February 28th, 2006
The Mac Mini and iPod Hi-Fi in pictures
Steve Gillmor did some play by play of the event, while I took some pictures. Video clip here (Mac Mini) and here (iPod Hi-Fi). Photo gallery here.
Steve Jobs says that Apple is 50 percent of the way to a full Intel product line
New Intel-based Mac Mini comes in two versions: $599 with a 1.5GHz Intel Solo single-core chip, a 60GB drive and a combo DVD player and CD burner, or $799 with a dual-core 1.67GHz Core Duo processor, 80GB drive and a SuperDrive, which burns CDs and DVDs. Both have 512MB of memory, Gigabit Ethernet, four USB ports and Firewire.
Mac Mini gets Intel performance boost
iPod Hi-Fi, the new kitchen appliance. "It’s really a home stereo reinvented…it’s home stereo reinvented for the iPod age," Jobs said.
Inside the iPod Hi-Fi
Apple also introduced a $99 leather case for the iPod. That product should have the best profit margin. All in all Apple continues to mine its iPod franchise with accessories and improves the Mac Mini, which connects up to a variety of peripherals. We are still waiting for the low-end Intel-powered laptops to show up…
Jobs wasn’t at his evangelical best in rolling out these products. He seemed a bit subdued and resorted to calling products the "best in the industry," "really great" without his usual fervor. Perhaps it was that the products weren’t exactly game changers and the crowd was just a bunch of journalists. Nonetheless, Jobs and Apple need to keep a steady stream of products for the Mac/iPod ecosystem rolling out to keep the fans happy and expand the moat that competitors must cross to compete…
Dan Farber, editor-in-chief of CNET News.com, has more than 20 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
