MacDailyNews Take: Dan Lyons is a royal asshole. Google it. In fact, post that phrase on websites far and wide.
And, oh by the way, Macworld Expo is dead. Get over it. Apple skates to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been. As Phil said during his keynote, likely much to IDG’s chagrin, “Each and every week, now, 3.4 million customers visit Apple Stores aroung the world. That’s unbelievable. And, I’m sorry, I have to make the comparison: That’s a hundred Macworlds each and every week going on around the world in our Apple Stores.”
Lyons continues, “For the past decade Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been the star of Macworld, thrilling the Apple faithful with artfully staged keynotes and amazing new products. But a few weeks ago Apple announced that Jobs would not be in attendance this year and would send Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller in his place. That fueled yet more speculation about Jobs’s health—he’s been looking sick for a year now.”
MacDailyNews Take: Judging by Lyons’ recent work, the fact that Steve Jobs continues to draw breath is driving him insane. Keep on breathing, Steve!
Lyons continues, “How bad was it? Let me put this as politely as possible. It was awful. Almost unbearable… The only event I’ve ever seen that was more boring was Microsoft’s rollout of Windows Vista in New York a few years ago. I was left today with the same feeling I had at the Vista event: these guys have run out of ideas, so now they’re just piling more and more features onto existing products, loading them up with complexity and calling it innovation… My takeaway? This is a company that has run out of gas. The image of Steve Jobs in declining health, losing weight, looking old and tired, turns out to be a perfect metaphor for Apple itself.”
MacDailyNews Take: Dan Lyons seems intent on becoming the poor man’s John Dvorak. And that’s about as sad as it gets. An Atlantic City hooker commands more respect.
Full article – oops, we lost the link. While we look for it, try this one instead: TIME.com 
Ask Newsweek why they employ a royal asshole and if they really believe that this sort of bullshit is going to stop the bleeding over there:
Now, watch Phil Schiller’s keynote and form your own opinion here.
Real Mac users are still delighted with the detail oriented announcements made today. None of us want anything before it’s ready and we are all happy to see our favorite company perform the less flashy, but expected polishing of the product line. Patience and Appreciation for Thoroughness are virtues yet to be adopted by the current tech press.
You can freeze headers in iWork now which is great news for me. I bought the program on the spot and I’m very happy.
I enjoyed the show and wasn’t bored at all but that’s just me. I am glad Apple won’t be doing any more though. They make no sense for the company.
A very common mistake is to assume your own interests are those of everyone else.
HIT WHORE!!!!
I think Steve is going to give a big presentation on 25th Anniversary of Apple II
When Apple takes 10 years to update a crappy OS with an even crappier OS, then maybe you can say they’ve run out of steam like Microsoft.
That guy just doesn’t get it. It’s not that Apple has nothing interesting to sell, but they are still working on it. ie: the bread is still baking in the oven, it’s just not ready yet. That’s why Apple pulled out of Macworld. They just cannot take the pressure and risk rushing products out when it’s not ready yet just to present them at Macworld at the beginning of each year. Apple will burnt out that way.
Worst case scenario- as expected, Steve Jobs didn’t show up and nothing earth-shaking was announced, as expected!
I expect Steve to be OK, and for this idiot Lyons to keep writing his obituary and now using words like “excrutiating” and “out of ideas” only reflects upon himself.
OK, I think I’m getting an ever-increasing sense of which writers, magazines, and websites to avoid. “Fake Steve Jobs?” This guy makes Dvorak look deserving of a Pulitzer!
I finally am dying to buy a 17″ MacBook Pro. I have never really wanted one all that bad; so this is a big deal for me as a professional, PowerMac/Mac Pro only user.
So that proves Lyons is truly a clueless jerkoff.
And I bought iWork ’09 today, delivery in the next 24 – 48 hours. I expect it to be as terrific as all updates to Apple products have always been for me.
I think a lot of people are missing the point. Notice that 4 or 5 Apple employees were featured on the show with significant “parts”, not just walk on/walk off. This was intended to show the depth of Apple – that it is not a one man show. Pretty smart, I’d say.
Man…what is it with some people? I guess when you are up, the only way you can go is down right? I for one am glad Steve is playing it this way. It is unfair to think that when someone hits a home run every time at bat for ten times in a row and that the eleventh time when he only gets to first base…well….what a loser (notice people how loser is spelled!!!!)!
Way to go Steve, hope you had a Merry Christmas with your family (you are allowed to have a normal life you know), get well and I await the next product announcement by you. I hope it is this summer and that Apple has had a enough time to polish whatever they present to its usual high standard (and not feel pressured to shovel shit out the door ASAP).
As for other negative comments posted here, get a life people. Lyons is an asshat…try not to imitate him.
I think that it was impossible, after the iPhone, to continually keep up the ante with every MacWorld. Unfortunately, Engadget and other blogs and Techies expected a Whiz-Bang product release every January. Innovation does not work like that. It’s usually in 5-7 year cycles. In hindsight, it is probably a good thing at this point for Apple to temper expectations before they become irrelevant.
While I often found FSJ pretty funny, Dan Lyons has had his day and is definitely starting to sound like a royal asshole.
Watch for a “special event” around April or May, where the new Mac mini and other products will be announced by Steve Jobs as part of his “grand comeback”, after he’s put on a few more ounces. I’d say they weren’t close enough to prime time for an announcement right now, and Apple didn’t want to piss off potential consumers.
The iMovie improvements and DRM-free music (along with variable pricing) sound pretty cool — I’ve been pretty much “meh” on iWork but might check it out anyway. I’m most excited about being able to buy/download music via 3G; if it works on podcasts it’ll be awesome as I’ve got some that I want to be able to update on the road when I’m traveling and away from my iMac.
The Big News … they will be Beta Testing their iWork.com package before going prime-time with it. Yes … they learned a lesson with MobileMe.
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I downloaded the demo of iWork9 … just to hold me over until I get to the store … and what happened? “You gots to have 10.5.6 to run this good stuff, boy”. I yam SOoo ashamed! Tomorrow I’ll grab a copy for my own system (this is my wife’s) so I can play a bit.
<whee!>
I commend you on managing to create a profitable business model for yourself and cull together enough news around a single company to sustain it.
Your profanity is unnecessary in the above piece and really just makes you sound whiny and hostile.
Wasn’t it the worst MacWorld you’ve ever (not) seen? Wasn’t it a pretty sad set of product introductions? Didn’t you think Jobs missing made it less effective? Aren’t you troubled that the CEO makes virtually no public appearances while the stock gets slammed every other week on rumors of his health declining?
Are you really so blindly positive on Apple that you can’t show any bit of balance in your commentary? Or is your blind faith what these shills on my screen that want to sell me Macs, Adobe software and iPhone accessories pay for?
I’ve come to your site because I like Apple products. I like having a good and informed source. When you vent on reporters and analysts, let loose a string of foul language, the only information I get from it is that you’re acting like a spoiled child.
C’mon, too much at this show and it would give credence to the value of MacWorld. This simply shows that Apple is doing a yawn on the show. New hardware is needed, so an announcement in the near future with everyone flying to Cupertino will reignite the new hardware gimmes.
If Sony had a conference every time they updated a computer product – let alone a Consumer electronics product – they would be scheduled for one per week.
Apple is no longer SJ & Woz operating out the back of a garage – its a company worth billions. Surely the result of all their toil is more than a 17″ version of an existing 15″ product and a few software tweaks to attempt to bolster sales of software that has long since pasted it’s original sell by date.
@agog
I don’t wish to be a MDN apologist, they can defend themselves better. However, when you veered slightly off topic in your decent criticism of MDN and suggested that it was ‘the Worst MacWorld’ etc. you basically stated your opinion that I (and I’m sure there are a few others) don’t happen to agree with. But the way you presented it, didn’t feel like an opinion but more a fact, which it wasn’t.
So, it seems to me, you feel you have the right to opine (with or without a solid foundation) while a Mac-centric opinion site shan’t. MDN doesn’t write news articles themselves mostly, just quotes/paraphrases Apple related news published elsewhere and adds their occasional commentaries on them, hence it’s an opinion site.
Now, on to your opening criticism of MDN resorting to name calling in order to make a point, I would somewhat agree with you. I remember I cringed at one of MDN’s harsh words leveled against a Mr. Steve B. of Microsoft a few months ago. I felt it was unnecessary if not utterly inappropriate even as a commentary. MDN is an unabashed Apple fan, and doesn’t play the PC (no puns) or tone down their rhetoric on things they are passionate about. I like that about them, as I’m sure there are many tune into MDN first thing in the morning for that very reason. At least, here is an opinion space where Apple fans can be amongst their peers without having to tone down their voices and opinions without having to worry about being offended or criticised for being a fan of a company and its leadership.
I have a feeling you and Macro Marco are looking for something else, or are shopping at the wrong aisle.
Anyway, having said all this, going back to that criticism of name callings, MDN would do better to add a touch of class on their comments, as any true Apple fans would expect nothing short. Otherwise, it may look like pot calling kettle something off colour. Calling someone an Asshat for wishing ill-health to SJ (which, btw, DL did) may look less convincing if not hypocritical when compared to the commentaries against Ballmer by MDN.
I cannot believe some of the crap that I’ve been reading on this site and others. What the hell are you guys rambling about the presentation being boring? Thank goodness that I was able to see the thing in its entirety for myself. Sure, the Macbook Pro battery thing was boring, but where the hell were you when he presented iLife? Am I the only one on the planet completely blown away by iPhoto’s face recognition technologies, allowing you to tag one face and have iphoto search through your entire library for that one person or group of people or the geo tagging feature which was amazing?
Additionally, the IMovie additions that incorporated a lot of what was missing in the initial release was nothing short of fantastic. Did you not see the slow-motion effects? The freaking anti-jitter technology and the audio overlay functionality, along with the themes and other seamless additions, many of which didn’t require rendering?
Boring? I’ll tell you what’s boring. All of this f**g cynical BS that has become blogging. That’s what’s f**g boring! Everyone is a sarcastic bastard. Nothing is ever good enough! Show me another company producing anything close to this? And Apple gives this stuff away with a new Mac.
Let me tell you something else. This was the first time EVER that I didn’t even wait for the keynote to finish before buying iLife tonight. This was so freaking incredible.
If you haven’t seen the keynote, I urge you to look at the first 30 minutes or so to see iLife. That was just incredible! Forget the cynical bastards whose lives are incomplete without blogging pure bullshit all day. See the presentation for yourself and decide.
r.
…one more thing….
To all the ridiculous bums clamoring for an iPad or some other ridiculous thing. Did you bother to look at the economy? Have you looked at the demand curves? Didn’t Palm give up on something similar?
Come on people, think before you blog. All of this ridiculous speculation. Apple will release it when it’s ready.
Then there’s the iPhone Mini….. Meh!
I’m wondering if he even saw the presentation, or what he thought wouldn’t be boring. Maybe he doesn’t work with software or something, but I was very pleased with the presentation of iLife and iWork, both of which I use, and will use more. Sure, one could credibly say Phil Schiller is not as dynamic as Steve Jobs, but that would be too much for one company. PS did a thorough and enlightening presentation, I learned about the new products and what I can do with them. It was sorta inspiring for some projects I have ahead of me.
Very good discussion for the most part here. If Apple are now to announce the new and exciting on their own timetable, I hope to God that when they announce it, it is ready immediately.
There were few things worse for me wrt MacWorld than seeing a wonderful new product announced (iPhone v1 and MacBook Air come to mind, both of which I bought as soon as available) and then not having it be available for one to six months. Now perhaps we’ll have the announcement line up better with the availability like it used to more often than not.
@Marco Macro:
“Sales were flat in November and December for a reason…”
Yeah. It’s called a recession. Look it up.
I actually thought Phil was better than Jobs. The new enhancements in iWork and iLife were needed a lot more then any new Mac Mini or tablets. Great software is the main reason people will enjoy a computing platform. These upgrades will enhance tens of millions of users’ experiences.