“Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs’s annual Macworld surprise may be a slimmed-down laptop and a higher-capacity model of the iPhone,” Connie Guglielmo reports for Bloomberg.
“Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Gene Munster and UBS AG’s Benjamin Reitzes expect Jobs to capitalize on demand for the Mac by introducing a smaller, lighter version of Apple’s MacBook notebooks. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analyst David Bailey anticipates a version of the iPhone with 16-gigabytes of storage, double the capacity of the current $399 device,” Guglielmo reports.
“‘Ultra-portables don’t sell a ton,’ said Andy Hargreaves of Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon, who expects Apple to introduce one in January. ‘Then again, music players didn’t sell a ton until Apple came out with the iPod,'” Guglielmo reports.
“A slimmed-down Apple notebook will cost less than the $1,999 MacBook Pro and have a screen between 11-inches to 13- inches, Munster said this week in a note, citing unidentified Asian component supplier,” Guglielmo reports.
“Jobs, 52, also may introduce a larger-screen handheld device for playing music and video and surfing the Web, said Andy Neff, an analyst at Bear Stearns & Co. in New York. Apple may also unveil a new version of Apple TV, a $299 device that connects to TVs and lets people watch movies and shows stored on their PCs,” Guglielmo reports.
Full article here.
Let the speculation begin… These claims will get more wild and outrageous until His Steveness takes the stage and puts them all to rest. MacWorld can’t get here fast enough.
Go AppleTV!! No new device but a major update to the existing one would be awesome!!
Where’s the kitchen sink?
damnit, would you just announce native games for iPhone already?!! I bought this thing day one expecting there to be real games on it soon after. My first cell phone 7 years ago had games on it, come on Steve!!! EA has had a dev kit for a year now, release some games already.
Argg!! I knew I was in trouble switching into “we have really great interfaces but to hell with games” apple.
iPhone upgrade is likely, an intermediate step until 3G is ready.
My first mac was an ultra portable, a Powerbook Duo, was smaller and lighter than the mobile phone I’d recently upgraded from. Something between iPod Touch and MacBook is a given at sometime but that’s a wide range and I suspect may be dependent on larger touch screen reliability. There’s a large market out there for them already but to date they have all been specialized devices like what you sign when Defex delivers eventually. Apple bringing out a software upgradeable multifunction device that can do the same job but can cater to consumer stuff as well will find a ready market, how big is the question, they’d probably sell more than AppleTVs have sold to date.
I hate this time of the year… These ‘analyst’ people go around and make these huge, ofttimes ridiculous speculations about what new gizmo Apple will throw at us.
Then, come MWSF, the announcements come, and it is different, or in some way slightly less than the pie-in-the-sky analysts lofty visions, and then we have to listen to people bitch about what a disappointment the announcements are. Even if they do happen to be great announcements, not living up to the ignorant hype just makes for a painful, FUD-filled new year.
*sigh*
A larger more capable (in terms of software) version of the iPod touch is inevitable, even if not released at MacWorld 2008. It should serve as a “tablet” PC or super-PDA, but Steve Jobs will never name it Newton 2.0.
MacWorld 2008 may the most exciting one ever.
Jeez, I just want an updated Mac Pro to replace my eight-year-old G4 400. Call me old fashioned.
I just want my two front teeth…..
I just want to know why Leopard is sluggish on my 6100/60av.
“I just want my two front teeth…..”
Now that’s inciteful.
More biting humor, Ampar?
Jobs, 52? Phew! And I thought he was only 50… thank goodness, now I can buy AAPL.
No games?
Stupid Jobs.
A new iPhone and computers right after everyone gets one for Christmas? They’ve got to stop having Macworld right after Christmas.
wow these analysts are SO smart, predicting what other have been for 2 months already….
There has been countless ‘reports’ here, the most recent: http://www.macrumors.com/2007/12/19/apple-working-on-multi-touch-mac/
There is a whole SERIES of articles here: http://thestormglass.com/
Even this today, which, is no surprise either:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/12/21/exclusive_apple_to_adopt_intels_ultra_mobile_pc_platform.html
these morons just try to sound like they know what they are talking about when all they are doing is reading the billion tech blogs for ‘inside info’
MDN word: red
as in these jokers will be red in the face when the no name blogs get it right 3 months before they ‘analyzed’ the situation.
SillyAnalyst
There is a 100% chance that Steve will surprise us with an announcement. Absolutely everything else is speculation.
Aren’t announcements finalized literally hours (minutes?) before show time? Heh Steve probably doesn’t even know what’ll be in the keynote yet!
> Aren’t announcements finalized literally hours (minutes?) before show time? Heh Steve probably doesn’t even know what’ll be in the keynote yet!
Actually, I heard he rehearses everything VERY carefully. That’s why he’s a great presenter. There were probably cases where changes were made at the last minute, but that’s not the norm.
@ Willie G.:
It’s like deja vu all over again.
I realize this is way off base, and there is nothing to suggest it coming. But it’s extremely remotely possible that His Steveness will unveil 3G iPhone at Macworld. I don’t see it happening, though, because it likely won’t be ready until spring. Also, Xmas iPhone recipients will be pissed. I can see a MacBook nano coming next month though.
I’ve worked on the PowerBooks since the PB1400, and took apart some duos and 180’s. I’ve dismantled and repaired a couple thousand Mac Laptops since 2000.
Compare the PowerBook G3 Series or an Original iBook to a MacBook and it is easy to see where everything went – all the internal framing, all the overlapping boards, large connectors, huge modems, complicated structures to hold the hard drive and optical drive (and their removable bays), large inverters and thick, solid polycarbonate casing coated with fire retardant are all gone. Thin white plastic and minimal framing is all that is left. you could make a whole MacBook case from the same amount of plastic they used in the display housing for a G3 series. There is more internal aluminum frame in a Powerbook G4 12″ than a MacBook 13″.
The MacBook is a study in simplicity. besides the obviously complicated Main Logic board and circuitry, the most complicated thing in the unit is the top case with the keyboard.
I’m saying all of this because unless they upscale the iPhone – a sealed, unrepairable device that is not meant to be opened repeatedly in a repair shop, most of the things they could do slim down the units again can’t be done much further. there is not much else in the way of internal frame, unneeded components to remove, or things to get thinner. The next thing to go has to be the keyboard and top case and all of that hinging mech, so the bottom case and the display hosing is all that is left, making any “super slim” MacBook a tablet or one without an optical drive. it can get another 1/4 inch thinner, maybe shed a pound at best with Mr Keyboard / Top case removed from the mix. So my bet is a Multitouch MacBook, if such a “thin” macbook surfaces.
It’s gonna be awesome to see what Ive and co. come out with for the next iteration of sexy portables – and what things may get the axe. I don’t miss the removable Optical drive – do you?
Doesn’t Jobs do a keynote every year? Whatever.
I have news for you MAC lemmings. There won’t be any surprises, in fact these things are pretty easy to predict: Jobs will introduce proprietary, expensive toys that only 3% of the computing world cares about. Happens every year.
Now this keynote will have excitement and innovations you won’t want to miss. I can’t wait.
Your potential. Our passion.™
Ah, the signs of the Christmas holidays: national media obsessed with predicting who will win the early primaries and tech media obsessed with Macworld rumors.
I don’t put much stock in either.
The smaller laptop seems likely, the rest is rather imaginative.
If I had to guess (and I know I shouldn’t) I’d say some kind of improvement to Apple TV and something else we haven’t even guessed at. (The iPod was not predicted at all before it was announced, as I recall.)
But, as some posters have said, these rumormongers will be sure to express their disappointment if Macworld brings new wonders but not the ones they predicted.
Ask me what will be introduced. I know just a little bit more than all the analysts and experts. Send marcos $5 for each inquiry. I’ll tell you the secret.
@Zune Tang
“There won’t be any surprises, in fact these things are pretty easy to predict:”
Almost as easy to predict as you!
Shut up and crawl back into your hole tangy.