Schillermania!

Phil has just taken the stage at Macworld to boisterous cheers. He’s already well into introducing new products with his trademark wit and flair.

Come back later for a comprehensive report of the Schillerness of today’s Keynote.

Update: Phil also a Rocket Scientist!

Macworld logo in flames

By all indications, Phil Schiller is set to deliver an earth-shattering Macworld Keynote Tuesday morning, the likes of which have never been seen. We’re predicting complete annihilation.

We’re going to miss Phil’s typical supporting appearances, but we figure after his Keynote is done it will be pretty clear why Apple is canceling future Macworld appearances: there will be no topping this Schill-note.

Least we forget, this is not Phil’s first time hosting a Macworld Keynote. He also presented the Keynote at Macworld Paris in the summer of 2004, where he introduced the new iMac G5 with it’s new vertical all-in-one design that continues to evolve today.

Update: We aren’t the only ones predicting a massive Schiller “tour-de-force”.

Hey Schiller fans, I’ve finally recaptured the righteous schillermania.com domain, so we’re moving back. Lots of hot Schiller talk in the air too, so we couldn’t have picked a better time.

I for one fully expect Schiller to annihilate the crowds at the last Macworld of all time. Looking forward to it.

Don’t worry though, I should be able to bring all the content over easily enough. Including the malware links, but I think I found them all this time.

Phil came on stage during the WWDC Keynote last Monday to show off the new features of MobileMe, Apple rebranding and enhancement of the .Mac suite.

Phil described MobileMe as Exchange for the rest of us, showed how events can be pushed to an iPhone, and demonstrated new web based versions of Mail, Address Book, and iCal. Additional coverage coming soon.

At yesterday’s iPhone Roadmap event held in Apple’s Town Hall on Campus, Phil Schiller delivered the goods on the future of the iPhone in business. Steve started and bookended the event, but left Phil and Scott Forstall to deliver the majority of the goods.

A closer look at Phil’s iPhone Calendar shown during the presentation also reveals that he routinely schedules time to think up new Apple rumors. Clearly there are no limits to the wizardry of his marketing strategies and even Apple fanboy bloggers are merely pawns in his game of puppetry. How’s that for a mixed-metaphor?

In reference to yesterday’s discussion of future Apple leadership, Phil once again demonstrated his competency and comfort announcing new products. No need to worry about the other guest host; Scott Forstall is only ever brought out in front of the geeky developer crowd and just doesn’t have the laugh to be the top dog. We’re all better off with him working with the smart people anyhow.

Phil’s sense of humor was sprinkled liberally throughout his piece: he cracked jokes about older generation phones in reference to BlackBerries, amongst other quips. His best joke was when he dead-panned to that everyone should just “take our word for it, it works” before actually demoing Exchange syncing. What a ham.

CNN Money has a nice interview with Steve Jobs in relation to Fortune Magazine having named Apple the Most Admired Company of 2008. The fifth topic in this interview is on the question of who would take over after Steve.

Obviously we think Phil is the most likely exec to inherit the throne. He’s certainly earned it and has the most MacWorld experience. Tim Cook is a wily and talented charmer, but his wizardry lies in operations and not the public persona nor product design areas. Joswiak is nothing but a yes man, Bertrand way too crazy-eyed, Ives too private. Retail Veep Ron Johnson is actually probably the best man for the job, but it might be nice to just seem them all share power post-Jobs in acknowledgement that no one man could fill those shoes. I don’t think any outsiders would stand a chance at the top in a company like this one.

Morbid, I know, but it is apparently true that John Moltz, the inventor/coiner of “Schillermania” and Phil’s biggest fan is closing the doors of Crazy Apple Rumors. I guess websites have doors. I’m very sad.

The only gift I have to give back for the divine and eternal gift of conception, creation, and birthing bestowed upon this website is this link to the finest piece of CARS merchandise available: the
Schillermania Roadie T-shirt. I only hope that the untold thousands of dollars in profit generated by this generous link placement will not lure old Moldy-Moltzy back to quirky internet publishing. May Schillerworld live on forever.

The picture was taken by John Gruber, who did not in any way authorize it’s use here nor has he been contacted. Click through to view the actual photo at Flickr. Apologies for the unethical and illegal usage.

John was 49 years old.

In a great interview at Engadget, Phil goes on the record about this very site … and um how, um … effortlessly it’s run?

Pretty awesome that the first thing out of interviewer Ryan Block’s mouth when he got the chance to speak to Phil was to ask about Schiller-mania. Maybe not the best journalistic move to creep out the interview subject right off the bat, but flattering to us. Phil went on to downplay his fame and give a good personal interview while of course staying on message about the awesome new iPods, iTunes, and the like. I recommend Schiller fans and everyone else take a look.

Daringfireball immediately trashed Engadget of course. Something about a history of bad reporting?

Here’s a couple more clutch screen caps from the streaming video of Phil at the Special Event:

Phil was in the audience with his iPhone submitting photos to the .Mac Web Gallery Steve had just built with iPhoto.

Here’s the wacky photo Phil uploaded!