Apples in Eden — The Singapore iBook Launch

Nov 1, 1999

TEMPTATION comes in tangerine.

And so it was that the tantalizing full-color iBook in the full-page Straits Times ad simply proved too irresistible for some, and they came in droves on a drizzly Saturday afternoon to Wheelock Place, the landmark designed by renowned architect Kisho Kurokawa at the corner of Paterson and Orchard Road in the hub of Singapore's famous shopping district. Just to see the iBook in the flesh.

By the time I got to Eden Cybercafé, a line had already formed outside which snaked its way down the corridor. (You'd think these people were lining up for an All-You-Can-Eat buffet as they patiently waited for their turn to get inside.) Anyway, I snuck in.

In a well-timed move by Apple Singapore to promote the recently launched Asia Apple Store, all the Macs in the cyber café-turned-Apple showroom were online, so you could log on to The Apple Store to buy your iBook, and pick it up right there and then together with a free Microtek Slimscan C3 scanner. But no worries — the free scanner offer is good till the end of this month.

Naturally, it wasn't just iBooks that were showcased at the launch; the whole family of Apple computers was there. There were G4s, the gorgeous Apple Cinema Display, a graphite Studio Display, a PowerBook, maybe a dozen of the new iMacs, with one iMac DV SE among them, and two blueberry iBooks. But no tangerine iBook in the flesh, just the ones in boxes.

I was told there were only about 200 iBooks in Singapore in this first shipment, and half of them were here at the launch. Someone told me something rather interesting, too: they were so short of the tangerine models that a directive not to use any of them for display was passed. Hmm...

Overall, I'd say the crowd's reaction to the new product lines from Apple was positive, helped no doubt by the attentiveness of the Apple staff and MUG volunteers who demoed the machines and readily answered questions. The clear favorite among the exhibits had to be the Apple Cinema Display, which is a real stunner in both its sleek industrial design and its brilliant display. Many jaws must have hit the floor that afternoon while viewing A Bug's Life on DVD. It is that good. (So was the movie.)

In particular, I met two well-mannered Indian gentlemen (tourists, probably) who were ogling excitedly at the Apple Cinema Display. As I shared with them the merits of the PowerMac G4 and the gorgeous ACD, they would ever so often retreat into an animated dialog between themselves — head-shakes, hand gestures and all — in a delightful mix of their native tongue with a sprinkling of heavily-accented English after every few words, which left me half lost during parts of the conversation.

But reassuringly, the word 'phenomenal' (go hard on the 'L') would keep popping up with remarkable regularity as their secret conversation continued. Perhaps they have no equivalent adjective in India to describe what they saw in the Apple Cinema Display. And perhaps, too, they were conspiring to migrate — both to Singapore and to the Mac, just so they could get their hands on the G4 and Apple Cinema Display without breaking any laws.

Temptation comes in graphite too, you know.

Miscellaneous Notes

AirPort at year-end
AirPort will only be available in Singapore towards the end of this year. And only after the Telecoms Authority of Singapore (TAS) has fully tested it after the first specimens arrive. The more well-informed ones among you will recall that Lucent Technologies, who co-developed AirPort together with Apple, also developed a similar wireless LAN card for PC notebooks which has been implemented in certain tertiary institutions here since the middle of this year.

Apple Roadshows
More Apple roadshows are coming up between now and Christmas, it seems. Maybe the iMacs might get a chance the next time to show off how silent they really are and Apple gets to demo AirPort on the iBook and some of Mac OS 9's cool features like its voiceprint password?

Magix and Mac OS 9
There are still certain compatibility issues to be resolved between Magix Access Client 2.0 and Mac OS 9, it seems. More details will be forthcoming.

iBook ad debuts
The Jeff Goldblum iBook ad (Falling in Love) made its TV debut on Launch Day. No sign of Barry White, though. Rarely do we get imported TV ads aired here. The only recent exception I can think of is the Oreos ad. (Most of the seemingly imported ads are actually homespun productions which use foreign talents.)

Singnet ad blooper?
So here's this guy seated outside this girl's home because he can't get inside on account of her ferocious dog. And what does he do? He whips out his blueberry iBook and begins to email (or chat with?) the girl. Maybe they're connected via AirPort? But even if they were (which is fine by me), what has that got to do with the ISP? Think about it. (But don't tell me they're next-door neighbors and he's connected to his own Mac at home. Too convoluted.)

And while we're on the subject, there's that shampoo commercial with the affectatious girl who's evidently had a little too much Pantene to drink. Or maybe she was just intoxicated from surfing under the influence of her lime iMac.

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