What�s next for our favorite multicolored fruit.
Apple Computer is set to unveil a crapload of new products tomorrow at their special event in Cupertino. For starters, I have been to Apple�s town hall convention center and it is a beauty but incredibly small which tells me this may not be an iPod announcement but something Mac related with a new iPod accessory similar to the iPod socks which came out in October of 2004. Apple HQ�s town hall center has been the location for the iBook, iPod (gen 1) and Xserve unveilings and all three of those products were the first of their kind so this tells me we may be seeing a completely new product.
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Rumors are all over those �other� sites with images of a new iPod with a huge screen and there�s also some posts depicting a blurry tablet Mac and finally there was the image of an 8 inch tall aluminum cube depicting an Apple personal video recorder. There are tons of Apple products set to be refreshed and even more rumors that could come true and I�m just going to go through what we have seen so far.
Apple unveiled the first Intel powered Macs during Macworld San Francisco and I believe the products unveiled tomorrow were ready to at least be demoed at that time but Apple did not want to shadow the Intel release with more goods but instead is leveraging media coverage of two events to display these other products. If a computer is released, it will be Intel powered and not PowerPC and I doubt we will see any new PowerPC powered products except for a possible last refresh in July of the G5 until the Intel Conroe chips are available.
I am dismissing the tablet Mac rumors for now and that image of an iPod like product with a screen covering the face is not a table because the front is hard plastic and not soft touch sensitive plastic you would see on today�s tablet PC. I am a firm believer this is the next version of the iPod and will be a similar to release like that in 2004 when Apple kept its iPod line and added the �photo� tag to signify the enhanced features. This new iPodesque product may be dockable into the new PVR Apple releases and has the ability to also stream content via a Front Row interface from your PVR while at the house over Wi-fi and have 80Gbs of storage for music, photos, videos and podcasts while you are on the go.
Apple�s next Mac mini will most likely have a version 2 of Apple�s Front Row software and be the first device with support for cable TV inputs and automatically carries TV listings from the net and is also the first Mac to read Blu-Ray discs and a new Airport wireless protocol either the �n� or �wi-max� standard which will have increased data rates to allow for streaming video to one or multiple locations. I believe Apple will need to play catchup to compete with Microsoft and an 800 dollar mini cube with these features will be just what Apple needs to show the market they are a viable option for the home theatre.
The final guestimate would be a 13� iBook but I doubt Apple will be releasing this product. The number one reason would be time since the products above will take almost two hours to cover all of the features for the press and without a pee break, you may have lost their attention at that point. Also, Apple would needs a fresh iBook for the school season and traditionally a February iBook update is not expected since Apple will have �old technology� when July�s back to school promotions begin. A fresh iBook will be due out in May or June in order to be viable and convincing for parents and Apple needs to focus its Intel chip supplies to its new Macbook and iMacs for the time being until inventory levels even out.
Either way, we�re in for a surprise on Monday and UE will be keeping you guys updated throughout the day. The conference starts at 9AM PST Cupertino, California. As of now the weather is expected to be rainy with a high of 58 degrees. So much for a beautiful day in the bay but I�m expecting a great day for Apple�s stock price and that�s more than anyone can ask for.
