“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.
I’m pretty sure games will be on the list…
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I’m so wishing that they will come out with a Tablet…or should I say Maclet.
A nice 19″ touchscreen, something I can TRULY use when I’m sitting on my couch.
wow. tell us something we haven’t heard already.
new atv? wtf?
Nostradamus has nothin’ on you guys, you veritable prophets of tech. I bask in the glory of yer powers of prediction. Ya’ll would have gained more points had you made the same forecasts five years ago/
Apple announced today that it has developed a breast implant that can store and play music. The i-Tit will cost $499 or $599 depending on cup size. This has been hailed as a major breakthrough because women are always complaining about men staring at their breasts and not listening to them.
@Fred
Did you read my post above? The second link…they’ve been talking about this since October….
SillyAnalyst
ZuneTang says: “There won’t be any surprises, in fact these things are pretty easy to predict:”
ZuneTang knows. Twice every year there are no suprises, there will always be couple of bombs dropping, that will change the computing world and make Microsoft look like a dinosaurs.
An ultra-slim Mac… a 16 GB iPhone… a revolutionary reborn Newton… an ultra-portable AppleTV with touch screen…
DO YOU GET IT?
These are not four seperate devices…
…This is ONE Device!
Merry Christmas!!
Every darn year, the same predictions.
Prediction:
An Al Gore version of the iPhone.
It will have Al´s Nobel Peace Prize winning face photo engraved on the back of the iPhone.
Run on a hydrogen 100-yr fuel cell.
Every time you turn it on it says “Draft Al Gore for Democratic Presidential Candidate in 2008”.
When you turn the iPhone off it has been unfortunately hacked to say “Hillary in 2008”.
Keyword: “may”. Now go write any damn thing you want.
I wonder if anyone remembered a few months ago, there was a report saying that apple was working with a car manufacturer.
I think it’s a good guess that something will come out of that
Last years MW wasn’t much. Just the most revolutionary and fasted selling smart phone in the world!
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.
IIRC, years ago there was a company developing a new cell phone:
Engineers: “Sir, there is no way to make this any smaller”.
CEO: “Put it underwater! If air bubbles come out it can be shrunk!”.
While I’m not saying Apple should go to that extreme, just looking at a current MacBook shows they’re close. Heh if Apple goes any thinner they’ll need custom USB ports; the standard ones would be way too fat.
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Small laptop? For now you can get an EeePC. I may get one myself!
it is no surprise that Apple has
the BEST UI / UE (user interface & user experience)
out there.
APPLE will showcase where the UE will take us.
– updated 3G (yes the gPhone) thx google for burping that out
– the MacSlate (a gun metal) sleek sub-notebook
– no Newton2… cos that is the iTouch
– plenty of software and more open development for i/gPhone
– NEW MacPro updated processors.
– possible news at to where Apple TV is going
(which will be into the iMAC by April)
– TV & Movie rentals through iTUNES
– no subscriptions SORRY… won’t happen
@What to shave off?
The iPhone SHAVED off plenty buddy!
It is (like the Palm) a computer in your hand.
Flash memory can be integrated very thinly.
You are right to a degree… but remember this
THERE will be no KEYBOARD on the MacSlate.
It will come aa a 13″ size due to the UE and virtual keyboard to enhance more accurate input for a range of people. Big to small fingers.
That’s shaving PLENTY of room off.
Next… no lid or clam style protection….
as for glass-glossy screens. This sub-notebook with Multi-touch may have to come with BULLETPROOF glass to help protect the device. 13″ is a large surface to carry around without braking it.
Now… you guys are starting to see the relationship to GUN METAL. No it doesn’t hover off the ground… but the MacSlate will be as thick or marginally thicker possibly twice as thick as the iPhone.
—-
Also, I have to say Ive’s has created some very wonderful designs. In the PAST — The MacCube, the Clam shell MacBooks, the sunflower iMac… THESE were complicated designs where
NOW A DAYS Jonathan Ive’s has created a much more MINIMALIST-IC (Sony, Asian, Japanese-like) styling that HAS UNIFIED the entire APPLE line of PRODUCTS.
The DANGER here is FORM over FUNCTION.
When a computer appears only to be a monitor yet does so much more then a TV… the form does not convey ANY information to the HUMAN as it’s purpose.
Monitors and Computers and Televisions ALL are looking like a SCREEN. It becomes a DESIGN that is EXTREMELY predictable… natural… and honest HOWEVER unified to the COMPETITORS.
Apple still has been able to differentiate it’s sefl from the rest…
Jonathan does this BRILLIANTLY.
But there is only so far you can SIMPLIFY.
As with the Aluminum iMac… people were at first unhappy that it really hadn’t changed much from previous designs.
As in CAR styling… the prototype cars are the eye-catchers…
capturing some of that inspirational line work and emotion in the production line would be greatly appreciated for consumers.
Yet, what we see typically, is processes of manufacturing SIMULATE SIMILAR car designs across the market.
As Steve Jobs said there is only so much you can do.
however, multi-touch has the elements for opening up meaningful UE for 2008 and Apple knows this… and knows the TV is the FORM
UNLIKE MS who still thinks its a TABLE people want!
Dougless
Apple is a software company, after all. How about something that reaches into the future?
Imagine a service where you load your media, such as a video to be delivered to your now eight year old daughter when she reaches sixteen. A discussion about coming of age. As you populate this crucible, it takes on a sense of “aliveness” that survives you.
iMmortality.
look at it this way, we can all expect some sort of update, and it’s refreshing to hear how business is doing.
I am expecting:
New Mac Pros
New slimn MacBooks
New Apple TV
3G iPhone
iPhone SDK
Office 2008
Leopard 10.5.2
Somehow, I can’t see this Newton thing coming, don’t know why, it seems so not Apple.
@Toby:
How exactly would you use a 19″ multi touch device on your couch? Your arms would get tired holding it up and you’d soon have to buy a stand and a keyboard…
I heard they are doing away with the aluminum finish and going with a mirror finish on every product. They will all have integral flashing lasers and strobe lights. This will divert attention away from the glossy screens. Let the bitching and moaning begin.
What to shave off?,
Everything please. I hate it when they leave that little goatee thingy above it.
bioness,
That thunder has been stolen by Ford when they announced ‘Sync by MicroSoft’. I wonder how well that is working out.
I don’t see a new appletv coming, as someone who owns one I would like to see movie rentals(duh), activation of the usb port and tv station streaming on a per channel per month basis…
@ January 24, 1984
I think I would want my daughter to have the latest, updated information in her talk.
“No dearie, if a masher tries to hold your hand while sharing a phosphate at the soda fountain, inform the constable!”
She might not get more relevant information, like, say, “Stay Away From Meth.”