Prediction for the rest of 2007 and Apple products.

A lot of speculations are out there as to what’s being prepared and what’s about to be released from Apple. What I am trying to get a focus on is, what should we expect to see between now and the end of 2007 from Apple.

Here is my take at this ….

iMac
These will get a whole new look, motherboard, chipset, etc. before the end of summer. Getting these ready for back to school so that kids can capitalise on these new machines.

iPod
Again, before summer is over and ready for back to school. Since the iPhone is due to be released end of June, just about when summer breaks starts, the iPod should see school kids rushing to get their new gizmos. I expect these new iPods to feature WiFi, touch screen that are about 4” in size. May be an SSD version too, to replace the video iPod’s hard drive.

MB
A jump to SR before summer is over.


MBP
Nothing for months to come. With a new case due by year’s end in time for Christmas shopping. A whole new redesign along with Leopard.

That’s my guess from what I’ve seen, read, and heard.

Would love to hear what others think along these lines, and not to forget the “other” iPods, iTV, screens, and MacPro.

 

A new ipod would be nice, mine is starting to feel old fashioned.

 

Heard somewhere about a brushed metal iMac, which will be released next week.

 

I'm really hoping for another resolution option for the 15" MBP... they did it for the 17" and I bet they will start to offer it for the 15"

I'm not looking for anything crazy, just a bit more screen real estate would sell me.

 

Yeah, I heard about the brush-metal iMac too. It is supposed to be released next week, as far as the rumors go... we will wait to see.

I am keen to see what Apple has in store for the MBP, since the latest upgrades are nothing more than incremental ...

 

I think Apple would get more sales if it offered a 15 inch MacBook, priced at around $1200. Who wants the tiny 13 inch screen? And to jump to a 15 inch screen, it costs $1999. That's a lot of money.

 

I'll have a go at the guessing game.

June 11th; WWDC :: Leopard's secret features show off the new UI. New iMac's, no 17"! Mac Mini dies, and replaced by new $600-1000 desktop (return of the cube?)

June 29th; iPhone :: iPhone rolls out, along with the announcement that it won't remain a "closed" device. Developers packs to be available before years end.

Augest-September :: New iPod and iPod Nano! The flaghship iPod see's a new full touch interface (multi-touch of course), with all the works like the iPhone's. Available in 80gb and 120gb models. The nano gets a little bigger in size to incorporate a larger screen, but not as long as it is now. No multi-touch, and just two sizes, 8gb and 16gb.

October, Leopard Launch :: Show off leopard one last time. The MacBook makes the leap onto Santa Rosa. "One more thing..." 12.1" Mac Tablet using multi-touch, snidely revealing that Leopard supports it. Available immediately.



There ya go. I have too much time on my hands.

 

That would be really cool. I'm interested in seeing if OS X Leopard sports a different GUI..hopefully so. Debuting a desktop like that would be great for Apple..I think it would really help sales and make Macs more affordable/conventional then the tiny Mac Mini.

 

I think that people are getting their hopes up too much...so whatever Apple Does release, people will be disappointed with it. Here is my more optimistic/realistic prediction:

WWDC: Most of the keynote will be about the iPhone and Leopard: about the developers kit, new features, etc. Also, a lot will be said about the "success" of all of Apple's products. New, big announcements? Possibly an updated version of the mb or iMac or even Mac Pro (it is a PRO conference). But all in all, people will be disappointed with WWDC. I mean, if you rewind to WWDC 2005, all that was announced was the "transition" to Intel...no "new" products were actually announced there. I hope I'm wrong, but I think this is more likely.

End june - iPhone (duh!)

July/August - updated macbooks with santa rosa, and some other little features.

October - perhaps a redesigned iMac to go with Leopard, which will be released October 31st, lol.

November - 6 G iPod. 80 - 100 GB capacities. Full screen, touch screen. Nano gets touch screen but no video, and gets 8 - 16 GB. Current iPhone owners will be angered saying: "why does iPhone have such a low capacity" and new iPhone rumors will begin...

I hope Apple has some more exciting stuff, but this seems to be a pretty likely scenario.

 

i really really don't think Apple will open up iPhone to developers, they have said many times, they aren't experts with data and information (so to speak), but they are extremely good at presenting it in a wonderful and easy to use way and that is what they are going for.

sure people will find ways to hack the iPhone, as the PSP has been. but I think most people will realize how damn good it is without anything extra, you don't want to much crap on one devise, you just want it to do what it can do and do it so well you don't even care about it doing more.

and the marketing for it is genius by the way, just showing people what it has to offer, nothing ridiculous.

 

I would love to see the return of the "cube", would be great if it were 100% like the Next ... if this would be the next Mac mini then that would be great.

Would also like to see a tablet too, something bigger than the Newton, but a lot smaller than the MB.

And yes, a slightly bigger MB would be a nice addition I have to say; so too would a smaller MBP.

 

One poster said earlier and it's most likely the only thing that rings true is that aside from Leopard's showcase we will all be disappointed in WWDC. It happens all the time. The hype get bigger and bigger and although it seems far fetched sometime I feel that Apple purposely holds back on releasing the goodies when they know the hype is big or their customers are speculating something big will show up at the conferences.

I'm hoping for a new iMac. Something indeed will happen with the Mac Mini since it's been ignored for quite a long time. It's obvious Apple has plans for it but what??

 

I hope Apple will update their Macbook's Intel GMA 950 to the X3100 with LED backlights.

 

That's probably the most likely update. Not sure but I think battery life with Santa Rosa w/ X3100 takes a pretty big hit, maybe the LED screen would balance it out

 

Actually, Intel touted Santa Rosa (the whole lineup, including X3100) as big increase in battery life. I don't see why it would be a step backward, seeing as a mobile platform is always aiming to improve battery consumption and the x3100 (remaining a integrated chip) should as well.

 

Hmm... so it looks like Apple's ultraportable notebook will just be a refresh of the current Macbook w/o an optical drive. http://www.appleinsider.com/article...er_ultra_portable_to_get_13_inch_display.html If so, I'd choose the current Macbook over the ultraportable version.

 

Nice find, and great to see the ultra portable Mac move closer to becoming a reality .... the sad part is that it may not be out until early 2008! With Apple's history of keeping tight lid on their R&D we will, for sure, not know about this in any more details - other than speculations - until then.

 

The ultra-portable rumor has been floating around heavy for awhile now, but it has lacked alot of consistency. If you follow the Apple rumor trail you'll notice that when rumors do spark, and stay consistent, there much more likely to be true.

We've heard a number of different ideas, variations, and thoughts on a ultra-portable Mac, none of which with alot of credibility.

Also, wasn't the 13" LED order rumor proven false at some point? Not sure about that.

 

Well there was an 'itablet' rumor going around for a loooooooooooong time and THAT one, as we've seen, never panned out. I'd really love to wait around for another 12" powerbook-style computer, but I need something soon. Even if it came out tomorrow, I wouldn't buy it. I mean, only fools and adverturers buy RevA hardware from Apple...I'm sure that Core duo Macbook (pro) owners will agree with this. It could be 18 months before a stable ultraportable mac comes out. Might as well take advantage of the mistakes Apple has made and buy the latest revision of the MBP, which shouldn't have many issues, if Apple's track record holds up.

 

The itablet seems to have materialised in the form of the modbook; while not from Apple, they are still in line with a tablet for the masses. I wish someone gets their hand on a unit and gives us a review.

I would love to get the current MBP as it seems to have everything going for it, with the excetption of Robson, a new case, and Leopard. So, will I wait or take the plunge? Frankly, at the moment I just can't justify a new laptop giving the fact that my tablet is still going strong (touch wood) ... still, I have to say that these latest MBP are very hard to resist.