Macworld: Best of the rest - software, partnerships galore

Macworld 2005. Lots of whooping and cheering from Mac enthusiasts? Check. Steve Jobs in a black polo neck? Check. So what was new at the Apple conference?

The hardware announcements - the low-cost Mac mini desktop system, the iPod Shuffle music player and the iWork office software - took centre stage. But Apple CEO Steve Jobs also made a swathe of other announcements taking in partnerships and software.

Jobs confirmed the next version of the company's operating system, Tiger, was "on schedule" to ship in the first half of this year.

While keeping Tiger's release date close to his chest, the Apple boss did give away more details on the partnership with Motorola on an iTunes-enabled phone - specifically, the phone's release date. During his keynote, Jobs said the handset would "start rolling out this spring".

As well as extending its digital music franchise with the Motorola iTunes phone, Apple has racked up a whole raft of car manufacturers to join BMW in putting iPod connectivity in their motors.

Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nissan, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari have all jumped on the iPod bandwagon.

Mercedes will offer an iPod integration kit with its 2006 M-Class, scheduled to leave US forecourts from this autumn with the navigation controls to be located in the steering wheel. Volvo will be fitting out their entire 2005 US line with iPod connectivity. Details of Nissan, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari's plans will be unveiled later this year.

Job also promised the next generation iPod adapter for BMW iPod music addicts would debut next year.

In other digital music news, Apple released a new Jam Pack of orchestral instruments for its digital music-making software GarageBand.

Apple has also made over its 'digital lifestyle' suite of applications with an upgrade called iLife '05. It includes overhauled versions of iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD, GarageBand and the latest version of iTunes, with a focus on compatibility with emerging file formats - RAW for photographs, MPEG-4 movie clips and high definition video.

Apple also premiered its latest video editing application, Final Cut Express HD.