I was going to hold off on this post until closer to Macworld, but since everyone has begun unleashing their predictions, I figured I might as well also. As you may know, Macworld is Apple’s flagship trade show and keynote. Every year Steve Jobs announces a whole host of new products, and lately its been bloggers’ jobs to throw down their predictions. That’s exactly what I’m going to do now.
This year I believe Apple will start the show off dealing with multimedia. Apple is once again going to be stepping it up in the multimedia department in order to maintain their dominance. In this category I foresee:
- Wide-screen Video iPod (it has to happen sometime).
- “iTV” with 102.11n and a hard drive for media purchases + buffer for G networks.
- More movie studios signing on to the iTunes Movie Store.
- The option to rent movies, countering the Xbox 360’s offering.
Next, Jobs will shift the focus to what’s on everyone’s mind - Leopard. He’ll finally reveal the hidden features which will be an updated Finder and my earlier prediction of Parallels being integrated into the OS. After giving a full demo of the features of Leopard, he’ll announce a March ship date.
Once Leopard has been discussed, Jobs will come up with some cleaver line to bring the focus back to hardware. It’s then when he’ll announce a new Mac mini with not only upgraded specs, but a new design. After the mini, he’ll go on to announce a midrange tower Mac, dubbed “Mac”. Oh, and let’s not forgot about the updated Cinema displays featuring iSight. He probably won’t mention it here, but it will be in there somewhere.
Finally, Jobs will unleash the famous “One more thing…” line, and amaze us all with the announcement of the iPhone. It will be kick-ass but only work on GSM networks, leaving CDMA customers (like myself) out in the cold. Features will be identical to what Kevin Rose leaked, leaving Kevin Rose once again Apple rumor king.
What do you think Apple will release or announce? I know I can’t wait to find out. Only seven more days to Macworld…
7 Comments
You certainly have interesting predictions. While I do hope a video-centric iPod will be announced I am not going to give up my hopes. Though I am still putting off purchasing one until it is announced. I have quite an iTunes legally purchased library and I want to listen to my music at the gym!
As for the other things you bulletted, I sure hope so! But won’t bother me one way or the other. A new Mac mini? And design? I really don’t think so. If anything new hardware, but certainly not new design. The design is already gorgeous, no need to change it.
Parallels in the OS itself can be possible so I’ll give you that one.
I do like your idea of the mid-range Mac, and I would love it because I would rather buy it than a Mac Pro, I can’t see Apple doing it. They already got a Mac Mini and iMac. No need for a third consumer-level Mac.
I do agree with the “One more thing…” and I do think it will be the iPhone…Though nothing wrong with GSM. Only reason for GSM is for global penetration. You should switch to Cingular by the way…Verizon is awful!
As for me, I am unsure what to predict. Definitely Leopard features. New hardware….and of course there is the teaser on the Apple web site now…”The first 30 years were just the beginning….Welcome to 2007,” wonder what that could mean…
I think they’re going to do something to it. It may just be something as simple as making it smaller, but they have something up their sleeve.
There is a need for a third consumer Mac. Apple needs a desktop with a real desktop chip a.k.a. Conroe. A real desktop chip along with a real graphics card would appeal to gamers.
As long as my parents are footing the phone bill, Verizon it is.
Don’t forget, the keynote is two hours this year!
God, a 2 hour keynote…that might actually be a bit too much. I hope you are right about parallels being built in to Leopard, hopefully we’ll get a shipping date at Macworld.
I made my predictions here:
http://tech.zamwi.com/2007/01/03/what-is-to-come-at-macworld-07/
How about:
- A new iSight (smaller/better) that will track you as you move?
- Leopard shipping NOW?
Is the keynote going to be streamed, or have htey given up on that?
They’ve pretty much given up on streaming. However, it should be available for download that night.
Macrumors.com always posts streaming text (its ajax driven i believe so no meta-refresh) and its always fun to watch it there. engadget is a bit slower in getting things up, but they also post pretty pictures!
One more day!!!!!!
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