Internal Jobsnote reveals new iPods, Macs

In the same town-hall session where he announced that every Apple employee would be getting a free 8GB iPhone, Steve Jobs discussed his thoughts and plans for the company's latest device, talked about new Mac systems and iPods on the way, and detailed the ever-broadening business model of Apple. Jobs opened the meeting by expanding on his previous praise for the iPhone, equating its release to that of the original Mac, and saying that its creation was borne out of frustration with current phone technology. During the company-wide discussion, Jobs noted that Apple currently had a "two leg" business (Mac hardware and the iPod/iTunes union), which would be expanded with the "third leg" of the iPhone (he hinted that Apple TV would be the fourth, though current efforts were focused on the iPhone). He went on to talk about the new Macs, which he described in typical Jobs-ian fashion as "off the charts" and "the best Macs ever", and mentioned new OS X-based iPods that the company was working on (widescreen/touchscreen, perhaps?). Jobs fielded questions as well, included the oft-repeated "why EDGE?", which he answered by saying that the technology is more pervasive, and less power hungry than 3G, although he forgot to mention that it's also much, much slower. Jobs apparently wrapped things up by messianically telling employees that they would "tell their grandchildren" that they were at Apple when the iPhone was launched and that it was, "worth the sacrifice". Okay, Steve.

[anon @ Jun 28th 2007 6:37PM]

"worth the sacrifice"?

just wondering, what exactly was this sacrifice was this?

[Fubar @ Jun 28th 2007 7:39PM]

Live goats. It's a deal they worked out with their executive VP of coolness, Mephistopheles L. Set.

[Fatima @ Jun 28th 2007 6:42PM]

iPhone haters crack me up. iPhone is not an end all be all phone. But god dam its a great music phone. With a slick interface. I care not about 3g. This not a business phone get it through your thick skulls, haters. Even if its 3G, wifi is still waaaay faster and thats what im going to be using most of the time to surf the net.

[adam @ Jun 28th 2007 6:48PM]

Where are these haters you are responding to? Are you referring to the Apple Employees who were asking about EDGE?

By the way... have you used the iPhone?

[Ellianth @ Jun 28th 2007 7:29PM]

Adam be nice! Man, I'm so disappointed in you! Don't you know Fatima has mad cow disease, Gawd, how inconsiderate...

[John @ Jun 28th 2007 6:46PM]

Steve Jobs is Chris Gaines

[Andrew Rahimi @ Jun 28th 2007 6:47PM]

Even though WiFi is faster than 3G, I'd much rather have 3G over WiFi in my phone. The entire point of 3G is having decent connection speeds when WiFi IS NOT AVAILABLE. I don't understand why people feel that WiFi is an acceptable alternative to 3G. There is no WiFi while I'm in motion on the highway, or in many other places that I am at daily. And sometimes when there is WiFi, its encrypted and therefore unusable. The only reason why I will not be buying the iPhone is lack of 3G.

[marcman @ Jun 28th 2007 7:26PM]

why are you surfing the internet while driving on the highway?

[Ellianth @ Jun 28th 2007 7:30PM]

maybe he's a passenger? lol.

[ray @ Jun 28th 2007 7:51PM]

@marcman
To use the google maps as gps which gives driving directions etc?

[aaronlh @ Jun 28th 2007 10:46PM]

Almost a good point there, except EDGE is plenty fast for Google Maps. Use it all the time with the official Google Maps application from Google.

[Andrew Rahimi @ Jun 28th 2007 10:51PM]

I also tether my phone with my laptop quite frequently. My school's WiFi is encrypted and school computers have more legit sites censored than problematic ones so I'm using 3G tethering almost every day.

[Jason @ Jun 28th 2007 11:14PM]

I use my blackberry 8300 with google maps all the time. It is an excellent navigation device (ups the iPhone with integrated gps.. :-) ) Anyway, I can be driving 75+ mph on the PA turnpike zoomed in full view on google maps and still have continuous and uninterrupted data. (Full zoom requires the greatest frequency of data exchange therefore the greatest bandwidth demand) My point is that if the lack of 3G is what is putting you off of this device, think again.

[june @ Jul 2nd 2007 2:41PM]

If you dont like the iphone, dont buy it. what's the problem? we have all these people hating on the damn phone. if you are not going to buy it, shut the F**** up. if the next man wants to drop $600 on the device, then let him do it. its not your money, so keep your comments to yourself.

[stephenbratz @ Jun 28th 2007 7:02PM]

I will remember that the next time that there is a post on Engadget about Zune, or really anything from Microsoft and we get the flood of comments about the "2 people who own a Zune", or "Why do I need a Media Center when I have an AppleTV", or (insert about 200 other bitchy Apple fanboy comments made here). In fact, I have saved this as a favorite and will include it every time an Apple fanboi says anything negative about a MS product.

[Steve @ Jun 28th 2007 6:53PM]

Nice, I'll have the last iPod ever made that wasn't based on OSX. Now if I could only make it last forever.

[BoogeyMan @ Jun 30th 2007 3:29PM]

I'm sure the next-gen shuffle wont use OSX.

[blah! @ Jun 28th 2007 7:15PM]

OK Steve, lets get the thing out the door now, so we can hear the end of it for a while. And how about announcing some new iPods whilst you're there?

[Listener Allen @ Jun 28th 2007 7:08PM]

Apple employees will "tell their children...".

I knew Jobsie was a little self important, but jeezus...

The interface is tight (at least from looking at the demos), but it would need a real keyboard, 3G, and a fingerprint resistant face to be that much of a game changer. Speaking of that last one, why does Apple make their devices with such a prominent weakness? My year old iPod video looks like hell and I baby the thing.

[Jake @ Jun 29th 2007 12:56AM]

You must not take care of your iPod, because my iPod is a little less than a year old, and it looks almost brand new to me.

Maybe, you just suck at babying things. You'll probably turn out like Chris Benoit and strangling your iPod from exercise equipment.

[Listener Allen @ Jun 29th 2007 1:21AM]

What I was referring to is the delicate nature of the metal back of the iPod. Given that there is a whole line of products dedicated to trying to restore it's original appearance, I know my experience is not unique.A mobile device should have to be "babied" to maintain its finish.

I have no desire to strangle my iPod, but you, however, are a different story.

[Danbo @ Jun 29th 2007 4:59AM]

Re; Jake's comment on Chris Benoit, good grief, how on earth do you think it's in any way appropriate to crack a joke about someone who just murdered his wife and child and then committed suicide? Grow up.

[Gadget Mic @ Aug 16th 2007 3:51PM]

Maybe the iPhone will be of histerical significance because Steve Jobs knows this is the height of human technology: Next season, Cheney declares military rule and starts living the martial law we let our leaders enact...and the backdoors in our iPhones become ubiquitous--and cheap (to the gov)--spies...Ane we meet real Atlanteans, too! :D

[Robert Hawley @ Jun 28th 2007 7:20PM]

I really suspect that they are going to promote the heck out of the iPhone for the next couple of months. Then about mid-September have a media event where they launch a new batch of mac's and iPods for the Holiday season.

[sean @ Jun 29th 2007 7:57PM]

I don't know if this happened where you're from, but the minute people started waiting in lines for the PS3 there were people waiting behind parked vehicles to ambush those on the way back to their cars. I'm pretty sure that there's no way to steal an iphone and then hook it up as your own... but what's to stop a linebacker's b-line, snatching the iphone out of your grasp and spiking it on the concrete??? Hope At&t offers an insurance policy.

(kidding)

[AJ @ Jun 28th 2007 10:42PM]

It actually sounds like it would be easy to steal that way. Apparently you don't activate the phone until you get home and sync it up with your itunes account. It's goin to be a free for all out there!

[Alex @ Jun 28th 2007 7:25PM]

Hmm... I can understand Steve getting excited and emotional about this. After all, I love it when my wife wants to use my "third leg" - now *that's* a multi-touch interface for ya. Okay, so it doesn't have Safari, and I'm not really one for three-way chat, but it's definitely orientation-aware when she turns it.

[Dami @ Jun 29th 2007 9:37AM]

.. with fist scrolling feature, eh? ;)

[jg @ Jun 28th 2007 9:04PM]

Ah, tech sex inuendo galore. Well said sir, well said.

[Alex @ Jun 29th 2007 12:08AM]

Hey, I aim to please, and usually my aim's pretty good. Besides, new technology like this must be sexy, or we wouldn't be on Engadget, right?!

[FrankTheCrank @ Jun 28th 2007 7:25PM]

BRING ON THE NEW iPOD's!!!!!

Like yesterday!

[Ellianth @ Jun 28th 2007 7:32PM]

Anyone else thing that picture screams pedophile?

[FrankTheCrank @ Jun 28th 2007 7:43PM]

Steve Jobs has more innovation in that pinky than Bill Gates has at his entire company.

Sucks to be an employee at Microsoft. Just think, no iPod, no iPhone, no PS3, no Wii....instead you have to shlep around with a pocket PC, a zune and a 360 that's just about to go RROD on you.

[danday @ Jun 28th 2007 8:20PM]

"Steve Jobs has more innovation in that pinky than Bill Gates has at his entire company. "
Then how come Bill Gates has more money than Steve Jobs and his entire company.

[Sean @ Jun 28th 2007 10:00PM]

"Then how come Bill Gates has more money than Steve Jobs and his entire company."

Because MS owns business computing. And the only reason they do that is because of sharklike business practices, like buying out competitors and "embracing and extending" (aka screwing up established standards to create lock-in).

[Deezee @ Jun 28th 2007 7:49PM]

Thats it. I've decided that I will not buy ANY Apple products until Steve J. (jesus?) steps down. I cannot stand the guy. I refuse to drink his kool-aid or join his cult.

[Jonhimslf @ Jun 28th 2007 8:14PM]

Cool, thanks for sharing

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Jun 28th 2007 8:42PM]

"I refuse to drink his kool-aid"

They see juice now? Cool.. What flavor is it?

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Jun 28th 2007 8:47PM]

Fuck I hate typos, especially when it gives your sentence a different meaning. I meant to say; "they sell juice now". Why in the name of God would they see it!?? My comment was meant to be funny, damn, now I just look retarded, and I'm talking about that fact, double bloody damn.

RYAN BLOCK??

PLEASE GIVE US A 60 SECOND DIGG-LIKE COMMENT EDIT FEATURE - THANK YOU!

OR SHOULD I SAY THNAK YUO!

[Gregory Kimball @ Jun 28th 2007 11:02PM]

"They see juice now? Cool.. What flavor is it?"

Kool-Aid = Jim Jones and The People's Temple

I would never equate buying Apple products with mass murder/suicide. Nonetheless, the reference should be obvious.

[Dale @ Jun 28th 2007 8:02PM]

Heaven forbid a senior executive at a company hypes up a pending major product release to his workforce to ensure their support for it. Unthinkable!

[Error404 @ Jun 28th 2007 8:39PM]

"every Apple employee would be getting a free 8GB iPhone"

Assumption 1: that _NOT_ every Apple employee works in the States, or uses AT&T as their cellular provider

Assumption 2: that the iPhone given will be useful in its full glory -- at least the 'phone' function will work

Can we then assume that the iphone is _UNLOCKED_?!?!

[brendan Sheehan jnr @ Jun 28th 2007 8:40PM]

"and mentioned new OS X-based iPods that the company was working on (widescreen/touchscreen, perhaps?)"

Gosh Joshua, you're a prophet.
*SARCASM*

[MatthewJ @ Jun 29th 2007 7:45AM]

"its creation was borne out of frustration with current phone technology."

Out of everything he says I have the biggest misunderstanding of this. Surely a frustration would precipitate improving upon that technology? As much as a lovely design and a slick UI is nice, the fact is, multitouch is practically the only new thing in this phone, and much of the other components actually lag behind the rest of the cellphone community. I don't think Apple have grasped how quickly mobile phone technology changes, at least in Europe anyway. Perhaps that is why those outside the US are actually getting the short straw for a change (in this sector of technology at least)

[dglaz @ Jun 28th 2007 9:10PM]

Steve Jobs definitely has a cult leader aura. It seems he believes that spirituality can be found in what is beautiful-streamlined-simple (be it via hardware, interface, even his keynotes). Possibly Steve is trying to reach 'perfection' through his Apple product line. And with his eerily captivating personality he is trying to spread this message; some obviously buy into it more than others. I can certainly see why people see him as creepy and/or compelling... at the very least he has proven to be a ceaseless topic of conversation.

[Bobbo @ Jun 28th 2007 10:26PM]

He will gather the masses to purchase the Iphone, and then when the phone doesnt work, millions will commit mass suicide. :P

[Roflgoat @ Jun 28th 2007 10:51PM]

As I can see, you are one of those old English guys that sits behind a desk in an elaborate study or is reading a large novel out loud in a comfy chair (!) in a huge personal library or an Apple shill.

[dglaz @ Jun 28th 2007 11:11PM]

Close...but instead of reading a novel out loud I was admiring my Genius Awards.

[Rjay @ Jul 1st 2007 12:10PM]

I completely agree.

"3rd.. 4th leg"? Jobs is starting to sound like the freakin anti-christ. Has anyone read Revelations 13? Im starting to wonder if he keeps the other six heads underneath that black mock turtle neck.

[mike @ Jun 28th 2007 9:31PM]

i hope that one of the new macs will be a 12inch macbook