design industry for 14 years. Long time reviewer of technology related products, he is Owner/Editor of Geekanoids.

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