Analysts: Macworld "underwhelming", "evolutionary"

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 77
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rnp1 View Post


    Just because MicroSoft has a portly bozo Balmer and a unsocial frumpy Gates as spokesmen, doesn't mean Apple can put on a show with someone who looks like they never owned or used a SoloFlex or a Breville Juicer!

    This is real marketing-to the world, not a bunch of overweight college boys who drink beer and watch football and eventually flunk out!



    Gee, the one guy is too thin, the other too fat... it is really difficult to make anybody happy it seems.



    Schiller was doing extremely well for the little he had up his sleeve, and he was certainly more than a bit more articulate than most CEOs we have seen doing cameos during Apple shows (I still have not figured out if this AT&T boss was vomiting or talking when the iPhone was introduced). They had almost nothing to show. As this was not their timing, it is useless to blame them. Nobody in the entire western world launches a major new consumer product on the 6th of January...
  • Reply 22 of 77
    crees!crees! Posts: 501member
    Analyst: "We like it, but we didn't like it."
  • Reply 23 of 77
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mjtomlin View Post


    This is exactly why Steve Jobs didn't give the keynote and Apple pulled out of MacWorld; expectations are always set way too high for this keynote. Regardless what Apple has ready to ship, the media, analysts and rabid fans, expect something amazing and earth shattering to be announced.



    Couldn't disagree more. Expectations were pretty low for this one, and what was announced was less than any keynote in memory, it disappointed regardless of expectations.



    People have a right to judge announcements from apple - sometimes expectations are too high, but this isn't one of those times. Criticizing people for expecting "earth shattering changes" is simply a straw man argument, people were just hoping for basic updates to more than one piece of hardware.



    I couldn't care less who does their presentation or how much pizazz he has, it's all about the products.
  • Reply 24 of 77
    ouraganouragan Posts: 437member
    I have to second analysts who qualify the last MacWorld keynote presentation as "underwhelming", especially as there were no new iMacs and MacMinis announced.



    As I view Apple, there are no business desktop computers and, since Apple switched to Intel and decided to use mobile chips for iMacs as a cost saving measure, there are no consumer desktop computers.



    It is important to understand that Apple is competing with other computer makers for consumer and business dollars. Apple computers must be competitive when buyers compare features, CPUs and prices.



    Intel has been producing quad-core Penryn desktop processors since November 2007, but Apple stayed with lower powered, mobile, dual-core processors throughout 2008 for its iMacs (despite the fact that iMacs should be considered to be desktop computers).



    The Core 2 Quad Q6600 65 nm CPU has been available for $266 since November 2007, and $224 since April 20, 2008. See:



    - Intel to cut 65 nm quad-core processor prices for 45 nm @ http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/36136/139/



    - Intel drops second quad-core CPU into the mainstream @ http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/37038/135/



    - Have quad-core processors arrived in the mainstream? @ http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/36548/135/



    - Intel adds cheap dual-core, quad-core @ http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39135/135/





    The Intel Core i7 desktop microprocessor was officially introduced on November 17, 2008. See:



    Intel unleashes Core i7, beats itself @ http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/40213/135/



    Core i7 PCs launch with prices from $1250 to $13,000 @ http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/40227/135/





    The new quad-core Core i7 desktop processor is 20% more powerful than a quad-core Penryn desktop processor. It is already available on Windows desktops which sell for as little as $1250.



    My question to Apple: How long will you wait before you build a competitively priced business and consumer desktop computer with a Core i7 processor?





    Given Steve Jobs poor health and repeated cancer surgeries in 2004 and 2008 (according to an off the record telephone conversation with a New York reporter), and Steve Jobs' sick leave that could last 9 months, one should worry if Apple will be able to compete with Core i7 quad-core desktop computers running either Vista or the upcoming Windows 7.



    ABC will broadcast tonight, Wednesday, January 7, 2009, a Barbara Walters interview with actor Patrick Swayze who is battling a pancreas cancer just like Steve Jobs. Watch the interview if you want to know what Steve Jobs is going through and why Steve was too sick to give the MacWorld keynote.





  • Reply 25 of 77
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by crees! View Post


    Analyst: "We like it, but we didn't like it."



    Well, kinda. More like "we like what they did show, but it wasn't much".
  • Reply 26 of 77
    aaarrrggghaaarrrgggh Posts: 1,609member
    But nobody is analyzing the 2.3MM Mac figure yet! No updated EPS guesses!
  • Reply 27 of 77
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ouragan View Post


    ABC will broadcast tonight, Wednesday, January 7, 2009, a Barbara Walters interview with actor Patrick Swayze who is battling a pancreas cancer just like Steve Jobs. Watch the interview if you want to know what Steve Jobs is going through and why Steve was too sick to give the MacWorld keynote.



    There are different kinds of pancreatic cancer, and it sounds like the two don't have the same one.



    Assuming that you can get an idea of what someone with a disease is going through (much less "why Steve was too sick to give the MacWorld keynote") from a celebrity TV interview is about the most idiotic and insulting thing I can imagine.
  • Reply 28 of 77
    I'm sure the underwhelming nature of the MacWorld Expo was intentional.



    Apple wants to break out of the cycle it's created where expectation of new product announcements in January causes a slump in December/holiday sales. There's also a clear negative stock price impact pre- and post- expo.



    So, they announce that they are discontinuing expo attendance, throw in Phil Schiller instead of Steve, and purposely fail to announce any significant products. Perfect.



    Apple has doubtless got lots of exciting products in the pipeline that will make consumers' and analysts' mouths water. Watch for them in the coming months.
  • Reply 29 of 77
    dreyfus2dreyfus2 Posts: 1,072member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ouragan View Post


    I have to second analysts who qualify the last MacWorld keynote presentation as "underwhelming", especially as there were no new iMacs and MacMinis announced.



    As I view Apple, there are no business desktop computers and, since Apple switched to Intel and decided to use mobile chips for iMacs as a cost saving measure, there are no consumer desktop computers.



    It is important to understand that Apple is competing with other computer makers for consumer and business dollars. Apple computers must be competitive when buyers compare features, CPUs and prices.



    Apple computers have never been competitive from this point of view. And if Apple would target that, they would be facing severe problems... if they would build comparable machines they would have to match prices and businesses needing Windows would still not buy. All they would have is lower margins not being fully compensated for by additional sales. A recipe for disaster.



    Businesses that do not need Windows (mine for example) do buy Macs. For most business tasks the Mini is more than powerful enough and the iMac is already having more power than needed. When buying these machines in numbers, project prices are not at all bad and the support and maintenance cost of Macs is highly favorable. Bottom line the premium is rather small.



    Why should they upgrade the iMac just for the sake of upgrading it? There are no relevant new CPUs or chipsets available and Nehalem may not be here before July. Putting desktop CPUs into an AIO would likely only make them noisier... not needed. The Mini is already too noisy with a laptop CPU.
  • Reply 30 of 77
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tscurtis View Post


    Apple wants to break out of the cycle it's created where expectation of new product announcements in January causes a slump in December/holiday sales. There's also a clear negative stock price impact pre- and post- expo.



    Interesting point. But apple will always face cycles and slumps when they only update a product once or twice a year. Even if this event didn't exist, sales of minis and mac pros would still be slumping over the holidays since the machines hadn't been updated in so long. The only way apple will ever avoid those slumps is if it updates on a regular basis, preferably as often as faster chips and components become available.



    Along those same lines, machines on the high end will be somewhat cyclical no matter what apple does since consumers aware of Intel's release schedule will put off purchases when they know the next generation of chips is imminent.
  • Reply 31 of 77
    dappledapple Posts: 44member
    Steve's trademark brilliance is all over the details that Apple announced at MacWorld 2009, IMO.



    Apple manufactures hardware and software that the marketplace can match-up to consumers.
  • Reply 32 of 77
    flounderflounder Posts: 2,674member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by minderbinder View Post


    There are different kinds of pancreatic cancer, and it sounds like the two don't have the same one.



    Assuming that you can get an idea of what someone with a disease is going through (much less "why Steve was too sick to give the MacWorld keynote") from a celebrity TV interview is about the most idiotic and insulting thing I can imagine.



    You are correct. Jobs' Cancer is a rare, and fortunately highly treatable form of pancreatic cancer. Treatable because symptoms show up early. Five-year survival rates are extremely high.



    Typical pancreatic cancer, like Swayze has, is usually not discovered until it's quite advanced and is normally a death sentence. The five year survival rate is under 10%. Frankly, it's fairly surprising that Swayze is still alive.
  • Reply 33 of 77
    Phil's pretty good at these public scenes. He did good. Seemed like he might have been under the weather a bit then if not recently as he seemed to build energy as the event moved on and sounded bit stuffed up in the beginning.



    I was WOW'd by the iLife and iWork presentations. Not sure why it's always gotta be hardware. Like the first gen MacBook runs most of the apps any slower than the new one, heck a PowerBook G4 1.67 runs most of the apps just as fast as my MBP 2.6 C2D.

    They really put another leap ahead of, well there really isn't any competition is there, everything out there. I think the developers did a great job. I'm seriously impressed. What's next!



    There still missing the business segment... But maybe they'll get a department in the future to handle that with outside reps... Oh wait...



    The jaw dropping moment however was the total mac sales for the year. A flat 4th year qtr for 08 it's gonna be, and I mean FLAT. Lack of Mini/iMac updates could just mean they haven't polished them up enough yet. Takes a bit to get the CNC machining just right ya know (and I do). Talking the product up only to say we'll offer it available in two months or weeks just isn't the same. They'll probably do their first iSeminar in Feb. to mark the release of these two systems and the update to AppleTV with Netflix integration.



    Another jaw dropper is the MacBook Air Gen1 in the Apple Store refurb section for $999! However that's not event related. I can't be the only one who ordered 2....



    All in all I went away pleased.
  • Reply 34 of 77
    abster2coreabster2core Posts: 2,501member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ouragan View Post


    ABC will broadcast tonight, Wednesday, January 7, 2009, a Barbara Walters interview with actor Patrick Swayze who is battling a pancreas cancer just like Steve Jobs. Watch the interview if you want to know what Steve Jobs is going through and why Steve was too sick to give the MacWorld keynote.



    It is too bad that I respect my fellow man to say that you are a frigg'n asshole.
  • Reply 35 of 77
    charlitunacharlituna Posts: 7,217member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    "We believe that Steve Jobs relinquished the Macworld keynote to Phil Schiller primarily because there were no significant announcements.* If Phil Schiller had made a significant announcement, we would have seen that as a sign of a changing-of-the-guard, but that was not the case," Munster wrote.



    "Steve Jobs remains the primary spokesperson for the company and we expect him to continue to appear at special events for all major product announcements."





    i'm going to laugh if in like four weeks there is an on campus event to announce new iMacs etc and Phil is the one that takes the stage as the primary speaker.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post


    I've noticed the trend. Since the return of Steve the more cultish fans have become addicticted to the pomp and circumstance of a Job's lovefest aka Macworld Keynote.



    Frankly Apple's problem is sticking with a product or idea long enough to flesh it out but hell when you have fans that expect earth shattering changes every keynote that becomes a bit difficult.



    In fact most Apple groundbreaking tech is so misunderstood at first it takes a while to sink in to the rank and file



    have to agree there. especially about the cultish fans. They, especially the stock folks, have put too much focus on Steve over the products. At least until now. this time the negative comments were at least about the lack of new hardware and not that Steve coughed twice and farted in the middle of his speech so he's probably only got like a day left to live at best.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    It does reinforce Steve's dominance as Apple's spokesman/cult leader. They still need to do more to shift Steve's role to that of company cheerleader and evangelist. Would Steve go for it? Probably not...



    given how much folks are digging into his private business I think that is basically what he is trying to do. take the focus off Steve and only the company as a team and the products



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ouragan View Post


    I have to second analysts who qualify the last MacWorld keynote presentation as "underwhelming", especially as there were no new iMacs and MacMinis announced.



    but they never said there would be. in fact there weren't even that many solid rumors there would be. which is a shock because usually there are secret reports and photos like crazy before a big announcement. which makes them all a tad underwhelming because we saw it coming for weeks.



    Quote:



    ABC will broadcast tonight, Wednesday, January 7, 2009, a Barbara Walters interview with actor Patrick Swayze who is battling a pancreas cancer just like Steve Jobs. Watch the interview if you want to know what Steve Jobs is going through and why Steve was too sick to give the MacWorld keynote.



    I"m sorry. i didn't realize that you are one of Steve's doctors. you must be if you know exactly what he's gone through and how sick he is. and you must be treating Swayze as well to know that the two have the exact same kind of pancretic cancer.
  • Reply 36 of 77
    Some people (especially the "pros" on Wall street; recall the current money crisis) will be disappointed no matter what Apple chooses to release, and it is pretty funny reading what they have to say. Most likely most of them are dissatisfied with their own lives so they seem to have a need to transfer such to Apple.



    The upgrades to iLife and iWork are pretty nice and we need to remember that it is the software experience that brings and keeps customers. Got a friend to switch last year by showing her how she could manage her family photos and movies, make a family homepage easily, make music (she's a musician), and what-not. She didn't really care about the box it came in (bought a MacBook); she was sold on the software, which just got even better. She called last night to say she is getting a Mac for her mother-in-law (who has 7 grandchildren; Faces, anyone?) and recommending one to her sister (who will travel to Europe and Africa later this year; Places, anyone?), based on the new apps alone.



    So, while there are some geeks and pros out there who might have wanted a little more (I want a new Cinema Display for my MacPro), Apple makes lots of money off of average users and is trying hard to attract them, and many of them are buying laptops, which were just updated recently. So, the right move for Apple is to improve the user experience for those customers. There are other venues for releases such as ACDs, MacPros, so our time will come. Sure, the iPhone or the MacMini would have been nice, but perhaps they just weren't quite ready, which is part of the reasoning behind dropping out of an artificially created timeline.



    So, for all the retractors, keep those posts coming, as is is fun comparing them to the ones from keynotes past (some people post almost verbatim every time).
  • Reply 37 of 77
    hirohiro Posts: 2,663member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post


    Jesus could not have saved the keynote, and Jobs certainly couldn't have. End of the day they had nothing "EXCITING" to show off. I though Shiller did a grand job, but they had shit all to enthuse me with product-wise.



    They had no new products besides the 17" MacBook Pro, which interests me as much as a grain of sand. The fact that the keynote was crap was because they had no new mini, no new Apple TV, no new Tele, or no new Mac touch. I was half expecting to see something wonderful, I didn't. I genuinely couldn't give a shit that Jobs wasn't there.



    I'm not singling out your post, just using it as a proxy for all the others like yours as well. I just have one question:



    Don't you think Apple did the very nice but no mind-blowing Keynote on purpose, just to underscore the fact they want to be on their own release and announce schedule, not MacWorld's?



    I think if Apple had not cut the cord there would have been several announcements for hardware shipping as late as early Mar. But now we will get those with "shipping this afternoon" or something like that when they are actually announced at a press event.
  • Reply 38 of 77
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Hiro View Post


    I'm not singling out your post, just using it as a proxy for all the others like yours as well. I just have one question:



    Don't you think Apple did the very nice but no mind-blowing Keynote on purpose, just to underscore the fact they want to be on their own release and announce schedule, not MacWorld's?



    In a word, NO.
  • Reply 39 of 77
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Apple watchers on Wall Street are weighing in on Tuesday's Phil Schiller-led keynote address at Macworld, which they found disappointing…



    It wasn't long ago that we would anxiously wait for the annual Macworld Conference. And to some, keeping it secret was a sin; to some, not creating rumours of what was coming was a sin; while to others, it wouldn't matter anyway because they were going to dis the party no matter what was introduced.



    But if we looked at what was launched, updated or presented in a space of less than one year, i.e., January 15, 2008 to January 6, 2009, only an extremely selfish, thoughtless individual would be disappointed.

    Jan 8, 2008 Pre-Conference Teaser
    • Mac Pro 8 Core

    • Xserve 8 Core

    And in less than one year…
    January 15, 2008 Macworld 2008

    \t
    • Time Capsule

    • MacBook Air

    February 5, 2008
    • iPhone 16 Gb

    • \tiPod touch 32 Gb

    February 12, 2008
    • Aperature 2

    February 19, 2008
    • Xsan 2

    • \tiPod Shuffle 2 Gb

    February 26, 2008
    • MacBook

    • \tMacBook Pro Multi-Touch Trackpad

    March 6, 2007
    • iPhone SDK

    March 12, 2007
    • AirPort Express 802.11n

    March 18, 2007
    • Safari 3.1

    April 8, 2007
    • Aperature 2.1

    • \tFinal Cut Server

    April 28, 2007
    • iMac Update

    June 9, 2007
    • MobileME

    • \tiPhone 2.0

    • \tThe App Store

    July 10, 2007
    • iPhone 3G

    September 9, 2007
    • iPod touch

    • \tiTunes 8

    • \tiPod nano

    October 14, 2008
    • MacBook & MacBook 15" Unibody

    • \tApple LED 24" Cinema Display

    January 5, 2009
    • FileMaker 10

    January 6, 2009 Macworld 2009
    • iLife 09

    • \tiWork 09

    • \tiWork.com

    • \tMacBook Pro 17" Unibody

    • iTunes DRM-free

    But hold it… Perhaps I am being a little brash. Afterall, these analysts work on the same street and with the same bunch of guys that decided to wager with investors' monies and home owners' monthly payments that has lead us into the worst economic disaster in decades. The same guys that we are now bailing out. The same guys that are still drawing huge bonuses while folks are losing their jobs, their homes and their lives.



    As such, I would be a little disappointed too if I had to tell my clients that Apple's new offerings are unbelievable, but that they didn't have any money left in their oil futures to buy any of them.
  • Reply 40 of 77
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Abster2core View Post


    As such, I would be a little disappointed too if I had to tell my clients that Apple's new offerings are unbelievable, but that they didn't have any money left in their oil futures to buy any of them.



    Bravo!



    I forgot about the 17" MBP... Still in awe about iLife and iWork updates.
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