Apple Keynote: Roundup

06Jan09

 

So the very last Apple keynote from Macworld just finished with music from Tony Bennet. The biggest surprise would be the fact that there’s no new Mac Mini. The amount of rumors around for that, it almost seemed certain. I guess that shows how Apple keeps everything slips out, and how one persons idea’s can make many more follow suit. 

If you haven’t been following, below is what was released:

iLife 09
It was a pretty safe bet this would appear. Major updates in iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand make this a brilliant set of applications, due at the end of January at £69. Features like face detection in iPhoto, brand new templates and 3D options in iMovie, and lessons from the pro’s in Garageband are just some of the things new in iLife 09.

iWork 09
There were the usual updates of new templates, designs, mostly for Keynote. There is also a new application for the iPhone and iPod Touch allowing you to control Keynote applications via your mobile device. Unlike iLife, iWork is ready for shipping today also at £69.

Box Set Applications
Since the new iLife and iWork will require Leopard, Apple are offering a software bundle of iWork, iLife and OS X Leopard together for £149.

17” MacBook Pro
It was expected that the 17” MacBook Pro would finally join the current MacBook, and MacBook Pro 15” in the new unibody aluminum casing. The usual suspects of Nvidia graphics chips featured, along with a matte display: something that Apple went away from a while back. The battery life of the new MacBook Pro is also significantly longer, offering up to 8 hours battery life on a single charge.

iTunes Updates
Finally the price of music in the iTunes store is dropping. Many people have always felt £0.79 for a single track was too high, and hopefully starting today, this will be lowered across the range. There was no direct mention for the UK Store (I don’t think), but hopefully it will be included. 

It is now also possible to access the iTunes store in full on the iPhone and iPod Touch through the 3G data connections. It was previously only accessible via WiFi.

Thats a very brief round up of this years Macworld keynote from Apple. Phil Schiller seemed quite confident, and the audience were very supportive of him. It’s also a relief to know of Steve Job’s recovery, and I look forward to seeing him back on the stage in the near future.

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