LIKE teenagers camping out for a ticket to see Britney Spears, Mac addicts began lining up at 4 a.m. yesterday to see Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs unveil the latest innovations at the Macworld Expo.
One auditorium at the Jacob Javits Center held 4,000 fans. An overflow of 3,000 was shuffled to another room to watch the proceedings projected onto a huge screen.
Jobs dazzled the audience with a new line of Power Mac G4s computers for professionals; a new faster, lower-priced line of iMacs (each new color drew a round of applause), a new optical mouse and new software for building homepages and editing movies. He also gave a quick run-through of what Mac users can expect from Mac OS X, the next operating system, due 2001.
Microsoft’s Kevin Brown drew scattered hisses when he demonstrated the new Microsoft Office for Mac, but by the end the “Applause” sign must have been lit up again.
Jobs, being the master showman, saved the best for last: The Cube.
Not a Rubik’s cube – the Power Mac G4 Cube, to be precise.
Combining the simplicity of the iMac with the high performance of the business-grade G4, the G4 Cube is in a white plastic computer and enclosed in clear plastic box.
“Don’t let the size fool you,” said Jobs.
That would be easy because each side of the cube measures about 8 inches, a quarter the size of most PCs.
The CD-ROM/DVD drive is a slot in the top. It includes a 450 MHz G4 processor, 64 MB of memory and 20 GB of storage and a 56K modem.
Designed by Jonathan Ives, Apple’s top designer, it weighs 14 pounds.
Due in August, it’s priced starting at $1,800. The Cube also comes with new Apple-designed Harman Kardon speakers that look like crystal-clear eyeballs. “I’ll have to get a new Lucite table to match,” said one attendee.
To go with the Cube, Jobs, who proudly notes how “cool” everything is as he goes through the inventory, premiered three new display monitors, including two flat panel ones and one cathode ray terminal, the larger, old-fashioned kind.
When Jobs introduced the new iMacs, which start at the $799, he lovingly presented each new color (indigo, ruby, sage and snow) as though he were talking about an old girlfriend. He also noted that since the iMac was introduced only two years ago, Apple has sold 3.7 million – or one about every 18 seconds.
An ad campaign for the new line of colors features Elvis’ “Blue Suede Shoes,” Kermit the Frog’s “It’s Not Easy Being Green” and the Moody Blues’ “Nights in White Satin.”
“I did the deal with Elvis myself, but for me, Kermit takes the cake,” Jobs joked.
After such a keynote, Surfer gURL wanted to become a full-fledged geek and pull down all the shades and and stay home to play with the upcoming games made for Mac (the demo of Bungie’s 3-D “Halo” game was fantastic), make little videos for friends and, of course, play with home pages and surf the Web.
After basking in the peaceful white glow of the Cube, Mac-heads were assaulted on the floor of the expo by the rainbow of products to go with the bright iMacs.
Accessories include an unspillable coffee cup holders (see cyber-drinkholder.com), CD rewriters from CD Revo, glowing mini-hubs for USB ports, filing systems, a Canon Camcorder (model ZR10) with blueberry highlights and a tiny tangerine mouse from Swann.com.au to match the iBook (the laptop iMacs). You get the idea.
It wouldn’t be surprising if some day soon, contact lenses will be made in colors that will match one’s eyes to iMacs. Or maybe, by that point, computer screens will be built straight into the lenses.
Harmon Kardon offered a brief respite from the color. The audio company premiered its SoundSticks speaker system for Apple computers, which feature two slick and slim satellite speakers and one bubble-shaped subwoofer, all in crystal clear plastic. The price is right at $199.
