“Is the PowerBook G5 near at hand? A tentative clue from Apple’s own website suggests that it might be,” Tony Smith reports for The Register.
One eagle-eyed Register reader noted the following section of HTML code tucked away in Apple’s main PowerBook page:
<!–BEGIN AVENUE A–>
<IMG HEIGHT=”1″ WIDTH=”1″ SRC=”http://switch.atdmt.com/action/apple_g5_powerbook”>
<!–END AVENUE A–>
Smith reports, “Avenue A is an online marketing and advertising agency owned by Seattle-based aQuantive, which also owns the atdmt.com domain name. Right now, the code simply places a 1 x 1-pixel placeholder graphic on the page. The file is called apple_g5_powerbook.gif. That presumably allows Avenue A to count the number of visits to the PowerBook page – and, indeed, many of the other Apple website sections. all of which contain links to switch.atdmt.com, particularly for the more pro-oriented products. In each case, the URL is different, with the final segment changing to reflect each page’s subject matter. Could it be an error? Possibly, but other hardware pages thus linked all correctly label the type of processor each machine features.”
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Proof of Apple PowerBook G5 found? – January 26, 2005
i think an apple programmer, perhaps with the tacit agreement of apple, is just messing with the rumor sites and getting a big chuckle out of all this furor!
peesh
I went to the page and checked it out. It said “apple_g4_powerbook”. So it’s been corrected, unless the person was making it up to begin with.
Look, just because Apple’s site references the powerbook G5 really doesn’t mean it’s release is imminent. Everyone knows it’s going to come. Steve Jobs and several Apple big wigs have said so. So the fact they may be prepping for it to some extant isn’t really collosal news.
This isn’t like finding an image that said “mac mini” before that new product was released. That would have been a big find. This is nothing more than evidence of the eventual release of a product everyone already knows for certain will arrive. This does nothing to suggest any sort of timetable.
all this, as always, is entirely my opinion however.
OMG. look at this it’s the imminent release of the much desired
image!!!
Non-story.
Next week apple will surprise you all, MARK MY WORDZ!! lol
magic word-that as in “take THAT!” yea that’s what apple will be saying
to all the whiners out there!
How soon will it come? That’s the important question… brought to you by the magic word: very… as in very eagerly anticipated.
God I hope so…to bad I just spent $600 on a new guitar….maybe my wife will let me buy one.
Well, I really hope it is soon but it sure did not sound like it would be in the conference call on Apple Q1 results. They called it some thing like: “the mother of all heat challenges”. I hope they could have the G5 powerbook or a dual core G4 powerbook by summer but I would expect more like the end if this year if we are lucky.
Jack A: Steve Jobs also said that Apple had no interest in making a flash-based iPod. So much for that. It’s called obfuscation.
I spent all of 2003 waiting for the aluminum 15 to come out, having seen the 12 and 17 hit in January. Anouncement after announcement went by. By the time of the Paris release I was a man walking through the desert muffling w a t e r . . .
So I’m inclined to agree with rageous and Jack A. The current G4 has been EOLd for like a week now. They have to release (read:ship) the next model soon. Even if this is a repeat of the iMac G5 delay, if the PBG5 was THIS ready to go, there’s no way Steve would have not have made it a “one more thing” at the MW, just a few weeks ago.
I reckon Apple will be annpuncing a revamped G4 PowerBook range and will launch the G5 PowerBooks at the next Keynote.
Apple’s pro-PowerBooks are a major product range – they will not announce a G5 range without a special event or major keynote!
Whichever way they do it – Im gonna wait for the G5 15″ PowerBook!!!
I WANT ONE!!!!
What’s happening with dual core processors ? I’ve heard they can go beyond 2 Ghz. Anyone ?
it will be a dual PB G4….
Nope. It’s a quad G3…
If Apple announced that a Powerbook G5 was coming soon, sales of G4 Powerbooks would immediately die. They are not stupid, and I believe they could surprise us all. We already know that the G5 has been scaled down.
Caertain places have already EOL’d the G4 PBs. People will still buy the last batch of G4s at a discount. That is not an issue.
The question is whether SJ is willing to break form to release something bigger than the current line of PBs.
It will come, but when, nobody knows.
I read that Freescale (a part of Moto) was doing a dual core G4 processor.
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2004Sep/bch20040927027136.htm
Apple is going to have to sue itself now.
I think apple is soing this to get rumor sites to spread the word. Just so thewy can sue them : )
Caertain places have already EOL’d the G4 PBs.
Please explain to me in what way these “certain places” have the authority to EOL Apple computers? Me thinks you are confused…
Max: Apple is going to have to sue itself now.
rotflmao
“http://switch.atdmt.com/action/apple_g5_powerbook”
Means nothing. Until it’s announced, shipping, and actually in people’s hands, it’s a non-product.