Yesterday, The New York Times’ John Markoff spent a half-hour with Apple CEO Steve Jobs after he introduced iTunes movie rentals, Time Capsule, the MacBook Air and more.
According to Markoff, the MacBook Air “is a reversal of field for Mr. Jobs, who in the past has insisted that less-than-full-featured laptops are undesirable.”
MacDailyNews Take: Did Markoff watch Jobs’ keynote? Job spent considerable time on, and stated rather clearly, that Apple’s new MacBook Air does not compromise to get the weight down like other laptops. Jobs said that, unlike other so-called thin (before yesterday, at least, they seemed thin) laptops, MacBook Air doesn’t compromise on thickness, keyboard or screen size. The whole point is that the MacBook Air is so thin and full-featured. So, where’s Jobs’ “reversal of field?”
Markoff continues, reporting that Jobs told him that the MacBook Air “is the most elegant computer the company has created, right down to the four rubber footpads that support it. Some of the competitors’ machines are so flimsy, he said, they require a fifth or even sixth pad to keep from sagging.”
Markoff reports, “[Jobs] had a wide range of observations on the industry, including the Amazon Kindle book reader, which he said would go nowhere largely because Americans have stopped reading. ‘It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore,’ he said. ‘Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.'”
MacDailyNews Take: Besides the fact that Kindle is a product in search of a market, it also doesn’t help that it looks like something John Dykstra superglued together back in 1975.
Markoff continues, “He was equally skeptical about Google’s decision to develop smartphone software… ‘Having created a phone its a lot harder than it looks,’ he said. ‘We’ll see how good their software is and we’ll see how consumers like it and how quickly it is adopted.’ In seeking not to get locked out of the mobile phone world, ‘I actually think Google has achieved their goal without Android, and I now think Android hurts them more than it helps them. It’s just going to divide them and people who want to be their partners.'”
Markoff continues, “Mr. Jobs saved his greatest compliment today for his former archrival Bill Gates, who has now largely retired will retire from Microsoft this summer. ‘Bill’s retiring from Microsoft is a big deal,’ he said. ‘It’s a significant event, and I think he should be honored for the contributions he’s made.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: LOL! Yeah, right after Gates serves his time for stealing and copying from Apple for 30 years while calling it “Microsoft innovation,” an oxymoron if there ever was one. Honor Gates, for what, exactly? Stifling productivity worldwide for the last two decades by plunging the world into the Dark Ages of Personal Computing because he couldn’t resist buying a Mac and trying (and failing) to replicate it every G.D. year? For driving countless innovators out of business by illegally abusing his monopoly? For stealing from the ignorant for years so that he could try to buy his way into heaven at the end? Microsoft Bob? Promoting solid pastel V-neck sweaters? We’re at a loss.
For which contributions, exactly, should we be scrambling to honor Bill Gates? Maybe Jobs meant for producing upside-down and backwards, insecure, poorly-faked Macs for the masses which eventually worked to get him back at Apple and therefore get Apple back on track? “I think he should be honored for the contributions he’s made.” Maybe Jobs simply means the charity contributions, but we have a tough time commending anyone who donates ill-gotten gains. (However, we will say that giving it away to charity is at least better than amassing collections of cars, yachts, and mansions – unless, of course, you build and sell cars, yachts, and mansions for a living, that is.)
Jobs is crafty. He comes off looking magnanimous towards Gates in The New York Times, but don’t discount what are obviously also his feelings — perhaps his true feelings — which were clearly on display in the “Get a Mac” video that opened Jobs’ keynote yesterday. And these are Jobs’ feelings or this video wouldn’t have been shown:
Direct link via YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcqzaMtwQWk
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Citymark” for the heads up.]
Please MDN… The MacBook Air is hobbled by the fact that it has NO removable battery. Sorry, but that is a deal-breaker for me.
The whole non-user-replaceable battery issue will be well discussed by the journalists.. and they will still scramble to find out why this product was a hit a year from now!
I think Mr. Jobs is correct NOT to allow a reporter to bait him into unkind remarks about Bill Gates.
99 percent of people get by with 1 battery, you would have to get a replacement battery from apple eventually (when it dies) and they install it for free, so its not really a big deal.
If you watch the keynote, Steve also points out that Microsoft Office was the LAST major product to go Universal..
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@Macintosh Sauce
How many times do plan to change your laptop battery?
I have a macbook and an extra new battery. I haven’t touched it for 5 months? I am not sure why you complain about it?
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/15/macbook-air-battery-replacements-129-free-install/
The battery IS replaceable, but only by Apple (or a dealer, I guess), not by the user.
” am not sure why you complain about it?”
I’ll till you why, Because not everyone licks jobs ass hole on every bad decision Apple makes.
And bullshit shit on you MDN. They did have to compromise. What do you call no internal optical drive? What do you call non user replaceable battery?
And don’t give me some bull shit about buying an external drive or some crap about how you don’t rarely use the drive on a notebook. It’s a crock that no one falls for. Well except these other dip retards that are brain washed.
I have a PowerBook Ti that’s about 6 years old. I have changed the battery once. It’s unfortunate if some people can’t make it on one battery, but I think Apple has assessed the cost to benefit ratio on this topic and has made the best choice overall for this product. They do offer other laptops with a changeable battery.
MacDailyNews Take: “Besides the fact that Kindle is a product in search of a market, it also doesn’t help that it looks like something John Dykstra superglued together back in 1975.”
How true! Thanks for the laugh, MDN!
I don’t even know how to get off my MB’s battery. Why should I?
So, “Why?”, are you still pissed that they don’t include a floppy drive anymore too?
It doesn’t have a floppy drive. That kills it for me!
I think Steve and Bill have a love/hate relationship based on a long history. They basically grew up together (business wise) and have been friend and foe, though mainly foe.
Maybe Steve feels he has defeated his arch enemy, or at least sent him into retreat, and is doing the honorable thing. Kinda like when Bush presented Clinton’s portrait.
“I don’t even know how to get off my MB’s battery”
Try putting your tongue on the positive and your finger on the negative……
I’ve had fifty Macs, and nearly every laptop they’ve made. Replaced one battery in the Duo 270.
Replaceable battery is not an issue.
As to the books comment – guess I am a throwback. I read probably 100-200 books a year (yes some of them are polished off within an evening and NO they are not all great literature). That said – I want to read a BOOK – not a computer or some bizarre book reading device. Now – you kids get off my lawn!!!
It’s true that nobody reads books anymore but magazines are a different matter. Given a stylish looking reader and an electronic buying and subscription model (like iTunes singles) there may well be a market for selling reading content into iPod like devices that are coupled with an iTunes like service.
I disagree with Steve Jobs’ assertation that the Kindle can’t be a successful product, and that people don’t read anymore. I’m sure that there are less readers than there were in the past, thanks to the overall dumbing down of America, but people most certainly still do read. Sure, the Kindle will never do iPod type numbers, but that’s not to be expected. The Kindle can fill its niche and still be a success without shipping 100 million plus units.
Rarely need the DVD drive. Haven’t had to change the battery on my 17″ G4 Powerbook. I could see if someone had a long flight and needed more battery time that that could be a problem but some of those longer flights have laptop power available. I think for most people the battery and optical drive will be a non issue.
Extra batteries are great for long flights where you want to do a lot of work and there is no power port. Other than that, they’re just a paperweight.
Since the MacBook Air has a (supposed) 5 hour battery, it’s probably “long enough” for most people.
Yes, I don’t give a crap about batter.
I don’t have a need to remove or swap it.
Same for iPhone.
How many people actually carry second battery? This is crazy, just for few people make battery removable.
Get a charger.
@Why
Crude vulgarity does not enhance your arguments.
I for one think this site would be better off without such crudity.
Happy New Year everyone else.
John
@ John Crawford
Happy New Year to you too.
Thanks
I think the lack of optical drive reminds me of when they dropped the floppy drive. These drives are becoming less useful. Right now there are only two reasons to use an optical drive
1. Watch/Burn dvd’s and music cd’s
2. Install software
Now if you burn movies then this is not the laptop for you to do most of that work on, this is a highly mobile laptop, made for people that need a machine while they are on the road.
With the ipod we are moving away from music CD’s, its obvious, CD sales are way down, online music is way up and there are all types of ways to interface ur ipod with your car, home stereo, and your own ear.
For software install, you can purchase a lot of software over the net now, it is an increasing delivery format, it of course also allows for the software developers to really keep track of how many copies are installed on a machine. Ether way, you need the optical drive less often.
Dont even talk about backup, it is not a good back up format, cd’s easily scratch and do not hold near enough data in comparison to a relatively cheap hard drive, and for small file backups, most people use usb drives.
In fact for file transfer and sharing, everyone now uses usb stick drive, opticals are not like floppys, and they never really were.
But the main thing is to realize what this product is for, if you wanta full featured laptop, get a pro line model, 17″ screen with a fast processor and 4gb ram, then its a portable desktop. But if you need a light weight, small form laptop with little bells and whistles, you need to do work on, then maybe the AIR is for you.