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Steve Jobs was pretty good, not insanely great
January 15, 2008

4:52 PM -- SAN FRANCISCO -- Macworld -- So, another Macworld keynote is in the record books. How did Steve Jobs do?
While taking notes, I rated audience response on a scale from 1 (silence) to 10 (insanely great; the 1984 Macintosh). The numbers look low, but that's partly because I was a harsh critic and partly because the rumor mill diluted the impact of some big points.
Jobs announces 4 million iPhones have been sold to date: 6. Everyone likes being part of The Revolution, I guess.
Maps and You-Are-Here features on iPhone: 3. People seemed to like it, but not that much.
Ability to customize your iPhone home screen: 5. Huh? People cheer for moving icons around like you already do on a computer? My only guess is that a fixed home screen has been a deep annoyance for the iPhone faithful. I'll ask Ryan.
New iPhone features available as a free upgrade: 5.
New iPod Touch features available as a $20 upgrade: 1. Dead silence. People liked "free" better.
Jobs unveils five studios that have signed up for movie rentals on iTunes: Lion's Gate, MGM, Miramax, New Line, and Touchstone. Not much reaction.
Then he says: "And by the way -- these six too," unveiling a slide with logos from 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Sony. Classic Steve Jobs drama: 7.
Apple TV no longer requires a computer: 5.
Apple TV Take 2 is available as a free software upgrade: 7. New box's price is cut from $299 to... (pregnant pause)... $229: 3. With Jobs's buildup here, I think people expected a lower number.
Mac Airbook: Uh... since I don't really care, I stopped doing the little ratings here. But I think the $1,799 price point got a 7.
Yeah, they still love Steve. But every year can't be an iPhone year.
If you were there, and you've got a different take, I'd love to hear it. Use the message board below.
— Craig Matsumoto, West Coast Editor, Light Reading
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