Selling Innovation
I really liked Steve's keynote today. I was completely bummed that it was delayed - it would've been cooler to find everything out as it happened rather than reading about it online via blogs and chat rooms first (thanks Les!
However, soon after it was over, Apple put up a streaming feed of the keynote and we all watched and disected it online at #mobitopia and it was really fun. I must admit there have been other keynotes where I was more into it - they were live, the stuff was really new and more interesting to me. As cool as the G5 is, it's not that important to me until it's in a notebook. When Steve introduced Safari not too long ago, that was *really* cool to me. Something I thought was going to affect my life directly soon. I only wish I could say that about the G5. ;-)
I have to say things are looking up for Apple now that they've teamed up with IBM on the processor front. I think that IBM will be able to ramp up speeds and variations on the processors very quickly. Like it was said during the keynote, a faster chip is around the corner, and I bet you mobile versions as well, though maybe not for another year or so. The next Keynote will see the death of the G3, I bet you, and that will be a good thing in my mind. I didn't buy a Mac because of it. Apple needs to put G4s everywhere and keep the prices as they are. A G4 iBook would've been mine, for example.
The final thing in the keynote is what struck me the most. The big word "Innovate" on the screen (which, by the way, is surreal, no? The way that Steve gives presentations? On that massive screen which flips to his every word? Incredible.) That's when Steve went through the innovations just in the past year from the iPod through the iTunes Music Store to iLife to Safari to G5... just cool stuff.
*That* is the reason many of us are in the tech industry - to innovate. To come up with cool new things. Steve's got a great job - and he made it that way - Apple could've easily continued along the path it was heading down as just another box shop. But Steve's ego wouldn't allow that and he's instead made Apple into that cultural icon we all know and love. Even if you *aren't* a Mac owner like yours truly, it's just really *fun* to watch, no?
Good stuff. Love keynote days. Always inspiring in one way or another.
-Russ