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Jobs Not Giving This Year's Macworld Keynote
Many readers including thermopile wrote in about Apple withdrawing from Macworld Expo after this year. The other bad news for Apple fans is that Steve Jobs won't be delivering the keynote in 3 weeks — we may have seen his last "one more thing." Apple VP Phil Schiller will be doing the honors. He's "an Apple executive notably lacking in Jobs's showmanship and star power," according to the Fortune blogger. Apple's press release states that "trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers." While this may be true, the keynote addresses have been a critical venue for major new product announcements. Apple's stock is taking a 6% hit in after-hours trading, possibly on concerns about Jobs's health. Reader Harry has gathered together YouTube clips from most of the Macworld keynotes Jobs given since 1997.
I have been following Apple for more than 20 years, including stints at MacWorld and today's headline is a repeat of the mini-drama that Apple has been having with the Expo for decades. But today is different.
Ignore the dispute about who controls MacWorld Expo's agenda. Apple feels like on top of the world (always has) and they want absolute control. But they also had found a great recipe for success. Two years ago, on the cab from the caltrain station to Moscone, the taxi driver asked us if we were there for this new "iPhone thing". The hype was just so big, the distortion field so powerful, the force was with Apple.
Somehow, no cab driver ever asked me about Android.
Think of the history: the iPod, the MacBook Air, the iPhone... By having someone else present the keynote this year, our collective expectations just sunk by an order of magnitude. I, for one, don't expect anything amazing this year. But on the other hand, it's only fair: even Apple can't pull off revolution after revolution, year after year. Give them a break, they are doing so much already by showing everyone how boring other products are.
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iPhone Apps review site looking for bilingual testers
Nooooooooo!!!
Fearless Leader, why have you forsaken us?
I promise not to bitch about the lack of firewire in the new Mac Minis, unlike my faithless ranting about the new MacBooks! Just come back.
If I don't get my regular of RDF rays I go all wonky and think about buying crap from Dell! Or running Darwin on a home built system as a back end media server!
Help us Steve Jobs, you're our only hope!
obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
Of course Steve Jobs won't be delivering the keynote in 3 weeks if Apple is withdrawing from Macworld Expo after 2008. What kind of write-up is that?
This article about Job's not doing the keynote says the worries this is generating about his health are hurting Apple stock. Is there any other company with it's perception of viability so closely linked to a single living individual? I'm unaware of any right now. It's makes this whole thing pretty interesting. He is a human and can't live forever, regardless of how his health is right now. It seems maybe they have seen that with the earlier rumors about his health and have realized they need to start building a transition while he is still around so the company wont take as big a hit when he is gone.
Or maybe it is all much more mundane than that - but I've never seen this type of announcement gain so much press before. It's on every MSM news outlet as well as all the tech sites.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Why is his no-show a sign of anything other than Apple no longer being interesting in doing the expo, rather than another stupid rumor of his impending death?
Somebody think up something that includes the term "beleaguered".
That's why the imagineers invented animatronics.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
We know Steve is going to die, someday. As much as we'd probably like to put him in some cryogenic container, thaw him out every few years when products start to suck ass -- we know he's going do die AT SOME POINT. Why is this blowing up to be such a freakish crazy thing? So he's turning over the keynotes to someone else!? How about he's turning THIS one over to someone else. Will he still headline his own events, that Apple throws? Probably. How about WWDC? Come on. I don't blame them for pulling out of macworld: http://www.joelesler.net/finshake/Blog/Entries/2008/12/16_Apple_pulls_out_of_MacWorld%2C_OH_NOEZ.html But CNBC said it best, IMO: http://www.cnbc.com/id/28265938
Warren Buffet
i feel sorry for Harry, who is now going to get spammed a Whole lot.
Those of us who think they know everything annoy those of us who do.
> "trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers." While this may be true, the keynote addresses have been a critical venue for major new product announcements.
Maybe they don't have anything.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
... checkout this presentation from OpenStep Day, 1995 in which Jobs applies the famous reality distortion field not to iPods and Macs, but to Corba, OLE, Web Objects, and other Enterprisey Middleware.
And the "One More Thing" moment? Using Netscape 1.0 to demo Web Objects and Windows NT 3.1 interoperability.
ENDUT! HOCH HECH!
The 2009 keynote has happened. As expected, no revolutionary products revealed. Nothing of note. Just a refresh of the Mac Mini. Just as the mac faithful are just about to pour out of Macworld, downtrodden, a voice rings out of the microphone.
"Just one more thing."
Steve Jobs, healthy and fit and in his trademark turtleneck, stands with his hands clasped together at the podium. He smiles as the audience members fall silent, taking their seats. "We aren't quite done yet... Say 'hello' to the..."
I read it on the Internet.
... don't be too hard on Phil. NO ONE has Steve's "showmanship and star power." At least he's kind of fun and entertaining. Should still be good. And as fun as it is to watch him Steve present, what will matter after the RDF wears off is what was announced. The only difference between Steve and Phil presenting is that with Phil, you'll notice the one secret sucky thing Apple builds into every product within 30-90 minutes instead of the customary 6-36 hours.
Just remember to buy on the rumor, sell on the announcement, and start the framework of your "This product is the BEST THING EVER except for the (crappy battery life/DRM/Apple lock-in/no wireless)" blog entry so you can just fill in the blanks and be the first one to share your oh-so-valuable opinion with the world. Be sure to talk about how Apple is going to be out of business in 3 months because they didn't listen to you.
In other words, just sit back and make the usual preparations and get ready to enjoy the Last Big Show.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Well, there goes AAPL's stock price. Now the thinking on Wall Street will be that Steve Jobs is going to kick the bucket at any moment.
Maybe not this round, maybe they have something, but they may have decided they may not always be able to have a sufficient product announcement that conveniently follows a dedicated trade show schedule. No other company off hand I can think of that has run a routine dedicated trade show in a very long time.
Compounding their woes, in the weeks leading up to an Apple trade show, whatever announcement they are working up to is either exposed prematurely or else proves disappointing next to the rumors that spread ahead of time. With such a routine timetable, it's easy to see mass wild speculation detracting from their desired effect.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
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It's 2008. Steve Jobs has already delivered the keynote at Macworld 2008.
Next year is 2009.
I opted out of going to Macworld this year. I'd been to every east-coast (boston/ny) macworld and keynote from 1996-2000, including the famous one where bill gates was on the giant screen to announce the apple/microsoft partnership for Word and IE. I've also been flying out to california for the san fransisco expos for the last couple of years, but after last year, I realized that the show doesn't cater hardly at all to true pro users... sure, they have pro software, like for graphics and stuff... but their developer section has been lacking since Codewarrior dropped support for the Mac, and as a Unix admin, there is almost nothing there for me anymore.
In the last 8 years, I've found that if you drop all of the laptop cases, ipod accessories and digital camera stuff, you're left with a pitiful handful of office application (*ahem* microsoft) and minor productivity and music companies. There used to be lots of management tools vendors, high-end graphics and storage workstation suppliers and similar cool stuff... but no more.
So, I guess I lucked out since I didn't book a flight or hotel for this year. Save $ and disappointment.
...spike
Ewwwwww, coconut...
...and watch the stock crater tomorrow.
Unfortunately, ever since Jobs lost significant weight as a result of his surgery (an obligatory side effect for the type of surgery he had), MacWorld keynotes have become a "Steve Jobs Death Watch" for the press. Before, during and after the keynote, more ink is spent on speculations regarding his health than the product announcements.
I think one side benefit of Apple's abandoning MacWorld is the press can no longer turn it into a morbid event.
The reason that the keynotes at MacWorld have lost their importance is that Apple can attract just as much attention with their own media events. They've done several product launches that way now, and will almost certainly continue to use that method for major launches in the future. And they can reach consumers directly through the retail stores as well.
Strikes me, tradeshows are an expensive proposition for the computer industry with the Internet abound. I might help the little guy - but - then again you're only able to 'show' your product to people willing to pay to visit the show. I see the only practical use of tradeshows now is if you're selling specific products where you really need to talk to your customer ( e.g. a retail buyer) - cart parts, floor tile and carpets, fitness equipment, make up. With these are the sorts of things, the Internet hasn't changed much.
Apple has made their keynotes online for years. There's no reason for them to continue in person. Wether its now or 2020, its inevitable. Maybe there's a touchy feeling vibe for the audience but there are a couple million downloading it with the same effect of buy, buy, buy.
Wether Steve's health is the issue, is another matter. I just happen to think, for those that buy Apple products, as long as its a reasonable product/quality with the logo on it, people will buy. Even without the Black Turtleneck and Glasses pitching it.
He's 53 years old. He won't be running Apple forever. Plus, he's rolling in money and still old enough to enjoy it - IMO retire while he's able physically to oversee an orderly and voluntary hand-over.
Don't want a repeat of the post-jobs Apple fiasco of the mid-80s, after all.
From a marketing perspective. Apple has always introduced new products at MacWorld and WWDC. Since these events happen twice yearly it has limited Apple's product introduction cycles to predictable times. Because of this schedule, saavy buyers -as well as the people they recommend to- have held off on purchases to see what 'Steve will intro at MacWorld/WWDC'. This causes Apple's sales to take a hit prior to the shows and probably leaves them with an awful lot of unsold inventory at the end of the quarter preceding the show. Now they can adopt a more fluid product intro cycle that won't hit the bottom line so hard.
I'm sure Steve -or one of his handpicked henchmen- will keynote at WWDC to make the fanbois happy. As to his retirement, if I was in his place I'd be thinking of the Gates strategy to ease myself out of the business. After all, he's as human as the rest of you.
Sig this!
Steve Jobs doesn't care about Mac people.
The cookie told me to.
She's right. Apple is the AOL of mp3 players and has dumbed down the interface and lowered expectations so much that people think gapless playback or album art is a major advance in the state of the art.
Specially the hacks who run Adword-funded Apple product review sites and diss anyone who threatens their revenue streams.
correcting it.
Cue the fan boys. Put them all in a room and let the circle jerk begin. Why doesn't Dell have a new show when a product that is overpriced and largely similar (except some wax) to other available computers? Have Micheal Dell tell use that this new processor is so wonderful in terms a 6 year old would understand. The point? Even if Steve dies, there are plenty of showmen that can take his place like Ron Popeil. Trouble is that then people would realize it is nothing but glitz, and Macs would have to be sold in pairs if you call in the next 10 minutes. Clap now fan monkeys!
...since Jobs lost significant weight as a result of his surgery (an obligatory side effect for the type of surgery he had)
What was it? An attempted ego-ectomy? If so, I don't think it worked.
That is all.
I believe a very large part of that can be blamed on Apple. When lawyers and the SEC are involved, the lack of a strong denial sounds like a confirmation. To my knowledge, Apple has never said "Steve is not sick--" they've only flirted with the question ("Steve's BP is 120/80") or avoided it ("We're not here to talk about Steve's health.")
A simply-worded denial could dramatically tone down the questions, if that's their goal.
Rumor has it the "I'm a Mac" guy is going to do the keynote this year.
I can't say that I agree with you. The "large part" of the blame lies with sensationalist journalists and stock price manipulators.
Name one other company where people demand they to go on record regarding the health of the CEO when some band of journalists decides to perform an amateur medical diagnosis based on photographs and videos.
Senator Bill Frist was rightly admonished for performing a "video diagnosis" of Terri Schiavo...and he has a medical school degree. Why should Apple respond when a bunch of blowhards with no medical training whatsoever do the same thing with Steve Jobs?
The board is required to divulge information about his health if it affects his ability to do his job. They are under no obligation to respond to nutjobs and market makers.
Apple doesn't need Macworld because Apple doesn't need fanboys any more.
The Apple fanboy crowd is totally irrelevant to the iPod/iPhone line - those are mass-market consumer products. The laptop product line is aimed more at the status-conscious crowd. Neither market is the Macworld demographic.
He has cancer.
Consumer electronics are never seen for its technical merits. It is all about user interface, always has.
What good is having the latest tech where you have to dig it out a seven-level-deep menu structure to use it? Having a clean, simple interface is the key to succes.
And I'm not a Machead by a long shot, either.
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I'm going to guess that Apple is backing out of Macworld SF because it's so poorly run that no one wants to go. $20k for a table? sure. five 30" Cinema displays 'go missing' from the loading dock? sorry, not our fault, not our problem. Need a new outlet? You have to hire one of our electricians. How many hours do you want him for? oh, we don't know how long it'll take, you have to figure that out yourself.
The company that runs Macworld runs it half-assed, they don't care about attendees because they know they're the only game in town and people will pay regardless, and they don't care about vendors, because again, you need the exposure or your competitor is going to get it first.
If we're lucky, Macworld will die off and be replaced with something better.
I've been a mac fan since the very first Mac and an apple fan since the Apple ][. I sold apple computers for years. I was a NeXT developer. I've got two macs now.
Good bye Steve. I hope that you have a few years left but get the heck out of Apple please.
Apple could have crushed Microsoft by selling MacOSX for generic PCs when Microcrap was down on their luck with Vista! Now with Windows 7 promising to be better than Vista (aka Windows 98) Apple has missed the boat.
Get out and enjoy a few years of retirement Steve, assuming that you have that long.
Lawyers and the SEC? I've heard nothing of lawyers or the SEC demanding information regarding the CEO's health.
The only people speculating and demanding disclosure are blowhard journalists and stock market manipulators. The basis for their "concern" is purely from an ignorant and amateur medical diagnosis based on pictures and video.
Hell, Senator Bill Frist was rightly admonished for performing a video diagnosis of Terri Shiavo and he has a medical school degree.
Why the hell should Apple's board respond to a bunch of chicken-little wankers in the tech and financial press?
Frankly, I admire Apple for not feeding the trolls.
I'm not surprised I've only seen Steve Jobs give postive news.
Steve jobs is an Apple Brand name. Something they have to protect so that people will buy apple products.
With the way the world economy is I imagine the message will be one of tighting belts and consolidating product lines.
Why soil your brand name ? This is also not good PR and doesn't make people want to invest in your company.
thats why you have underlings.......
Given Jobs' track record as a completely ruthless businessman, I'd guess someone on the Expo side of things stepped out of line. Don't want to do things Jobs' way? Fine, Jobs is outta here.
no doubt next year will be the year of the Inetbook. A little white netbook that everyone can carry around with them. Oh wait they already exist as eeepc's et al, but this will be the first one with MacOS and will be super trendy. They will revolutionise portable computing
He's "an Apple executive notably lacking in Jobs's showmanship and star power," according to the Fortune blogger.
Nonsense! Behold and rejoice! The era of Schillermania begins! Phil! Phil! Phil! Phil! Phil! Woooooooooot!
Is that a crack in the RDF? We're doomed. DOOMED I say.
Are you serious? I have had nothing but touch screen phones since 2001.
The models I used actually started out as pure touch screen and then added keyboards (retaining the touch screen) because you can type faster with buttons (and the Xerox graffiti lawsuit). You can also touch-type with buttons.
The iPhone has nothing really new except that it was marketed to everyone and not just PDA users. Suddenly smartphones are "cool" because Apple makes one. That's fine.
I've been a Mac user for over 20 years. I'm typing this on a Mac. I'm glad Apple is doing well.
I'm also glad that people still make real smartphones like Treos, because I am a PDA user and I refuse to give up meaningful features for marketing fluff and looks. My four-year-old Treo model has many, many features that the iPhone lacks, including multimedia features like stereo bluetooth support and over a decade's worth of third-party software available directly from the people who developed it.
By saying that you show that you completely misunderstand the mindset of the Apple customer.
People that buy Apple products are not concerned with motherboards, chipsets, memory speed, CPU or other technical details so much (except perhaps MacPro buyers, esp. if they come from PC background).
People that care about that build their own PCs (I have certainly).
People who buy Apple want their computer to be transparent, they don't want to tinker with it endlessly (like that guy fixing old cars in his garage and never having it actually working, he just enjoys tinkering - kind of like Linux people early on).
If you say macbook is just like any other laptop then you don't get it. Look at any other laptop and just look at the level of "noise" on the keyboard designs these days. Find me one keyboard that doesn't scream at you with 5 things written on each keyboard with different colored letters, keys non-standard width or position etc.
That's just one detail, and then look at the beauty of simplicity of classical Macbook keyboard. It just disappears, and doesn't scream at you.
Macbook aluminum case feels so solid and sturdy, better than any other laptop I have ever held. And it does not have things written on it all over the place (certainly not stupid metal labels like Intel Inside or built for Vista), or things glued to it at the bottom containing certain product key.
The computer is sophisticated and simple, understated like luxury European sedan (think BMW, a lot of people don't get that one either, that's why you see idiots that put chrome wheels, and fart exhausts on their BMW).
And then we get to other soft things like the OS. That one is a topic on its own, but the joy of using OS X would be worth it to me even without these other things.
As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
that people going to MacWorld will be without Jobs?
Just check out the pancreatic cancer survival stats. It's something like 10% survival one year after diagnosis, 4% five years afrer diagnosis. Detection almost always at latter stages when surgery not an option. Very nasty and fast cancer.
Jobs has classic symptoms - wasting away, losing weight.
My own father perished five weeks after diagnosis (stage iv). My father in law died nine months after diagnosis (stage ii).
Apple has always played the game of:-
(a) Create a rumour of some new product they're developing
(b) vehemently deny the rumour
(c) confirm the rumour as being true all along at a keynote.
(d) profit!
so, judging by current events:-
(a) get everyone assuming that Jobs will give a keynote
(b) tell everyone that Jobs won't be at the keynote
(c) at Macworld, Jobs makes an appearance!
(d) profit! (from the increase in Apple stock price)
It was the best of puns, it was the worst of puns.
Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
Am I the only one that finds it hillarious about how seriously these expos are taken by fanboys? It is just a computer, phone or whatever. This is just plain goofy. nerds.
With so much information available online, and with the ability to purchase things with just a few mouse clicks, why would I go to such a trade show today? For me, that's easy.
So I will once again show up at Macworld SF and will hope that IDC will find it profitable to continue running the show. That gives companies the chance to show their stuff rather than struggling to get their product stocked and displayed by the Apple retail store or other merchants (who show only a tiny percentage of what's available out there). I'm likely to show up at future Macworlds, too, since my purpose for attending isn't to see Apple's products, but to see everything else.
You should try using some of those products. Yes, the iPod doesn't make coffee, but your coffee maker doesn't play music. If you want coffee, don't buy an iPod.
So... If I like coffee then I wouldn't like an iPod? That's good to know. Thanks!
Bow-ties are cool.
There is a difference between providing a computer device that does just one thing and does it well, and going a step further and preventing it from doing anything else. From the manufacturer's perspective there are good reasons to do this - that, however, does not mean that I have to like it.
Has apple really "prevented" people who like to hack from altering their iPod Touch and iPhone? I would argue that they have not. If you have the desire to do so, it is incredibly easy to jailbreak your iPoT/iPhone. Yes, there have been some firmware updates which negate those jailbreaks, but apple have offered increased functionality with those firmware updates, and don't seem to be doing it out of malice.
To the best of my knowledge none of the people doing the hacking have been slapped with a C&D notice. None of the sites that revolve around the hacked ecosystem have been threatened with legal notices. None of the people owning a hacked device have been sued.
So it seems to me that Apple have created devices that are easy to use out of the box, and are also able to go a step further; provided the owner of the device is willing to assume the risk that taking that extra step entails (and as a quick aside, if one ever happens to wreck their machine via hacked software, it is trivial to restore the machine to its original state using iTunes).
What if someone took a video of a goatse-style feat, and edited it to make it effectively lip-sync "Never Gonna Give You Up"? Best of both worlds?
Bow-ties are cool.
Look for Apple at the CEDIA (Custom Electronic Design and Installation) show. They're going to move into home entertainment in a huge way....
The dustbunnies are under your bed.....
Your lord has forsaken you. Please drink the kool-aid.
Truth, Just Us, And Hatred For All Mankind!
The iPod allowed the navigation of very long lists better than any other MP3 product on the market. It's a combination of hardware and software. The scroll wheel allows you to continuously scroll without lifting your finger, while still controlling the rate. And, the software scrolls faster the faster you scroll (there is a non-linear relationship between the motion of your finger and the rate of scroll). This made it possible to quickly jump to what you want, even on a device holding thousands of songs.
On the iPhone and the iTouch the "flick scrolling" is not just a cool thing. It's essential because it provides the same capability of navigating long lists quickly and precisely. If you look back at the design patents filed during the development of the iPhone, you can see that they experimented with on-screen scroll wheels. Long scrolling is very important to the usability of handhelds.
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
I think that Macworld is a victim of Apple's success and diversification. Basically, Apple has broken out--it is no longer a company that makes cult computers, in fact, it is no longer just a computer company, so a specialized show just for Macs sends the wrong message.
Moreover, the Macworld keynote had come to be perceived as critical--if Apple didn't announce a major product or upgrade at the keynote, their stock took a hit. But Apple no longer needs Macworld for exposure. Apple is now big enough that now get major press coverage for their solo marketing events, with timing selected by Apple instead of being tied to an event that they do not control.
First, there will be no Cyborg Steve.
There will, however, be an iBorg Steve.
Second, you have just opened yourself up to Apple's legal muscle by letting the iCat out of the iBag regarding the iBorg. Are you iNsane?!?
Pathological kinda promises Path + Logical - but instead, you get stuck with pathetic.
The only thing the iPod is really lacking is the ability to play more file types (ie ogg) and the ability to something other than iTunes without having to worry about something breaking.
For me, it's the simple act of leaving out an FM radio that has prevented me from buying an iPod. Virtually every other competitor includes one, and it boggles my mind why most iPods haven't had them from the start. It's not like including a radio adds to the expense or makes the unit bulkier. My Sandisk Sansa has one, and is no bigger than comparible iPods. Lots of people still listen to the radio, you know. Yes, I know you can buy add-on equipment to give it radio capability, but you shouldn't have to.
Maybe Steve just doesn't find radio fashionable.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
That is why the technically superior Zune was such a hit!
Nah, it's because Barack Obama uses them.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
I heard the recession was costing us lots of Jobs, but this is ridiculous!
(T>t && O(n)--) == sqrt(666)
Just check out the pancreatic cancer survival stats. It's something like 10% survival one year after diagnosis, 4% five years afrer diagnosis. Detection almost always at latter stages when surgery not an option. Very nasty and fast cancer.
Jobs has classic symptoms - wasting away, losing weight.
My own father perished five weeks after diagnosis (stage iv). My father in law died nine months after diagnosis (stage ii).
There are basically two kinds of pancreatic cancer, one with an almost 95 percent morbidity rate, and one that's very curable, but much more rare. Unless Jobs has been lying all these years (and it's been several years since the surgery), he had the lesser cancer. When he was first diagnosed, he was told to go home and get his things in order. Then the refined diagnosis came in, and showed that he had the survivable type. Supposedly, one of the technicians running the test wept with relief and happiness for Jobs. Guess he was an Apple user.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
I know that everyone is saying Steve Jobs is fine, but there are some things to think about:
(1) Steve Jobs is an egotist.
(2) The only thing Steve Jobs loves more than Apple is the sound of his own voice talking about Apple.
(3) There is no "cure" for cancer. There are only methods for the removal or killing of cancerous cells.
I don't care what the "business" mumbo jumbo given is, for Steve Jobs to miss out on the chance to be on-stage and suck up the mac fanboi adulation, he's got to be very sick.
I use Rhythmbox for loading up my iPod. Banshee is good too. And I'm sure there are many other programs.
Alas, for the iPod Touch you can only use iTunes as the encryption isn't broken yet (that I know of).
Hey Apple, I would buy a Touch today if I could use with Ubuntu!
Oh, and iTunes doesn't work with Wine either, the installer crashes.
Dare I say they act just like the numerous cults out there. They make a lot of noise, but just have no real karma. "What is it with all these negative vibes man...."
Name one other company where people demand they to go on record regarding the health of the CEO when some band of journalists decides to perform an amateur medical diagnosis based on photographs and videos.
I can't, but I can't think of another company where the CEO plays as influential a role in public perception of the company as Steve Jobs.
The board is required to divulge information about his health if it affects his ability to do his job. They are under no obligation to respond to nutjobs and market makers.
You're absolutely right that Apple's under no obligation to respond. What I said is that the simplest way to silence the "nutjobs" is a strongly-worded denial.
When the Slashdot crowd can't make the distinction, what chance does Joe Consumer?
The difference between a touchscreen and multitouch screen is what make the iPhone's (once-)unique method of implementing its OS features possible.
You may think that "touch is touch is touch, it's all the same" (Not YOU in particular, as I don't know you or what you think, but you the straw-man I'm railing against), but a swipe gesture with a finger is not the same as a swipe gesture with a stylus, no matter what your Slashdot reading self may think.
Because of the iPhone, the method of interacting with the feature-set of one's smartphone has changed on all phones.
Apple's total method has defined the rules of multi-touch Phone UI, and Apple defined having a multi-touch capable screen as what it is to BE a "touch screen phone".
If Joe Consumer hears "touch-screen", it better do what the iPhone's screen does.
Or the punitentury