Early Macworld predictions anyone?
 

So what will Apple unveil this January? Make your predictions now.

I'm predicting a replay of last year. At MWSF 2005 they introduced the Mac mini and the iPod shuffle. I'm predicting updated versions of both, and some peeks at Leopard.

1. a new Mac mini powered by an Intel chip, probably a Pentium M
2. a new iPod shuffle, same 256/512 MB configuration, but redesigned with a new look
3. Jobs will run Leopard for his system and talk about new features
4. possibly an Intel iBook to go along with the Intel mini

I doubt a new operating system will be released for quite a while .... they usually go through all nine updates (10.4.1, .4.2, .4.3, etc) until they release a new version? Also I think it should be called Cheetah! :cool:

Cheetah was Mac OS X 10.0, so that's already been used.

I don't think Leopard will be out until mid-2006, but I'll bet Steve uses it for his presentation. I'm sure he'll tell us 1000 reasons to upgrade.

Perhaps it will simply be called Pussy.

ZING!

"Looks like someone has a case of the Mondays"

Ah, how about Lynx, I always liked that cat name.

I think they are going to introduce a new PB with the Intel. PB's are due for an update anyway.

As long as it doesn't get confused with the browser.

My prediction:

One or two of the following...
An Intel Tower
An Intel xServe
An Intel iBook
An Intel iMac
An Intel Mac Mini

...and perhaps the following...
An iPod Video Nano with larger drive with improved shell
A widescreen video iPod for downloadable movie titles
iData - An Apple version of Excel
iLife 06

I'm saving my money for an Intel Tower. Need some heavy lifting for HD video in my near future.

I'd be interested in any improvements to iWork…

I'm with guardian, I would like to be able to see iWork be a legitimate replacement for office.

Steve said that Mac OS X 10.5 will be released sometime around the end of 2006, early 2007, the same time as Vista, which is a good thing I think.

Cashing in on the halo effect
 

Lynx is the coolest. Three other exotic possibilities are: Ocelot, Caracal and Iriomote. I like Ocelots. On the other hand I wouldn’t recommend Serval, Margay or Kodkod. But how about Sabertooth? (No jokes about extinction, please.)

What Apple needs now is a new product aimed at the broad and young market, cashing in on the Halo effect. So I think you may be right about the PowerBook or iBook. Perhaps we may also see iLife06 with a surprising addition. Or a more complete iWorks suite.

I would also suspect that Apple has something up their sleeve for the iTMS store. Widening and deepening the content - and renaming it the "iTunes Media Store"?

Perhaps an iPhone worthy of the name? That would be a guaranteed runaway winner at the New Year’s sales! The Motorola Rokr was pretty lame, with zero wow factor.

My best guess? That Apple has been innovating in some astonishing new directions, and that they’re going to blow us away!

With best regards,
ArcticStones

I'd just love it if Steve announced with a big smile that depite what he stated earlier this year, Mac OS will work on Existing PCs... I'd love that just to see how Mr Balmer and Gates react to having that kind of competition in their monopoly... Remeber that the Dell CEO had stated that if Apple made a verison of OS X for other PCs that the Mactel ones, he'd offer it as an alternative to Windows...
An OS war would be soo much fun !

I think the coolest thing that could possibly happen...
Would be if Steve Jobs didn't wear a black turtleneck. :eek:

Seriously though... a lot of Intel predictions. I've read others around the net as well. I think 2006 will be a year of transition for Apple.

Now the $1,000,000 question... which will come first?
Intel-powered Xserve or Quad G5 Xserve.

So what could be next for the iPod? Bigger hard drives, I'm sure, but what else? Now that the long-awaited Video iPod has finally come to the fore, what would be the next, greatest thing? Might we get a hint of this at the next MW Expo?

.
"Well, folks. We admit it. In the last three years, Macs have been selling at a far higher rate than Apple has wished to admit. You see, we didn’t want the competition to panic and take drastic measures.

As of the end of 2005, Macs now have a 10 % market share – and in many our core markets they account for 15 to 25 % of every new computer sold. If we only count the computers where the user has a choice, such as at universities, the figures are even higher.

So you see, these growth rates are in some respects even more impressive that Apple’s iPod success."

(Loud cheers! Standing ovation!)

"One more thing... Today we’re launching a new Switch campaign. It’s true, folks; OSX will run on any Intel chip that runs ‘that other leading brand’.

Starting today, Apple is offering a core version of OSX for only $ 29.95. So if you have friends who are tired waiting for Longhorn – tell them there is a better way!
And, folks, it comes with a three-month, money back, Apple Satisfaction Guaranty.”

:D

Apple will probably never but OS X on every Intel machine because hardware. If Dell put it on their $399.99 PCs, it would be very slow and sluggish and would rub people the wrong way. It would be good on the Dell XPS or highend Alienware or HP. "OS X Core version" sounds bad because it would probably strip OS X of what makes it great. Even if they did, $29.99 is too low. It would prob. sell more to the tune of $49.99 or $59.99.

Why would Apple sell OS X at anywhere near that low a price?
The current $129 price for OS X is heavily subsidized by the profit from hardware sales. The price for Windows is far higher - check Amazon for example.
And Apple would have to increase the price of OS X if they started making it available for non-Apple hardware since that would inevitably cut into some of their hardware sales (some people buying a Dell who might otherwise have bought an Apple machine).

It would be a bad move since OSX is designed for the hardware, which is what makes it so powerful. However, a nice idea would be OSX LE which would be designed for people who only want to use their Mac for basic apps like word processing, surfing the internet and email. To access the full OS to do even more would require an upgrade price. All the download would be is an unlock mechanism, so the size would be very small.

I predict the FBI will switch over the the Mac OS.

That'd be a monumental deal for Steve to land. I know OS X is being watched by the NSA...maybe it's time for Apple to penetrate into government.

I heard that certain departments in the US Intelligence community were big users of NeXT machines. They liked the security and apparently the database that shipped with the NeXT machines was very good. It was killed when Apple bought NeXT.

As far as Mr. Jobs' wardrobe goes, I'm thinking he should move up to a zoot suit like this one.

http://www.costumesgalore.net/Flappe...red00-135.html

That chronology doesn't quite make sense since NeXT had stopped making hardware a few years before Apple bought them.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NeXT

One week to go... any last minute guesses?

Apple and Intel will announce a merger - with Jobs as the new CEO.

... just kidding!

;)

here are my predictions for announcements in 06

mac tablet pc (centrino based pentium M chip)

A media center version, or add on for OS X and possibly even a new model called like the media center mac (or whatever clever name apple gives it, like the itheatre or something)

i see more editions of a mini, or better entry level mac options. PCs have their cheap entry level mchines, and the mac mini is apple's answer.

what i'd like to see is apple get back in the PDA market. It could come with itunes,an excel type program,address book, ability to watch videos, internet enabled, pda version of ichat. what do you think?

Hoping beyond hope that there will be an INTEL Tower. Need one for the HD editing I plan to do. Want something I can open and expand myself. Don't want iMac, Mac Minis or laptops. I don't want to buy a tower now unless he drops the price significantly. I do not want to buy something that will be outdated the day it arrives at my door. Intel will give me a little bit of an edge. Whatever I get needs to last me for a while.

I hear you! Been holding on hardware investments for precisely that reason. I want an Intel-embracing Mac that’s powerful enough for Aperture. I might consider a G5 (Quad) if I halve the price... Not in any rush. Very curious as to what Apple comes up with.

My suspicion, as already voiced here, is something on the Media Centre front. I think Apple will launch at least one product with a first-rate Wow factor.

Best regards,
ArcticStones.

I see your point and schneb's point but there is a down side to waiting. You lose the use of the Quad for six months or a year. And there's no guarantee the new tower Macs will work well out of the box. I hope and expect the new Intel machines to run well. But there have been Apple hardware rollouts that have been problematic. The iMac took about six months, several firmware updates and a major OS update before it would run well. That was the rollout for USB. The Power PC processor rollout went well in the first generation, but the 7200 wouldn't run Microsoft Office for six months after it was introduced. I have a client that will probably buy a quad this month, and I'm glad he's not waiting for an Intel box.

Whether or not you buy one of the new Intel Macs will probably depend heavily on need. If you just 'need' the latest (and hopefully greatest) then going out and buying one makes a lot of sense ;). On top of this, if the rumors are true and you can use windows apps much easier by dual booting or VPC, then if you want to run a lot of windows apps, it would also be a good time to buy a new mac.

But if you don't need either of those I agree with mclbruce. Don't buy one until you know it's going to be stable, and you know you need it.

As far as quads not being out for a few months, the latest rumor I heard (and yes, it's just a rumor) is that you'll still have a dual processor with dual core set up. As we all know, Apple hates to step backwards...

Point taken mclbruce.

If you want to wait until the next version... you'll be waiting forever.

People started waiting for the G5 Tower over a year before it came out. There were a lot of disappointed people who kept saying... "maybe next month." Just because they're introducing new Macs next week (which is still speculation), that doesn't mean they'll be available next week. It may be several weeks before they're available for purchase, and then another few weeks before you can actually get one.

Generally the waiting game tends to be a disappointment.

Will we see an iPhone?
 

.
One (minor) question that I have is this: Will we see a serious "iPhone" from Apple? I think we can safely conclude that the iTunes-based ROKR from Motorola was a fiasco. In fact, at CES in Las Vegas, Motorola dropped Apple, venturing ahead with a focus on radio with it ROKR E2.

The question is whether we will soon see an iPhone worthy of Apple’s name. My guess is – not yet. There are simply too many players pulling in different directions (cell phone producers, service providers, Apple, the music industry).

I do, however, think Apple will make every effort to introduce a serious product before someone else does.


Best regards,
ArcticStones

I've seen rumors online about the Simpsons helping Steve launch Fox on iTunes. That'd be a great addition to the iTunes video lineup.

I do not see an iphone. When the first itunes phone came out there were already better mp3/cell phone devices on the market. Apple was testing the water by dipping the foot in first. IMHO, they are better off just supporting other cell phones for itunes. So any cell phone can hop onto itunes and download and play music or even TV shows. That seems like it would be better for apple IMHO.

I still think we are going to see the first mac tablet PC. I also still think a media center/ home theatre PC will be coming around too. Right now that is a huge market, and I do sub contract work for an onsite company right now on the side. A lot of our side work is guess what? Setting up digital home theatres with PCs controlling everything. Some of the set ups are pretty sweet.

Please, please, no iPhone. My Sony-Ericsson K750i shipped today! :-)

I'll post my impressions the K750i as a Mac peripheral in the forums, if they are not made irrelevant by the time I receive it!

I look forward to hearing more.

:)

I wish Apple would upgrade the Mac mini and maybe even the iBook so they would support Core Video.

I also hope to see a demo of Leopard, iLife '06 and iWork '06.

Back to the top....

The name of the operating system always goes to the next biggest cat in the family

The Rumor Mills are still churning

Less than 2 days to go.

As happy as I am for Apple for becoming more popular, I'd rather it not get too popular (meaning I don't want Apple to make OS X available for non-Apple machines).

The reason being, as you're probably well-aware, is that Apple users definitely seem to be 'different' kinds of people from the rest of society (or maybe it's just me...), and eh... I dont really know what I'm trying to say here... I don't know, I guess it's just cool or something that Mac users are like the little-known underdog, and the underdog is always better in my opinion... I think that being part of the "in" crowd (Windoze users, and also for all situations) isn't "in" or cool at all (unless the "in" thing is a good thing) -- it's better to be independent and think for yourself -- think different. :D

Ah, that didn't make much sense, but oh well.

Not to mention that if Macs get really popular, we'll probably become more open to viruses since there'll be more people to write and receive them.


Regarding names, I think Cougar would be good. Sure, it might not be the toughest cat, but its name sounds sleeker than Leopard.


And regarding MacWorld predictions, I think we'll see a bunch of new stuff:
iLife '06 (with "iWeb" perhaps), iWork '06, an updated iPod shuffle (maybe in a black color now), an updated Airport Express that can stream video, a tiny bit more info on Leopard and some of its new technology, and the big thing, Intel Macs. Most likely a 13" Intel iBook, maybe an Intel Mac mini, and perhaps even an early Intel PowerBook. That's all I got.

I hear what you're saying FireWired.

It feels like we Mac zealots have to start letting PC users into our club.

I think that's a good thing, but I understand your opinion. The Mac has always been a niche thing. As it gains in popularity, it become a little less "counter culture" and a little more mainstream. Like the day last year when Apple annouced their transition to Intel... it was as if thousands of voices cried out at once... and were suddenly silenced.

Sorry, had to work that StarWars line in there. ;)

Well put. I've seen the club grow quite a bit in size and so far I'm happy about that. I know the feeling of being uneasy about what the new people will be like though.

What concerns me about Apple's immediate future is all of this emphasis on selling commercial media. One prediction I have is that there will be a parade of media moguls and monopolists on stage, grinning and shaking Stave Jobs's hand. At one point Jobs recruited an executive from Pepsi by saying, "Do you want to sell sugar water to kids for the rest of your life?" I don't see selling TV and pop music as much better than selling Pepsi. I understand the necessity, even the inevitability, of Apple doing this. But I don't have to like it! :-)

Nothing personal, but I always thought that was the worst reason to be a Mac user, to be a "different" "rebel" "elitist" or something. I'm a Mac user because it's efficient and secure and looks cool. I don't care what CPU is in there as long as the computer lets me get stuff done with less hassle than anything else out there, and is also fun to use.

The virus worry, that's overblown. There are currently tens of millions of Mac users and Apple as a very high profile with a reputation for users who like to brag about how superior their computer makes them. Isn't that a tempting enough target for someone, might want to take those arrogant Mac users down a peg? Surely someone would have tried by now, on that big a target. The reason they have not succeeded is not "security through obscurity" because Macs are not obscure, especially considering Apple's marketing. They have not succeeded because OS X is securely designed.

I feel similarly, mclbruce. I am typically annoyed at faddish things and people who define themselves by having the current 'thing'. So I find myself happy for Apple and whatever effect it has on the Macintosh and OS X, but feeling a little hypocritical...kind of the same way I felt when the Bee Gees hit it big when Disco was in (I liked the Bee Gees and owned several of their LP's from the 60's and early 70's).

Somewhat in another direction: It also makes me uneasy that the wave Apple is riding (in the media and with Wall Street) is based so much on these media sales and the iPod (which are intertwined somewhat), and so I'm afraid the wave is rather fragile. Also, my feeling is that media companies are fickle and more dangerous to work with than technology companies (or Microsoft). I just hope that before the tide turns with the music and video area, Apple will have been able *use this to make enough inroads in the computer market to enjoy the similar success as a computer (and iPod) hardware and software company.

*somewhat uneasy about saying this

Obviously the point of this thread is to talk about Macworld and not Security, Viruses, etc, but I have to throw in my $.02 really quick.

I have a couple of articles on this website that talk breifly about this topic. One is called 'Viruses and Mac OS X: The Truth' and the other is called 'Seven Steps to a Safer Mac'. I have written things that go much, much deeper, but these are good quick summaries.

Mac OS X is a secure platform. It is extremely well designed and by far my personal favorite. ;) However, MUCH of it's security is still security through obscurity. I work in the field of Information Security, and I deal with kind of stuff day in and day out. I will boldly make this statement: There is NO platform anywhere that will EVER be anywhere near the target that Windows has become. Obviously, this could be a post own its own, and I don't want to head down that road right now... so I'll just throw in that comment and call it good.

Back to Macworld.... only a matter of hours 'til we will know. AHAHAHA. :)

I didn't see anyone predict the Bluetooth version of the Mighty Mouse. That will be the biggest news, if Apple can pull it off!!! :-)

Thanks for putting that in much better wording cameranerd.
I understand what you're saying as well styrafome, I suppose it's how you look at at it.

It's like one of those situations (that seems to happen to me often) when you discover or really like a cool music group/band that's not too well known, and then they suddenly hit it big or become more popular, and everybody likes them -- it doesn't feel "fair" since you liked them first all along! I guess that's life though..

Anyway, back to subject... I think a BT Mighty Mouse would be great! I forgot about that one.

I did not write it very clearly, so I went back and edited it. You see, I don't care much for Disco. So I was happy they were making it big, but feeling kind of hypocritical since I did not like the vehicle of their success.

Ah, oops (no pun intended), my mistake. I gotcha now.

(Edited my previous post)

Today's day 1! It will be interesting to see what they unveil on the first day. :)

here's what's goin on so far if you dont know http://www.macdailynews.com/macworld...6_keynote.html

highlights so far for me:

• MacBook Pro: 15.4-inch widescreen. Thinner. Built-in iSight camera. Jobs, "Fastest Mac notebook ever."
• Jobs shows off MacBook Pro: Intel-based (Core Duo) Mac portable. Four to five times faster than PowerBook G4.

• Every iMac now comes with dual processors.
• iMac: Intel's dual-core Core Duo processor. iMacs will cost the same, same features and design, but are now two to three time faster than iMac G5, says Jobs.
• iMac now Intel-based... "A little ahead of schedule," says Jobs.
• Over 1,000 people at Intel working on Apple project...
• First Intel-based Mac...
• "Intel is ready, Apple is ready, too," Jobs says.

• 26 million unique visits to Apple Retail Stores.
• iTunes has 83% market share.
• iTMS songs sold rate now over 1 billion per year.
• 850 million songs sold via iTMS.
• Total iPods sold all-time: 42 million.
• 14 million iPods sold in quarter. 32 million in 2005.
• 135 total Apple Retail Stores worldwide.
• $5.7 billion in revenue for quarter.
• Apple Retail Stores pass $1 bln in quarter for first time.

And later he says...

• Street must be gasping at the numbers Jobs mentioned earlier.

:D

Also,

• AAPL passes $81.50 per share, up over 7.3%.

• All Macs will be Intel-based by end of calendar year 2006.

it says the keynote ended. it there another one today? or when's the next one?

the next keynote will be at the next Macworld

The new macbook pro does not have firewire! How are you supposed to do the video then?!

Emphasis added: