Live Blog: New MacBook Announcements from Apple
— -- 10:16 PT: "At each of these distinct stages, we're continually collecting the material, and cleaning it, and recycling it. So we started with a solid slab of aluminium that weighed over 2.5 pounds, and we end with this remarkably precise part that ways less than a quarter of a pound. It's also very strong. That one part forms the structure for the MacBook air. It's the highly precise enclosure that makes the product possible. So this new way of building a notebook that we pioneered here obviously has relevance beyond the MacBook air. And we've been working hard to build new unibody enclosures for new notebooks."
10:14 PT: "We discovered that if we started with a thick piece of aluminium and removed material to make physical features in the structure, we could make a much lighter but much stronger part. So that's how we make the palm rest of the MacBook air." He shows an image of an aluminum extrusion to show how the put it together. They create the "locating features," holes in the metal. Then rough cutting, a "noisy stage" where they remove large amounts of material quickly. Remove holes for key caps, and the trackpad. Then they blast it and anodize it.
10:13 PT:
Showing a series of plates on the current model that are welded together to provide more support. And finally, they add a plastic gasket. "That allows us to control the reveal of the junction between the palm rest and the bottom case. We have been looking at a new way of solving these problems, and we've been looking for a better way to build a notebook, and we think we've found it. We had a significant breakthrough that culminated in the design of the MacBook air. There is no way that you could build a product that is as thin, light, and importantly as strong and robust as the MacBook air given the architecture that I just described.
Showing a series of plates on the current model that are welded together to provide more support. And finally, they add a plastic gasket. "That allows us to control the reveal of the junction between the palm rest and the bottom case. We have been looking at a new way of solving these problems, and we've been looking for a better way to build a notebook, and we think we've found it. We had a significant breakthrough that culminated in the design of the MacBook air. There is no way that you could build a product that is as thin, light, and importantly as strong and robust as the MacBook air given the architecture that I just described.
10:11 PT: Jonathan Ive on stage. "I'd like to take a few moments to tell you about a real breakthrough we've had in how to design our notebooks. To show you the issues that preoccupy us when we're designing these products." First, he's going to show how they build the current MacBook Pro. "When you're designing a product as thin and light as the MacBook Pro, is making it strong, robust, tortionally rigid. I think you'd be surprised to know that the aluminium enclosure you see makes a small contribution to the structure. The structure is primarily derived from the internal frame. It's made of multiple parts that are then assembled into the bottom case, which is a very thin Aluminium pressing. It's this composite that starts to create a strong system."
10:10 PT: Jobs is back! "With that done, let's talk about notebooks. But before we get started, we want to talk about some technologies and discoveries we've made that help us build notebooks."
Jobs is back! "With that done, let's talk about notebooks. But before we get started, we want to talk about some technologies and discoveries we've made that help us build notebooks."
10:09 PT: New slide: total Mac units sold. Pointing out that in the first three quarters, Apple has already sold as many Macs as they did all last year. "And that's the state of the Mac," Cook says.
10:09 PT: Tim puts up a photo of a lecture hall at a college, and it's almost entirely Mac laptops. "I challenge you to find a PC," he says. The point is, college kids have a choice of laptops and they're choosing Macs.
10:08 PT: "In education, we've surpassed Dell to become the top-selling provider of notebooks, 39 percent. And at a major university, here's what's happened." Shows a slide, starts at 2002 at 15 percent, up to 47 percent in 2008.
10:07 PT: "Obviously the unit share is growing. In U.S. retail, we've gone from a single-digit number to now, the Macintosh represents 17.6 percent of unit sales in U.S. retail. And if you look at revenue share, because we focus on fully-featured systems and we don't compromise on quality, our revenue share is 31.3 percent. That means one out of every three dollars spent on computers in U.S. retail is spent on the Macintosh. What a difference a few years makes."
10:06 PT: "And these are the six reasons we'd attribute to the Mac's momentum. But this just didn't begin. If you look at the history, what you would see that the Mac has outgrown the market for 14 of the last 15 quarters. That's almost four years. That's phenomenal."
10:05 PT: "Number six, retail stores. We began our journey in the retail stores just about seven years ago. And today we have 247 stores in 8 countries, and they greet 400,000 visitors each day. And most importantly, still 50 percent of the Macintoshes they sell are to people that are new to the Mac, making the people underneath the Macintosh tent larger and larger." Shows photos of the new Sydney store and the new Beijing store.
10:04 PT: Great marketing. "The Mac-PC ad has struck a chord with so many switchers. They tell a story, and people listen." And he plays one of the ads - it's the "you're banished" ad with John Hodgman on a throne.
10:03 PT: Next up, "something we didn't do -- Vista." Laughter in the audience. "I think it's fair to say that Vista hasn't lived up to everything that Microsoft hoped it would. And consequently, it's opened doors for a lot of people to consider switching to the Mac. And this has given us an opportunity and Apple has been the beneficiary of this."
10:02 PT: Number 3, compatibility. He cites Boot Camp on every Mac. Shows Windows XP running on iMac. "When I look at this, it sends shivers up my sign. But it works as an insurance policy, whether you use it or not."
10:01 PT: Next: Better Software. "Software like Leopard. Virtually everyone agrees that Leopard is far ahead of Vista. And software like iLife, the best digital lifestyle suite on the market, that lets you enjoy photos, and make movies, and make music, all in an integrated package.
10:00 PT: Slide of current Mac line. Cook: Last reported quarter, 2.5 million Macs, new company record. "This didn't just start in the last quarter. Several quarters in a row, we've been growing 2-3 times the market growth. Here's why we think this is the case." First, "better computers, far superior" to what's out there. He cites the iMac and the MacBook air.
9:59 PT: Steve Jobs on stage. "Good morning!" Black mock turtleneck, blue jeans -- standard attire. "Everybody knows, today's about notebooks, and we've got some exciting new notebooks and we want to tell you the story about how we created these things." But first, "we want to cover the state of the Mac." So Steve introduces chief operating officer Tim Cook to take us through the "state of the Mac."
9:59 PT: Lights are dimming. We're about to get started
9:54 PT: How you know it's not an Apple music event: The music playing is classical. Classical is not my specialty, but it was a solo violin. Now some more... chamber music? "Now I feel like I'm at a wedding," says an Apple employee behind me. Are you ready to rock? I hope not! Are you ready to classical?
9:52 PT: Hello from Cupertino! This is Macworld Editorial Director Jason Snell, reporting to you from the small theater on the main Apple campus on Infinite Loop. Members of the media, analysts, and Apple employees are filing in to this theater, which has been the location of numerous Apple product launches, including the original iPod launch. I'll be providing your live update today, so I'm warming up my typing fingers right now.
Related Stories
ABC News Live