

Did Steve Jobs just sacrifice Phil Schiller? - pedalpete

I just read the MacWorld Keynote on TechCrunch, and maybe Phil just isn't the showman that Jobs was, but I'm thinking that Jobs didn't host the keynote because there wasn't anything to say?<p>What do you think? Was there just nothing news worthy? or was it that Schiller just didn't carry the event?
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tptacek
Did you _watch_ the keynote?

* A 17" MBP with an 8 hour battery.

* iWork.com for document sharing

* New Pages, Keynote, and Numbers; Pages links with Numbers now, which is huge

* Garageband has guitar and piano lessons built in (!)

* iMovie stole a bunch of features from FCP and has real camera stabilization

* iPhoto has face detection

* And oh yeah they _got rid of DRM on iTMS_

This keynote is bigger than any number of Stevenotes. Snow Leopard didn't even
_rate_.

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pedalpete
I didn't watch it, I read the TC coverage after it was finished. This is the
reason I asked the question. I'm not convinced that any of these items are
ground breaking, though very cool features.

The coverage didn't seem exciting which is why I was asking the question did
Steve Jobs not do the keynote because there was nothing worth reporting? or
was it just not carried off with his panache and excitement? The coverage made
it seem quite ho-hum.

And I still believe that none of these things are really news worthy. _An 8 hr
battery on 17" device is pretty cool

_ iWork gets document sharing - about time, and they aren't going to become a
leader with that product as a result

*Getting rid of DRM on iTMS means now they can are equal to amazon and everybody else

again, I don't see this stuff as really exciting and ground breaking. Cool,
yes. Good business decisions, sure. Amazing! no.

~~~
tptacek
Most of the Stevenotes aren't amazing.

'08: * The Air * Time Capsule * Movie Rentals

'07 * The iPhone (ok, ok)

'06 * Intel Macs * iWeb

'05 * Tiger, potlight * iWork * Shuffle

'04 * iLife * The iPod Mini

'03 * New iMovie, new iDVD * Safari * Keynote * 17" and 12" TiBooks

Was '09 as big as '07 or '06? No. But it's bigger than '03 and on par with '08
and '04. iPhone and iMovie are a big deal, the 17" MBP is their flagship
computer (and some of the thunder from the MBP was stolen by the Q4 MacBook
refresh --- which was a big deal), and the iTMS DRM thing is the biggest news
on iTunes since Video.

~~~
michaelneale
07 iphone - yes that was huge (sorry if I sound like a fan !). Mobile
computing went mainstream (lots of attention).

06 - intel Macs - that was a big one (macs platforms went "mainstream" in
their source of components).

I remember in 06 the world flipped - Apple went to intel. Microsoft went
PowerPC for XBOX 360 !

So I think those 2 years kind of lifted the bar - so 08 and 09 seem like a
relative let down.

~~~
tptacek
In other words, '09 fits kind of right in the middle of all the MWSF's, and
Apple is transitioning out of MWSF and into WWDC and its own special events. I
don't think they phoned this in.

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parenthesis
A lot of people (myself included) were expecting to see a revamped Mac Mini.
Instead, about the most exciting thing was the non-glare screen option for the
new 17" Macbook Pro.

~~~
tptacek
You think the Mac Mini, a product that accounts for a tiny sliver of all of
Apple's revenue, rates a slot alongside a new rev of Apple's flagship
computer?

~~~
siegler
Yes! It's the cheapest entry into owning a Mac at a time when people are
looking to spend less money (e.g. netbooks).

~~~
tptacek
Portables do almost double the amount of revenue as the whole desktop category
for Apple; the Mini is accounted for alongside the Mac Pro and iMac lines ---
either of which surely dwarf the Mini. However important you think it is, I
don't think Apple thinks it's as important as the MBP, or the 3.3Bn iTMS, or
even the 2.2Bn Apple software line.

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mdasen
Steve didn't sacrifice him. Apple is having less to say. . .because their
products are speaking for themselves. You have to have a lot to say anytime
you're on the edge. You have to rile people to a cause that isn't popular.
Apple is popular and strong. They are constantly rolling out new products as
they become ready. It's wonderful! Before, they had to do big demonstrations
of how the G4 could do gigaflops or how they were going to change the world.
Now, they can stand up there and say, we've made a better 17" laptop and walk
off stage knowing that they aren't a hard sell like they used to be.

I'm not bashing what Apple was. I've been a Mac user from the LC and Quadra
days, but I'm much happier with the company now. They aren't some counter-
culture scrappy thing. They're big, stable, mainstream, and consistent. And I
love it!

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tlrobinson
iTunes going DRM free is a big deal. I'd say it marks the beginning of the end
of DRM, at least in music (Amazon MP3 was first big store, but iTunes is the
largest)

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mattmcknight
I think it's the end of DRM on music. It's going to be a lot harder to lose
DRM on video- it's still making lots of money.

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unalone
I think a LOT of the things they said were newsworthy.

Jobs said yesterday on Apple.com that he was spending the time recovering with
his family. I think that's the main issue here, nothing else.

~~~
tptacek
If he's been losing weight continuously since the last keynote --- where his
appearance scared the press --- you can imagine the reason why Schiller did
this keynote instead.

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GHFigs
That you personally don't find any of it interesting does not mean it's not
newsworthy.

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carl_
You've had it too good for too long. Consider Apples innovation in the last
three years compared to any (or all) of their competitors... even the glorious
Apple can't deliver at the rate they're expected.

The batteries better perform as well as Apple is claiming or this could be a
major fail.

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jparicka
He, he.. That's what I was thinking.. Picturing El Jobso talking about the
battery for half hour, .. nah. Better call in sick.... :-)

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ahoyhere
You all can debate the merits of the keynote goodies but let me tell you why
the answer to the question "Did Steve Jobs just sacrifice Phil Schiller?" is
"Uhhh, no."

When the original clamshell iBook was introduced, Jobs did the keynote. And
Phil Schiller's role in all this was to jump off a ladder into a stunt bag,
holding the candy orange purse-looking thing, to show its sturdiness.

Do you think Steve Jobs would ever do such an undignified thing himself?

And this was what... 8, 9, 10 years ago?

Schiller is considered a joke. He always has been considered a joke. He looks
and sounds more like he should be a cast member on Full House than a
presentation guru.

Jobs claimed they were pulling out of MacWorld years ago, but went back on the
idea for whatever reason. He doesn't have to "sacrifice" anyone. He's Steve
Jobs, for crissakes.

Y'all don't have historical perspective on the man and the company. You can't
make these kinds of assertions without it.

Note: Schiller has a tough row to hoe and he clearly works very hard to do a
good job. I don't personally think he's a joke, but he's treated like one.
"He's no Jobs" is hardly a damning statement.

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briansmith
The new Macs with their new software will make some thing easier than they
were in their previous versions. They have added to their products innovations
that have already showed up (better) other places: Lenovo's W700, Dell's "all
day" laptops, image stabilization from video cameras, Office Live/Google
Docs/Sharepoint document sharing, Picasa's face recognition, Amazon's DRM-free
music, Geotagging from everybody associated with photography, their previous
laptop designs. It is hard to make any of that second-comer stuff seem earth-
shattering, even if they implemented and packaged it better than the companies
that brought those features to market before them.

If they wanted to make me excited about their products then they need _major_
first-to-market innovations. How about a 13" laptop with a 15" screen?

