It’s the night before Macworld and all through the house, there’s a bunch of jealous bastards stuck at the mouse. Haha, really, I was going to go, but it was a little too late notice for the Digg offer and I couldn’t get a room. $450 to fly in and out the same day seemed a bit much. I’ll try and get there next year though. Philoking.com is becoming a pretty trendy consumer electronics oriented blog so maybe by then I can rate an invite. I did hit half a million hits for December!
So first off, in case your stuck at work during Steve Jobs’ keynote, you can always watch the results live at http://www.macrumorslive.com/ so be sure to catch that. They usually post the keynote highlights as well as a few dodgy cell cam photos.
Even if you aren’t a fanboy, Steve Jobs keynotes are pretty entertaining. I will discuss the big rumored products in a few, but lets take a second to discuss the state of Apple as a whole.
Even being a rampant Windows user, I am a pretty big Apple fan. Apple’s popularity, even in the financial world (Apple stock is up over 1000% since the release of the iPod), is based on something that I think no other PC maker can claim: Truly innovative products. Even when Jobs isn’t the first to market with a product, when he comes, he washes the rest away with ease of use and gorgeous design.
Apple has smoothly made the switch to Intel, a move that will soon be validated when Adobe CS3 leaves beta and the design world joins in.
There is still no true iPod video and I don’t expect one next week, but there is still no better end to end solution for music players on the market in my opinion.
Macbooks and Macbook Pros are taking the world by storm with even Windows users bootcamping them as XP boxes. The Apple MacBook was Amazon’s top seller this Christmas.
On To Macworld!
As usual, Apple will most likely make updates to the iLife and iWork suites. I would expect “Numbers,” Apple’s spreadsheet app to make it’s first appearance. Also I hear a new and improved presentation tool will be spotlighted (no pun intended).
OSX Leopard
Leopard will take focus. Expect the features Steve Jobs alluded to will be displayed now. The Developer builds are close to RTM so the cat is out of the bag anyway (boy, I really didn’t intend that one!) I am not sure it will be available, I would say the chances are pretty good. Windows Vista is expected for consumers on January 30th so this will be Jobs last chance to beat them to RTM unless he wants to do it incognito. I haven’t talked myself into an Intel Mac yet, when I do I will probably get in on the Developer Network again and give you the deets on what I see.
Apple iTV
Everyone knows iTV is coming. I know Jobs is still working on TV and movie deals, but after the Disney only release of iPod video’s success he may be willing to go ahead and let this one fly too. I really think Steve Jobs is onto something here. I have made no secret of my dissatisfaction with Microsoft’s Home Entertainment offerings as of late. I think the inclusion of HDMI will be a big one. I will say, I hope the video quality improves. This is an HD world, saying DVD quality video (480i/p) is not going to cut it.
Apple iPhone
This has to be the worst kept secret in the history of Apple. Steve Jobs has pretty much let this one get everywhere. Of course nobody knows what it really looks like, but we all expect a MP3 playing phone, very iPod like, slide out keyboard for texting and most likely a single carrier (wanna take bets it won’t be Verizon?) It’s going to be sweet, but it’s going to be spendy. I would also expect no immediate availability.
It’s going to be fun to watch and I will surely be watching it. If you haven’t before, I suggest it. It’s kind of like Christmas for geeks.
JB
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