Keynote: Apple Presentation Software Rumors

[MacRumors]

With so many new products introduced... one item which was not well predicted was Apple's Keynote application... but this oversight was due to the fact that that particular rumor unfortunately made it to the reject pile.

Backing up a little further, the word "Keynote" was trademarked by Apple in September 2002... which spawned some correct speculation... but no hard evidence.

On Jan 1, 2003, we posted our 2002: Rumor Rejects and Unconfirmed report which summarized various rumors that never made it to the front page... due to lack of supporting evidence.

The first item on the list was "Apple Branded Presentation Software" which was said to be Apple presentation software, similar to powerpoint... "everything was drag and drop in it. Graphics transitions, and media." In hindsight, this information was correct... as other items could be on that reject list...

 

[medea]

Yeah I'd say that Keynote was the biggest surprise at the expo, just about everyone seemed to forget about it during the rumor mongering before the show. It was a nice surprise though and it is what I think is the first step in Appleworks taking over as the supreme office app, I'm sure Jobs will wait to see the response from Keynote before bringing out anything else that could have to do with the future Appleworks (or whatever it may be called.)

 

[iShater]

So there is now an Apple Mail App, and Keynote, hmmm ... AppleWorks hasn't been updated in a while ... geez ... you think the other "Works" are gonna popup as stand-alone apps?

 

[rjrufo]

Originally posted by iShater
So there is now an Apple Mail App, and Keynote, hmmm ... AppleWorks hasn't been updated in a while ... geez ... you think the other "Works" are gonna popup as stand-alone apps?

That could be a possibility, if Apple is working on an office type app, they could be developing each peice seperatly, ie: word processor, spread sheet, Keynote, Mail, iCal, and Address Book, then bundle them together once they're good enough to compete with M$ Office.

[edit]
I would like to see tighter integration of Mail, iCal and Address Book, something like M$ Entourage. Not neccessarily one big app, but be able to link contacts with appointments and e-mail. I like that feature in Entourage. I can look up a contact and find when and if I had an appointment with that person, or go right to the e-mail that I either sent to or received from that person. I can also color coordinate contacts, appointments and e-mail, depending on category. An example are my customers; I have a category called "Customers" which is colored green. Any appointment or e-mail that I have with a customer is colored green also.

 

[mnkeybsness]

it just doesn't make sense as to why apple extended the office rebate if they are planning on unveiling their own "office"

 

[mymemory]

About Apple...

I think Key Note is a beauty, I have been in multimedia for 5 years now and I never felt atracted by Powerpoint even I had that need for things I do. With this new software some things are gonna change, specially if is compatible with PC Powerpoint!!! Can you imagine?

This key note (the event) was something, I can tell apple is not focused in processor speed, while every body else is focusing in processor speed, Apple is working with the field everybody else is lefting behind, that is a good strategy.

That means that if a mac is not the fstest computer in the market, is gonna be the most productive enviroment for the low and hi end consumer.

 

[wesmac]

I think Apple is moving towards separate, but seamlessly integrated apps..the best of both worlds....as shown in the iLife apps. I hope Keynote is only the first of these...it already has a "mini spreadsheet" integrated into it...is Excel next?

AppleWorks hasn't had a major version revision in what...3 years? I think Apple is going to abandon it, and offer a suite of programs at (unlike M$) a reasonable price. Possibly offer scaled-down versions as part of a "Works" app bundled free with every Mac, not just iMacs and iBooks.

Yes, I'm going to buy Keynote. I have Office X, but I really despise PowerPoint.

 

[rjrufo]

Originally posted by mnkeybsness
it just doesn't make sense as to why apple extended the office rebate if they are planning on unveiling their own "office"

Maybe they aren't ready to release it yet, so they need to do something.

 

[smashedapart]

Offtopic

This is a bit off topic, but, can anyone here use the new address-book-sync feature? When I log in, it still says "coming soon"...?!?!

-- smashedapart

 

[3G4N]

Slow and Steady.

We are seeing Apple gradually growing more
into what Jobs called "a software company,"
especially now to weather the poor HW climate.*
Expect to see more in 2003.


*except those beautiful new laptops! drool...

 

[3G4N]

Originally posted by mnkeybsness
it just doesn't make sense as to why apple extended the office rebate if they are planning on unveiling their own "office"

MS is extending it, not Apple. MS was whining that Apple
wasn't doing enought to drive OSX adoption, thus MS wasn't selling enough Office X. This helps MS sell more Office X.

*And* Apple isn't ready to release their version of office.

 

[Doctor Q]

Re: Keynote: Apple Presentation Software Rumors

Originally posted by Macrumors
With so many new products introduced... one item which was not well predicted was Apple's Keynote application

The funny part is that Keynote was the only newly announced product that had been demonstrated to all of us previously, at last year's keynote speeches! We all watched that low-paid beta tester (Steve) trying it out and we didn't even bother to ask "What's it named? Can we have a copy too?"

 

[brandon6684]

Originally posted by medea
Yeah I'd say that Keynote was the biggest surprise at the expo

I don't know. While everyone mostly expected the web browser, I think it using KHTML caught everyone off guard. I don't think I recall reading any thing about this any where, not even someone rambling in the forums. Before today, if you would have told people that the browser wasn't based on Gecko, they would assume OmniWeb, Opera, or even IE before Konquerer.

 

[Doctor Q]

How does Apple develop such products without the story leaking out? Do they behead squealers or make them use Windoze?

 

[RogueLdr]

Originally posted by rjrufo


That could be a possibility, if Apple is working on an office type app, they could be developing each peice seperatly, ie: word processor, spread sheet, Keynote, Mail, iCal, and Address Book, then bundle them together once they're good enough to compete with M$ Office.

[edit]
I would like to see tighter integration of Mail, iCal and Address Book, something like M$ Entourage. Not neccessarily one big app, but be able to link contacts with appointments and e-mail. I like that feature in Entourage. I can look up a contact and find when and if I had an appointment with that person, or go right to the e-mail that I either sent to or received from that person. I can also color coordinate contacts, appointments and e-mail, depending on category. An example are my customers; I have a category called "Customers" which is colored green. Any appointment or e-mail that I have with a customer is colored green also.

iShater and you both get right to it. If Apple continues on this trajectory for the forseeable future then they will have about 4 different Apps (notice i didnt say iApps...Keynote seems pretty solid for a pro, on paper at least) to assemble for an "Office" suite. At $99 each, that would be $396 for the lot of them...or $103 less than MS Office. They can keep dribbling them out and still offer a price advantage to the Mac user. And when all is said and done, they can offer the "AppleOffice" suite for $349 and make out like bandits.
The key here is to be able to maintain full compatablility with MS office and offer features that MS has never considered.
I am torn, however, on whether Apple would be best served by going through their expanded feature list first and then saying "Oh, by the way, this can import and export MS Office files as though they were native." or by declaring Office compatiblity right off the bat and then going into their many ways to surpass the abilities of Office.
Any opinions on what would be the best avenue for Apple to pursue?

RL

 

[RogueLdr]

Originally posted by Doctor Q
How does Apple develop such products without the story leaking out? Do they behead squealers or make them use Windoze?

Sorry for the double post but you replied while I was writing my last one.

After the brouhaha with the iMac LCD last year, AAPL seems to have really clamped down on who has access to new products. (Although, I must say that the COVER OF TIME MAGAZINE was bound to get out before it hit the stands, just given the number of people that see the Quark/InDesign pages onscreen and that see the plates in the pressroom. That one would have gotten out even if Time Canada hadn't dropped the ball in a major way.)
ThinkSecret had alot to say about AAPL clearing the field of "journalists" from the rumors sites. It looks like Jobs is really adamant about being able to be the one to make the splash!
Although with Keynote, noone really thought of Apple in this context before, so it didn't gather alot of subsidiary threads after it was mentioned. (even though an Apple replacement for MS Office was mentioned more than once)

RL

 

[cyberfunk]

Unforgivable

This lack of pre-keynote information on Keynote is simply unforgivable.... suuuure macrumors predicted the last minute 12 & 17 inchers, sure, they had firewire and there was a browser, and suuure there were iApp updates w/ a bundling charge. But how could arn not see this one smack dab in the face! Come on ! you're slacking ! chop chop !

Seriously, you humble yourself too much MacRumors, take pride in getting it 95 % right.

 

[Furious Tiger]

Originally posted by mnkeybsness
it just doesn't make sense as to why apple extended the office rebate if they are planning on unveiling their own "office"

It makes BUSINESS SENSE!

 

[Furious Tiger]

Originally posted by Doctor Q
How does Apple develop such products without the story leaking out? Do they behead squealers or make them use Windoze?

I remeber reading a long time ago that apple use to purposely leak rumors (like some companies do). But they use to do to see who was leaking rumors. Example. Three people were lead to believe three different rumors. now if any of the three rumors were leaked they knew exactly who leaked the rumor, etc. pretty cool, huh?

 

[Furious Tiger]

Re: Unforgivable

Originally posted by cyberfunk
This lack of pre-keynote information on Keynote is simply unforgivable.... suuuure macrumors predicted the last minute 12 & 17 inchers, sure, they had firewire and there was a browser, and suuure there were iApp updates w/ a bundling charge. But how could arn not see this one smack dab in the face! Come on ! you're slacking ! chop chop !

Seriously, you humble yourself too much MacRumors, take pride in getting it 95 % right.

I believe that Dave Pogue (when he worked for MacWorld Mag) did an article on rumor sites some years back and claim to the conclusion that the sites really have no solid insight on what is really coming out during a Keynote so many months away. He believed that it was pure speculation on the sites themselves. He however did admitt that some of them do get confirmations 24 to 48 hours before the Keynote. Arns posting of the laptops was proof of this theory.

 

[QuiteSure]

Powerpoint vs. Keynote

Originally posted by wesmac
Yes, I'm going to buy Keynote. I have Office X, but I really despise PowerPoint.

Unfortunately, my quicktime feed was erratic during the Keynote portion of the Keynote. Having only cursory (but satisfactory) experience with PowerPoint, I wonder what the specific perceived advantages to Keynote are over PowerPoint that would justify the additional $99 pricetag to existing MS Office owners.

 

[wrylachlan]

XML Automation

Did any one else think the idea of XML automated daily presentations was stunningly powerful? That's the feature that really gets me about Keynote.

 

[Wash!!]

I want keynote

I always wanted to konw what he (steve) use for his presentations I knew it was not powerpoint.

I buying today .... goodbye powersucks!!!

 

[G4scott]

Re: Powerpoint vs. Keynote

Originally posted by QuiteSure


Unfortunately, my quicktime feed was erratic during the Keynote portion of the Keynote. Having only cursory (but satisfactory) experience with PowerPoint, I wonder what the specific perceived advantages to Keynote are over PowerPoint that would justify the additional $99 pricetag to existing MS Office owners.

Keynote is much more professional looking than PowerPoint. It doesn't look like some cheesy pixilated presentation that someone can build with Hypercard. It uses Quartz to beautifully render your presentation. It's like PowerPoint on steroids, and more. The main benefit though, is the quality of the presentation. It just looks so much better than anything anyone with PowerPoint can come up with. And as Jobs said, you can have professional looking presentations without having a whole graphics design team working for you. Besides, the whole open-source thing is well worth it. Allowing other developers to put their best ideas into it will make this a wonderful product. If only microsoft would pull its head out of its @$$, and realize that open source is better than their proprietary crap. But that'll never happen because world domination is their goal, and they won't stop unless someone like Apple shows that people can stand up to them.

 

[bretm]

Re: Offtopic

Originally posted by smashedapart
This is a bit off topic, but, can anyone here use the new address-book-sync feature? When I log in, it still says "coming soon"...?!?!

-- smashedapart

You mean logging in at the apple web site? I never do that. But my address book gets synced just fine. Make sure you're not still using the beta version of iSync and all will be well. iCal was updated as well to 1.0.2.