In San Francisco

AS THE last strains of the popular oldie, I Left My Heart In San Francisco, ended, the 1000-strong crowd at Moscone expo centre burst into applause. It was as much a credit to crooner Tony Bennett for a splendid rendition of this hit song as it was for Apple's last hurrah at Macworld this Tuesday morning.

Tony Bennett crooning "I Left My Heart" in San Francisco
Source: Grace Chng

TV crews jammed up space to take video of phil schiller at his first and last keynote presentation at Macworld.
Source: Grace Chng

A show attendee giving the 17-inch macbook pro a look over.
Source: Grace Chng

What a fitting end to Apple's 11-year dominance of the keynote presentation which opens the Macworld expo and conference in San Francisco, the annual fest for the Apple faithful.

And for the first time in 11 years Mr Steve Jobs didn't take control of the presentation. In his place was Mr Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice-president of worldwide product marketing.

Mr Schiller followed his own style. He did not attempt to copy Mr Jobs' panache because his is a tough act to follow. In a blue button-down Oxford shirt and blue jeans – unlike Mr Jobs who always appears in black turtle neck and blue jeans -  Mr Schiller did an efficient presentation with his eyes darting now and again to the teleprompter.

He announced new features to iLife and iWork applications, tiered pricing for iTunes online music store, the dropping of anti-copying measures for iTunes music catalogue and a new 17-inch Mac notebook.

Many journalists thought the announcements low key and modest because of Mr Jobs' absence. I beg to differ.

Every time, software upgrades dominate a Macworld keynote presentation, the audience's response has always been muted, even during Mr Jobs' time. I remember in 2006 when there were also new upgrades to the iLife suite, many including myself didn't feel any excitement.

New gizmos like the iPod and iPhone unveiled in 2001 and 2007 respectively, sizzled the crowd because they were cool, sexy toys that created new market segments. Journalists and analysts could further succumb to the excitement at Apple's booth when they could snap close-ups of the products and touch and drool over them.

So no matter how useful the software upgrades and how cool the demos were, they couldn't command the same eye-grabbing attention of the nifty cool toys.

That's how this year's presentation went. Full of good stuff but just not sexy enough to get the crowd's blood pressure racing although they clapped and cheered at the right places.

The media came out of the hall this morning feeling disappointed. Hongkong journo Mr Fuk Hop Hoi from Apple Daily summed it up best: "All software isn't exciting. Very disappointing presentation. No excitement at all."

But Bob McGuire, Gartner's vice-president of research felt that the announcements were important given how tightly integrated the Mac hardware and software are integrated.

"Apple makes all the products themselves. So good iLife and iWork applications which comes free with the Mac computers will promote more sales. I think today's annoncements were crucial because the two software were already getting a bit long in the tooth and needed updating."

To me, the key highlights of Apple's announcements today, were:

Face detection and recognition built into iPhoto allows the software to automatically remember faces. A batch of images from iPhoto can be uploaded to FaceBook in one click.

In Garageband, a software to play and record music, now allows anyone to learn how to play a guitar or piano. Well known singers and song writers like Sting and Norah Jones become instructors giving step-by-step guide on how to play their music.

Both these programs are part of iLife 09 suite and are available immediately. It comes free with every new Mac sold. In the US, iLife 09 is US$79 off the shelf.

In Keynote presentation program of iWork a user can now use his iPhone to  control a slideshow. Instead of buttons on a remote control, users use their fingers to swipe left or right to move the slideshow forward or backwards. iWork is also available immediately.

In addition to US99 cents, iTunes songs will be sold for US69 cents and US$1.29 (about S$2) starting April.

 A new 17-inch Macbook boasts a battery life of 8 hours. Apple claims this is the longest battery life on a notebook computer. It achieved this by re-designing the battery pack and cells, making it more compact to fit the new notebook. But its weight at nearly 3kg and a hefty price of over S$3,000 will only make it a heavy lug-around rather than a nifty notebook and will probably appeal to true-blue Apple fans.

Quite glaringly, this year's announcements were directed mostly at Apple users because the software can only be used on the Mac computers. So the impact is not as widespread, as say a new version of an iPod or iPhone which can be used by both Windows or Mac users. 

While the low beat Macworld had been predicted, there were still at least a few hundred journalists who turned up for the keynote. But they took their time getting to Moscone conference hall. In the past, journalists were already queuing as early to 7am to be among the first to get into the hall and to get good seats. This year, journalists moved smoothly into Moscone conference centre. There was no human jam. 

Still, when the doors to the hall were opened, the 500 or so journalists rushed to get seats. Television crew jammed the small stage set up for them on one side of the hall.

Seats slowly filled with the remaining ones taken just minutes before Mr Schiller came on stage. Apple said registration for the keynote presentation was full. Business partners and Apple staff had to listen in via close circuit camera at another room as in previous years too.

Journalists did not have to queue at all during this year's macworld unlike previous years.
Source: Grace Chng

Now that the last Apple keynote is over, my January schedule in 2010 is eerily blank. It's quite discomfiting because every first week of January for the last seven years, I've planned for Macworlds.

As Tony Bennett sang in his first song, The Best Is Yet To Come, might it be that Apple is planning some big surprise this year?

Maybe Mr Bennett was hinting that Mr Jobs - he said he's suffering from hormonal imbalance and hopes to recover by spring which is April to June - will take centrestage at Apple's developers conference held yearly in June in this city.
When Mr Jobs and Apple beckon, the world's media will turn up.