In a recent email newsletter from Jakob Nielson (no link, since it does not appear to be on the web, ponder than one for a while…) he talks about Steve Jobs’ Macworld keynote, and even makes a joke!
In my last newsletter, I complained about the webcast of Bill Gates’ CES keynote: we didn’t get to hear the speaker until 8 minutes and 57 seconds into the video. Too drawn-out (thus boring) for Web video. In contrast, Apple’s video of Steve Jobs’ recent Macworld keynote had him talking after only 36 seconds of intro. They could have tightened this a bit, but basically, that’s the way to go. The video image was the same size as Microsoft’s (320×180), which is too small to see demos well. For long videos, better quality is needed to keep users’ attention, even when you are webcasting from a reality distortion field.
As for the Macworld keynote, Drew mentioned that it would be a most excellent idea for Apple to make the keynote available via the iTunes Music Store. What Mac-fanatic wouldn’t pay $1.99 to download all the Stevey goodness with “Oh… and one more thing…”? Isn’t it the perfect content for that shiny new video-capable iPod?
What’s up Apple?