If you are even vaguely interested in technology, you know that Macworld is upon us, and you know that Macworld is where Apple releases a passel of new products. You might also be aware that rumors of those releases abound before the big event, and although nobody really knows anything - Apple is is famously tight-lipped about future product releases - everybody has their guesses as to what Apple has in store for us. Here are mine:
1. iLife 07, iWork 07: These are safe bets, Apple updates these every year at Macworld and it truly would be shocking if this year will be any different. iWeb will get a massive update, mostly because it has to - it is definitely 1.0 right now. Also, iWork will likely get the rumored spreadsheet app.
2. OS X, Leopard: Much time will be spent on this, and most of the features that were demoed at WWDC will be re-hashed again. I have no idea what the “secret” features are, though I suspect that the UI will look different than Tiger’s. I hope that Leopard’s UI brings some unity back to OS X. I think that Leopard will be released soon. Not at Macworld, but before January 30th (Vista is released on January 30th.)
3. iPhone: I know this is the much-hyped “next big thing,” but I am still a bit skeptical. Don’t get me wrong, an Apple designed phone would be great - most cell phones are pretty bad, either in their features being integrated with each other or in the UI department; Apple could instigate some changes here. But I don’t see how it will work out. The carriers control the features of the phones they sell (Verizon cripples the bluetooth on all but their smart phones) so you have to use their fee-inducing services. “Unlocked” cell phones are expensive - cheap cell phones are cheap only because of the long contracts we enter with the providers. Neither can I see Apple starting its own Cell service. Nevertheless, I think we may see an iPhone at Macworld; I think this only because of Kevin Rose’s claims that there will be. And, he’s been right before.
4. iPod: I think there will be a new iPod released, the “real video iPod.” This goes with the next prediction.
5. iTV: We saw the demo, but I think that iTV will be the big one. I think that 2007 will be the real “year of HD.” Here comes my argument. Right now the High Definition video is a mess. Lots of people now have HD capable TVs, but content is hard to come by. Sure, HD cable is avaible and there are even some over-the-air HD content, but who wants to watch the evening news in HD? No, HD movies is where its at. Yet, right now there are two competing standards, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Both players are expensive. In fact, in both cases the cheapest way of getting a player for HD movies is by buying a videogame console. Apple seems uniquely situated to enter this market and succeed. They have the hardware in the iTV, and at a price-point that is cheaper than the rivals. Also, the new MacBooks (and Pros) have the hardware for Pre-N, the next wireless standard, built in and waiting to be activated: Streaming HD wirelessly is just a software patch away. They have the content-delivery system in iTunes, and lest we forget, Apple bought a 50 million dollar telecom center in 2006, so the have the bandwidth potential to serve huge movie files. They already have movies for download - which means they have ins at the studio level. And, finally, they have the trust of consumers: not only have we bought content off iTunes in droves, but we have been watching movie trailers in HD for some time on Apple’s website - and they look incredible.
Of course, let it be noted: Last year I bought an iMac G5 four days before Macworld, thinking that since it had been recently updated I was safe. Alas Last year’s Macworld saw the release of the very first intel Mac, the iMac. So, I could be wrong. But, its fun guessing. Any other Guesses? Comment away.
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January 6th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Don’t forget the iAN.