Macworld

Why the iMac is late

Where was the new iMac that Apple watchers expected Steve Jobs -- or rather, Phil Schiller -- to unveil at Macworld?

In a report to clients issued Monday, Kaufman Bros.' analyst Shaw Wu says it will be out before March, or June at the latest, and he offers three reasons that the refresh of Apple's best-selling desktop machine is running behind schedule. According to his latest supply chain checks:

Apple hasn't yet MORE

Pogue rocks Macworld with "Where is Steve?"

David Pogue, New York Times tech columnist, creator of the Missing Manual series, and frustrated Broadway producer, led his Macworld Live! feature presentation in San Francisco Wednesday with a musical riff on Steve Jobs' non-attendance.

Playing the electric piano and accompanied by former Cirque de Soleil bassist J.F. Brisette, he sang, to the tune of Oliver's "Where is Love?"

"Where is Steve? Give us something to believe! Should we trust Apple's press MORE

iTunes music: The cost of removing Apple's copy protection

When Apple announced Tuesday that it was finally lifting the so-called digital rights management (DRM) restrictions that iTunes music customers found so onerous, it left one thing out: the cost of doing so -- in money and, as we learned overnight, time.

"We are thrilled to be able to offer our iTunes customers DRM-free iTunes Plus songs in high quality audio," said Steve Jobs in a press release.

"It's really easy," said MORE

Analyst: Steve Jobs is still in charge

Boring is good, says Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster in a report from Macworld 2009.

"Today's Macworld keynote was underwhelming as expected," Munster wrote in a note to clients, a development he interprets as "a sign that Steve Jobs remains primary spokesman and active leader."

The biggest news at the show, he says, was the updated 17" MacBook Pro and two software updates: iLife and iWork. (See Live from Apple's last Macworld)

That's a MORE

Live from Apple's last Macworld

This is a live blog of the valedictory keynote Steve Jobs decided not to give -- sending Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller to Macworld 2009 in his place.

Schiller's remarks began shortly after 9 a.m PST (12 noon EST),

Posts are listed in reverse order, with the latest posts on top. All times are a.m. PST.

The headlines: Expectations were low, but even those were largely unmet. There was no Steve Jobs MORE

Analyst reinstates Apple -- for now

Oppenheimer & Co.'s Yair Reiner turned heads on Wall Street three weeks ago -- in the wake of Apple's surprise announcement that Steve Jobs would be skipping Macworld 2009 -- when the analyst downgraded the company and refused to set a price target for its shares until he got some answers. (See Analyst sounds warning.)

On Tuesday, Reiner reinstated Apple (AAPL), upgrading the stock to "outperform" and setting a 12 - MORE

Macworld? Who cares. How's Steve?

At last year's Macworld, Jobs introduced the Macbook Air – and speculation about his health intensified. Photo: Jon Fortt

Under Steve Jobs, ninja-like discipline has been the hallmark of Apple's communication strategy. He has guarded the details of the company's product launches so jealously that even some Apple executives don't know exactly what he will unveil next. So with Macworld just hours away, it is just plain weird to see the MORE

What's going on with Steve Jobs' hormones?

Steve Jobs' letter to the Apple community about his health problems seems to have reassured investors -- the stock closed up 4.22% in Monday trading.

But medically, Apple's (AAPL) CEO raised more questions than he answered.

His eight paragraph message contains remarkably few health-related facts. They're all contained in these three graphs:

"As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and MORE

Macbook Air pre-keynote clearance sale

What's up with the MacBook Air?

The road warrior's favorite Apple (AAPL) notebook, pulled with great fanfare from an interoffice envelope by Steve Jobs at Macworld 2008, is being steeply discounted this weekend, on the eve of Macworld 2009.

The entry level machine (1.6 GHz, 2GB) is still listed on the Apple Store at its original price -- albeit with a 50% larger hard drive and a new graphics chipset. But if MORE

Top 10 Macworld rumors for 2009

Apple's (AAPL) last Macworld Conference and Expo opens Monday at San Francisco's Moscone Center, but the real action starts Tuesday at 9 a.m. PT (12 noon ET) with senior vice president Phil Schiller's opening remarks -- the first Macworld keynote not delivered by Steve Jobs since 1997.

Nobody's expecting breakthrough products that rise to the level of the iMac (Macworld 1998), the iBook (1999), iTunes (2001) or the iPhone (2007), but MORE