What happened? We finally got the iPhone and the previously announced iTV, now Apple TV, but that was it. No new iWorks. No new iLife. No new iMacs. No new Mac minis. No new MacBooks with updated Airport to match the speed of the quietly announced Airport Extreme with 802.11n Draft 1.0 support. Nope, nothing but the iPhone which no one could touch or buy until about the end of the year. I mean, it was so out of place walking to the massive Apple area and see, nothing. Some Apple TV demos and two iPhones behind a guarded case. What a let down.

As I wondered around the vast emptiness of the Apple booth, I saw a Leopard demo highlighting Time Machine. Then it dawned on me. Steve promised more details about features of the next version of OS X when he spilled the “preview” beans at WWDC. Yet here I stood only hearing the same old news. Nothing, not even a release date, was giving. Did the rest of Apple fall asleep at the wheel?

I’m not the only one brave enough to make public statement with the disappointment of Apple’s showcase expo. Macworld’s Rob Griffiths agrees with me and has already been blasted with hate mail for his honesty. Yvo at disgruntled-dutch.com gives the same reasoning with a bit more dig into other missing announcements. Browse other sites and you’ll find more of the same. Disappointment.

I left for BART that bitter cold day in San Francisco last Tuesday thinking, “What was that? It started off with the most incredible announcement I’ve ever witnessed and then like a big thud, the rest of the show, well, just sucked. What happened?” There was little buzz on the floor that I’ve felt from other Mac lovers in the past and even the vendors I spoke to seemed a bit tired and distracted. It wasn’t that they were trying to play up to the iPhone for the lack of their ado as the problem, but I think just the lack of anything else being at Macworld. I mean, it’s MACworld and this year there really was no Mac in it. It really reminded me of going to OS/2 conventions in its dying years. It was just plain odd…and so unlike any Macworld before it.

With all the talk about iPhone, there’s really not much else going on at Apple’s booth. Ya, the Apple TV is there, but that’s it. While the iPhone is remarkable, that’s really all there was. No Airport Extreme to look at and not even an updated iLife. I guess Cupertino was working on the iPhone and only the iPhone.

I’ve also noticed the crowds to be much less than last year. It’ll be interesting to see the figures on that.

Adobe is here showing off Photoshop CS3, equinux showing off iSale 4, and lots and lots of iPod cases and lots of backpack and bags.

I did check out Alpine’s new head unit with its iPod integration and it is killer! Definitely the best head unit I’ve seen for the iPod. With it’s cover art support, large beautiful LCD color screen, and the ability to support TWO iPods, this is going to be the system to place in your car.

We’re here live! Keep refreshing for updates. (Most recent updates on top, least recent at bottom.)

11:01: Steve thanks workers and their families. Introduces treat…John Mayor performing on stage.

10:58: Steve announces the dropping of Computer from Apple Computer, Inc. Now just Apple Inc. (Note they did this officially four years ago, hence the ticker name.)

10:57 Wants to sell 10 million iPhone first year. At $499 with two year contract, can they do it?

10:56: Clicker not working. Steve telling of the story of Woz’s TV jammer (see Hertzfield’s book for the full story.)

10:45: Price: $499 (4GB Model) $599 (8GB Model). Shipping in June. Europe in Q4. Asia next year. Will be available at Cingular and Apple Stores.

10:42: Bluetooth headset from Apple for iPhone. Battery life: 5 hours talk time, video, or browsing. 16 hours audio playback.

10:39: While listening to music, if a call comes in, it automatically fades out song and pauses song and lets you bring up call. While on call, you can send e-mail, browse web site — all at the same time.

10:34: Yahoo Search built into Safari. Jerry Yan, Co-founder and Chief Yahoo! on stage.

10:31: Google Search and Google Maps built into Safari browser. Google CEO Dr. Eric Schmidt just came out on stage pushing “Applegoo” as a merged company name.

10:29: Using Google Maps satellite image. Zooming in on them. Way impressive and again, way easy.

10:28: Just used Google Maps. Searched for Starbucks. Tapped on the pin and called them. Pranked called them with an order for 4,000 Lattes.

10:27: Widgets are seamless and work just like they do on your Mac. Very impressive.

10:26: Web browser (Safari) shows entire web site. Doesn’t reformat. To read, use pinch method and zoom in. Very useable, very cool.

10:18: Yahoo! Mail to provide free push e-mail service.

10:16: Uses Safari. Fully usable browser on a phone. Google Maps. Widgets. Uses EDGE and Wi-Fi. Auto switch to Wi-Fi. Works with any IMAP and POP3 server.

10:12: Visual Voicemail is absolutely incredible. Very cool! Photo viewing is great. Scrolling, again, by your finger. To make the picture larger, pinch your fingers on the center of it and expand the fingers. Instant zoom!

10:06: Makes calls to Jony Ive. Then Phil calls. Puts Jony on hold and talks to Phil. Puts Phil on hold, gets back to Jony and then merges the two calls so easily. Amazing and simple.

10:05: iPhone: “What is the killer app? Making calls!” Use Contacts like never before. Sync them all. Visual Voicemail. Random access voicemail. Listen to message four instead of having to listen to the first three. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0.

10:01: I see an Airport signal indicator. Built-in Wi-Fi. 802.11n?

9:59: iPhone uses Cingular.

9:57: Scroll via waving your finger up or down! It is SWEET! Turn it landscape and the screen automatically adjusts to landscape and show Album Flow mode. Way sweet.

9:55: Watching demo of iPod part of iPhone. Key unlock is sliding your finger over the screen. Way sweet. Home screen looks awesome.

9:52: Thinnist smartphone, 3.5″ screen, 160 ppi, 2 megapixel camera, headphone jack, SIM port, hold button. Speaker, Mic, dock connector. Adjusts screen brightness automatically. Beautiful display.

9:50: iPhone runs on OS X. Will run desktop apps… Syncs with iTunes. Syncs PIM data and bookmarks. iTunes is what will handle all the syncing.

9:44: Apple reinvents the phone. Revolutionary UI. iPhone will have no hardware buttons for keyboard. Full-screen of soft-keys (try dialing without looking at the keys…)… Uses multi-touch screen. “More accurate”. “And boy did we patented it.”

9:41: “This is a day I’ve been waiting for two-and-half years.” Three revolutionary products. Wide-screen iPod. Mobile phone. “Breakthrough Internet communications device.” All three in one. It’s the iPhone! (Okay, we’re 1 for 1. Shows an iPod with a rotary dial on it. Gag!! Too good. It’s a smartphone.

9:39: Apple TV $299. Ships February.

9:40: Steve is now showing how he connect to Phil’s MacBook to watch his TV shows. Nice.

9:31: Watching a streaming movie trailer. Looks good on the big screen. Very MediaCentral like… Now watching Zoolander…Now watching Heros. Now playing music. Saw Sgt. Peppers album cover. Mmm… Watching slideshow from iPhoto library. Nice.

9:28: iTV has an offical name: Apple TV. Wireless transmit to big screen TV. No new differences on the back panel. 720p, 40GB hard drive, 802.11n (we told ya!)… Auto-sync from Mac/PC iTunes for content. Stream from 5 Mac/PCs… Apple TV menu looks very nice. Very iPod like…

9:26: New iPod ad. It’s okay. No biggy.

9:25: iTunes Store now 4th major retailer of music. One ups Amazon. New movie partner: Paramount. Now Star Trek II is available!!

9:18: New Mac Ad. PC is updating to Vista. Very funny.

9:15: Steve’s on stage:”Today we make history.” Taking about the Intel change.

9:10: Nothing happening. Just lots of sitting around and many asking, “How did you get on the Airport?” Ya, Apple has five access points (PR0 through PR4) WEP protected. Me? I have EV-DO, baby! Now, will my battery hold out? Hope so.

9:02 Wow, did I come back to high school? Once let up the escalator in the West Hall for the Keynote, if you didn’t move yourself, the hundreds of others behind you made sure you did move. Like a heard of animals, we all shoved ourselves onto the narrow escalator to get to the top floor. Once there, everyone RAN to get into the hall. Too just incredibly funny…and immature.

Even Steve likes looking up at those words. Yup, SvenOnTech will be reporting live from Keynote tomorrow morning at 9:00 am. If all goes well (we get out badge, get into the Moscone in time, and have either a Wi-Fi or EV-DO signal), you’ll be able to catch the updates as Steve pronounces them. So keep an eye here and refresh the post ‘Live from Keynote 2007″ and you’ll be good to go!

Our predictions? Okay, here it is in print and we can’t back down from it now…

• NO iPhone
• Airport Extreme MAX (or whatever — 802.11n Draft 1.0 wireless)
• MacBook and MacBook Pros announced with 802.11n upgrades (date TBD)
• iTV (with 802.11n)
• iLife 07 (with new added component — like last years iWeb and GarageBand before that)
• Leopard (with release date)
• Slew of iPod news including Alpine’s iDA-X001 with its iPod like look-n-feel

Don’t worry about if CES steals attendance from Macworld this year due to both happening on the same week or not. Nah, let’s get down to the true meat of the two competing shows and vote whom really is hot or not.

You select which picture, representing CES or Macworld, is truly hot…or not. Waste tons of time just clicking on the pictures as you would on that other site that started this crazy, and sometimes cruel, voting pattern of pure opinion. Will the ultra-cool consumer geeks be hot or will it be the uber-hip different thinking bunch? Your opinion can be the deciding factor!

Thanks Matthew for the tip!

When CES announced its dates early last year, many wondered if it would hurt Macworld’s attendance. While Macworld is one of the largest trades shows in California and San Francisco’s largest show of the year, things aren’t what they used to be. Since 2003, the seemingly peek of the trade show with 90,473 people at Moscone that year, the show just doesn’t seem to be as large as it once was. In fact, the once used North Hall has simply been empty the last two years. While there has been a slight increase in attendance the last two years, will the momentum be able to withstand the ultra-popular Vegas-based CES show?

This isn’t the first time CES overlapped a Macworld date. In 2002, CES found itself smack dab in the middle of Macworld week as well. The result? Macworld attendance fell by 5.5 percent. With this years lack of any real juicy rumors with any real merit behind them for Apple’s side, it’s most likely a repeat of 2002 will happen at the 2007 Macworld Conference and Expo. In ’02, iBook upgrade chatter and iMac G3 towers ruled the rumor mill and when the dust settled, iPhoto’s introduction, and iBook and iMac updates weren’t enough to bring out the people. This years rumors? iPhone and for the millionth time this year, the full-screen iPod. Neither will be enticing enough to draw geeks away from Vegas.

With HD, cell phones, Bluetooth, GPS, plasma, and even with its disappointments, the PS3, to be gawked at, CES just has a higher draw. Every year it gets larger and grander while Macworld shrinks and shrivels. You can bet IDG will be reporting a lower turn out this year no matter what happens at Stevenotes. Sure, the die hards will do both, as this reporter will, but most will have an either or choice and to Apple’s dismay, it’ll be its show that will lose out like it did five year before.