Eve of Macworld

January 10th, 2006

Macworld, held here in San Francisco, has become almost like another winter holiday to me. New product announcements, nutty predictions, and the inevitable gasp of surprise when we find out what Apple’s been up to and how it all made sense if you were following the trends properly.

This year, Apple’s on a roll due to the iPod, OS X, and the switch to Intel. The stock has been on a tear, music and video downloads are taking off, and it seems nearly 1/4 of all the glazed-over faces I see on my commute to and from SF are decked out with distinctive white headphones. So there’s some odd predictions of wireless iPods and Macintosh-enabled plasma TVs.

So I play it safe: the obvious items I’m looking towards come tomorrow are updated iBooks and Mac Minis. Hopefully the entry-level iBook will have Intel inside and be priced at $700 – $800. If it’s too soon for Intel, Apple may use the strategy of pre-announcing hardware: demonstrate and describe the products now, but have them ship in March or April.

With the iPod Nano and iPod Video already out and hot sellers, I’m thinking Apple will instead turn to the Shuffle. Smaller and thinner, no doubt, but possibly something bold like combining the earphones into the unit so it’s an over-the-ear piece (think cellphone style) or around the neck like a necklace.

Anyhow, I’m excited to see what Apple has up its sleeves, and plan to take a peek myself, in person, on Wednesday.

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