Newton's Nerds Get Revenge

By Marie D'Amico, 

I spent a week at MacWorld Expo in Boston this earlier month, attending the Newton launch and touring the show. I had never been to a product launch so had no idea what to expect. When you're a lawyer, clients come to you when they want to litigate a product, not launch one.

The nerds who gave their brains and blood for Newton finally got their revenge (on Newton naysayers) when launch attendees shouted a collective "Insanely Great!"

In contrast, the rest of the Expo was so humdrum that the busiest booth was demonstrating an inter-active 'virtual' photo shoot with Penthouse Pets. It seems that safe sex in the 90's doesn't require a condom; it requires a CD drive.

Here, There, and Everywhere

Newton is here. The message was proclaimed from billboards, bumper stickers, and badges. Even the hotels repeatedly played a Newton video on in-house cable TV. It was akin to the pre-show hysteria for a Beatles reunion concert in which Lennon rises from the dead, Ringo finally learns to play and Paul leaves Linda at home.

The launch had all the elements of a rock concert. The Newton team, dressed in khaki pants and black polo shirts, looked like clean-cut roadies at a Pat Boone concert. There was a light show and short videos pulsating with music la MTV . The crowd included luminaries such as Tom Clancy and Tom Selleck, the voice from the AT&T EO (now EO/GO) commercials. I guess they own his voice but not his heart. John Sculley looked tan and relaxed. It's amazing what quitting one's job can do for one's appearance.

The excitement from the launch carried to the show floor. The lines at booths with Newton were so long they could have been selling meat in Moscow. In contrast, the Microsoft booth was desolate; they must have been selling week old bread.

Most of the Newton dealers, having learned well the lessons of post-communist capitalism, charged up to a $100 premium over "expected street price" for various Newton bundles, but few seemed to care.

Magical Mystery Tour

The Mac booths could have used a energy transfusion from Newton . The combination of Ken and Barbie demonstrators, humidity, and prosaic products turned touring the Expo into a Bataan death march. The only products which broke the ennui were pretty, but not productive.

Berkeley Systems' new After Dark Disney Collection has a 101 Dalmatians module which could tug at almost anyone's heart and purse strings. And, Broderbund's Living Books series is so well done, but formulaic, I'm shocked it hasn't been imitated. Maybe they don't sell children's books in Redmond .

In addition to being in a coma, the Mac market is completely schizophrenic. While one side wants small, portable devices which perform defined tasks, the other side wants bionic Macs. There were new monitors, AV machines and peripherals which permit you to use your Mac as a home entertainment center. But, isn't a computer potato just one step from a couch potato?

My business pays for my Mac. What I need and want is a machine that helps me do my work, not watch a movie.

Unless, of course, it makes me popcorn.

Communications

© 2006 MacWEEK