“Fans of Apple products follow, praise and criticize the company the way they would a local sports team. Part of the build-up is Apple’s knack for keeping secret its direction,” Boudreau reports.
“The suspense ends Tuesday morning when Apple chief executive Steve Jobs takes to the stage at the 24th Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco to unveil his company’s latest gadgets and gee-whiz announcements,” Boudreau reports. “‘The real holiday season starts,’ joked Michael Gartenberg, a vice president and research director for Jupiter Research.”
MacDailyNews Take: It’s not a joke, John.
Boudreau continues, “Some 50,000 attendees are expected fill up the Moscone Center – 10,000 more than last year. It’s the greatest PR show on earth as 800 members of the media are on hand to witness the next great small thing from Apple.”
“The buzz among analysts and bloggers is that Apple will offer up an ultra-light laptop – some have dubbed it MacBook Mini – announce a new iTunes movie rental service and commit to Sony’s Blu-ray high-definition video standard for future computers,” Boudreau reports.
“Jobs could prove predictors wrong when he lifts the black blanket from the Cupertino company’s next-generation products. ‘Everything that has been rumored we believe has been built and tested,’ said Richard Doherty, an analyst with the Envisioneering Group. ‘He’s already got too many products. He’ll be the arbiter for what makes it onto the stage with him. I don’t think HP has that luxury. Dell doesn’t have that luxury,'” Boudreau reports.
Boudreau looks at what Jobs might announce next week, including:
• Ultra-light, ultra-thin Mac portable
• MacBook and MacBook Pro upgrades
• iTunes movie rentals
• Apple and Sony team up on Blu-ray
Boudreau reports, “Macworld isn’t the company’s only launchpad for new products. Apple maximizes its ability to garner media buzz by holding product events throughout the year. ‘January is the first shot of the year,’ Gartenberg said. ‘It’s never the last word we hear from Apple.'”
More details in the full article here.
macbook pro please!!!
Thanks, Captain Obvious!
mini pro model please
new iSight please
totally new digital appliance please, beyond iPhone, completely new market.
Well, Duh!
New MiniMac combined with Apple tv.
Yeah I know, but MiniMac is easier to say than MacMini.
Whatever happened to Asteroid? Remember that outboard audio processing tool? There are even hooks in the Garage Band code for it to this day. Isn’t it about time?
“He’s already got too many products.”
Really?
Since MacPro got one of those ‘now faster than ever’ tweaks a few days ago all that’s left is short term gadgets, toys and hobbies.
But, Steve will have the crowd believing their lives will never be the same after exiting stage right. And the huckstering wins another round of mindless cheers from the mindless hordes… zzzzzzzzzz
That wasn’t a real Mercury article. Didn’t mention the backdating scandal once.
AppleTV Update PLEASE!!
MACworld has already been overshadowed by Bill Gates’ keynote at CES, CES itself and the massive critical and sales success of Microsoft’s Zune 2 this past holiday quarter. Consumers and analysts are still riding high after the energy and excitement of CES and I would expect the ‘CES bounce’ to continue weeks past MACworld. Jobs has his work cut out for him. Too bad it’s too late to reschedule MACworld.
Your potential. Our passion.™
bring back the Newton! and make it a Newton Touch!
A new monitor to go along with those faster Mac Pro models?
Announce release of the iPhone in Canada, please! (After leaving the $20 tip on the nightstand for Rogers.)
iSecond that, iSteve!
Yeah, a NEW line of monitors is LONG overdue. HDMI & FireWire 800 ports, built-in iSight, faster refresh rates, etc., etc.
Unfortunately, the standalone iSight is extinct. Too bad, the selection of webcams on the market and with Mac support and well designed, is so pathetic. Oh well…
Maybe we’ll see the Mac mini/TV hybrid with HDMI & FireWire ports, too. Wasn’t LAST year the Year of HD? Or was that 2006?
MacBook and MacBook Pro speedbumps in February, I bet.
@iSteve
Yes. Would be nice, especially since there are a dozen or so superior other-than-apple-brands out there which, if Apple Care finds out about during a call for support, will get you hung up upon. Or, at the very least an instruction that you will have to call the non-apple manfuacturer to get the answer to your question of why your MacPro keeps crashing when you try to launch FCE. Anyone ever heard of a non-apple brand display causing apple s’ware to crash?
@ZuneTang
The real question is why don’t you like yourself ZuneTang? Don’t you feel worthy of others love or praise? Or is someone like your Mom or Dad calling you down every day?
You can break out of the self-loathing cycle if you do something positive. There is help out there for you if you look for it.
Often the easiest way is just to help someone else out instead. The feelings of pride and accomplishment you get from this will do more for your self-esteem than a thousand pages of nasty comments will. Seriously.
Hi Jeremy,
Zune Tang is trying to be funny.
But what do I know? I’m just a clown.
Right on!
You’re killing me!
The CES “bounce”?
Is anybody keeping score on how many people take the bait with ZT? It’s gotta be in the hundreds by now.
Yes, Zune Tang may get a few newbies with his comments but overall it’s getting old. It was amusing for a while but, as with all things that do nothing new and innovative, it has become tiresome and dull. It’s like a sitcom that was once the ratings leader but has taken a terrible fall in the ratings. Stop beating a dead horse and please put it out of its misery.
Zune Tang® isn’t serious? What the _____?!
A sleek, shiny new ultraportable please, with a side of movie rentals and a slice of AppleTV update for dessert.
Zune Tang is our resident approved troll and fake M$ supporter.
He is actually a Mac user.
He’s just being sarcastic. He’s also missing a testical, thus spending his time here and boring us with his comments.
@ it’s getting old
Just ignore it if you don’t like it. Personally, I enjoy having a noob-detector.