Apple's New iSUV
Posted Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2003, at 6:12 PM ET
Steve Jobs' traditional unveiling of new Apple gizmos at the annual Macworld conference in San Francisco surprised even the most zealous Apple boosters today. Amid a tech recession that continues to power-dive, Jobs took the stage to trot out a two-hour market-defying parade of products. The crowning touch: an enormous, silver-skinned laptop, half computer and half Cadillac Escalade.
PRINT
DISCUSS
E-MAIL
RSS
RECOMMEND...
Facebook
MySpace
Mixx
Digg
Reddit
del.icio.us
Furl
Ma.gnolia
Sphere
StumbleUponApple's 17-inch PowerBook is the computer equivalent of a tricked-out hoopty. Easily the largest laptop ever, its 1-gigahertz processor beats beneath a casing made of what Jobs calls "aircraft-grade aluminum." Its metal sides bristle with beefed-up data ports, and it comes standard with a DVD burner and a new super-WiFi system, aptly named Airport Extreme, fast enough at 54 megabits per second to carry a hundred video streams. Status-conscious laptop toters know you can never be too rich or too thin, though, so the $3,299 behemoth closes its lid to a mere inch in height—deliberately slimmer than its predecessors. Capping the theme, the PowerBook's keyboard is under-lit like a mall cruiser with a soft, fiber-optic glow that emanates automatically whenever the room lights dim. All that's missing is a subwoofer and tinted windows.
To drive its larger-than-life message home, Apple has hired 7-foot-5 Houston Rockets center Yao Ming as the new PowerBook spokesmodel, placing him on life-size posters and in TV ads that pair him with actor Verne "Mini-Me" Troyer and the company's other new PowerBook—its smallest ever. Side by side, the two computers bear an uncanny resemblance to this year's hot cars, the Hummer 2 and the Mini.
Most computer users will find a 17-inch screen and gigabit data jacks about as useful as 4-wheel drive and roll bars. Yet, judging by the number of attendees jotting down "$3,299," Jobs and company have hit the same consumer brain button that keeps the H2 on backorder. While everyone else was out cost-cutting, Apple built a lust object. Among the rows of jaded industry journalists at Jobs' feet, two things were obvious: Nobody, but nobody, really needs this computer. And everybody wants one.
on the Fray
Is the Democrats' Health Care Fight a "Prisoner's Dilemma" or a "Battle of the Sexes"?
Sorry, the Iranian Regime Isn't Going To Collapse Anytime Soon
How Vegetative Patients Really Communicate With the Scientists Who Scan Their Brains
The Minstrel Origins of the Phrase "Who Dat?"
Why We Shouldn't Bother Cleaning Up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
No Director Has Done More With Rubble Than Roberto Rossellini
