I did my best to get to Macworld this year. I contacted the press coordinator, pleaded with her for passes (she gave me two), and even found friends that would let us crash at their place in sunny San Francisco. However, the people who were going to go with me, in the end, had to back out. Next year, Macworld, next year.
Nonetheless, here’s a rumor recap of what good ol’ Steve might announce come Monday.
Rating System:
10 – Pretty sure it’s coming
5 – Maybe coming soon
1- Not coming anytime soon
OS X 10.5.2
I’ll admit, Apple’s new Leopard operating system is buggy. Not as buggy as Vista, but still a problem. Steve definitely knows this and he should release a free fix on Monday. Sources are claiming the update will house over 75 fixes as well as some new features. Probability Rating: 9
Sub-notebook Laptops
A sub-notebook laptop is definitely a move in the right direction for Apple. Apple’s laptops are fairly high in price when compared to similar PCs. Unless you’re a devoted Apple fanboy, you may not want to fork out $1,099 for a baseline MacBook. The sub-notebook should have a 12” screen, 32 or 64GB NAND (flash) based hard drive, and no optical drive. Probability Rating: 8
iTunes Movie Rentals
Fox and Disney have already signed on to offer movie rentals through iTunes. Whether Steve will announce the deal at Macworld is a little debatable. Will he wait for more studios to sign on? Will he wait for the next generation of Apple TVs to be released? Probability Rating: 8
New Apple TV
When Apple TV sales didn’t hit their mark, Steve was quick to classify the device as just a “hobby.” With iTunes movie rentals looming in the near future, Apple TV could make its much needed comeback. Some rumors also point to a new version of Apple TV that has DVR capabilities. Why Steve chose to release this device before movie rentals were a reality still makes me scratch my head. Probability Rating: 5
iPhone Update
Many rumors still point to a 3G iPhone for the spring. However, Steve might release a 16GB iPhone at Macworld. This would probably mean another price drop for the 8GB model. Steve wants to sell 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008 and this upgrade may entice some more buyers. Probability Rating: 6
New Cinema Displays
While a lot of sites are claiming that Steve will announce glossy, thinner displays, I find this to be quite unlikely. The current displays still fit into Apple’s aluminum iMac design. The only thing missing is a built-in iSight camera. However, are the people who buy these displays really doing it for video chatting? Probability Rating: 5
Other Highly Unlikely Rumors
Touch Screen Mac
Full-sized wireless keyboard
New iPod Hifi
See you on Monday, Steve. Well, online at least.
What are your predictions? Let us know in the comments.