It's January 2008 and the annual MacWorld Expo is less than 2 weeks away. Naturally, the internet is a flurry of rumors and predictions for what will be happening at MacWorld. As a sidenote, I have no inside information and this post is pure speculation based on market research, past Apple moves and the state of the industry - also known as what Stammy wants to see at MacWorld. Some of my thoughts have been confirmed after talking about MacWorld with famous blogger and PR expert Steve Rubel a few weeks ago.
Will we see iPhone 2.0?!
No. While Apple might be ready for 3G, AT&T sure isn't and has been on the record saying that 3G won't roll out on their network until around May 2008. What about GPS? Apple isn't known to update a product to add one small feature when another is in the queue for later on. They're going to wait until they can put 3G in it as well, if they even bother with GPS.
Also, GPS isn't on Apple's mind since the iPhone 1.1.3 firmware updates the Maps application to add a Google Maps feature that has been out for a few months - pseudo GPS with cell tower triangulation. It's obviously not as accurate as GPS but can give you an approximate radius of your location. If you've ever messed with the Navizon application on your hacked iPhone, it's the same technology.
Photo credit: Gear Live
iPhone firmware 1.1.3 adds a few other features as well - the ability to bookmark websites on the iPhone home screen with their own custom icon as well as home screen pagination. Pagination will become important when people start adding applications to their iPhone when the official Apple iPhone SDK emerges in February. Speaking of SDK, I think Steve Jobs will be showing off iPhone applications created with the SDK as well as how users can install such applications - perhaps a new iTunes version with another page for managing applications.
Mac Pro
I'm not expecting much in this department other than perhaps an expensive Intel Penryn 45nm quad-core processor option (and 8-core with 2 of them), such as the 3GHz LGA771 Harpertown X5450. However, even that seems like a stretch. The X5450 is the one of the only 45nm processors out and currently costs close to 1k each.
If anything, the Mac Pro will likely receive a refresh with newer video card or hard drive options.
MacBook Line
There are rumors and confirmed reports that point to a newer ultraportable laptop with no internal optical drive, just an external optical drive. That would be great, I've used the internal optical drive on my MacBook Pro all of two times - installing XCode and upgrading to Leopard.
If we're lucky, this sub-notebook will be styled like the MacBook Pro. Rumors also point to another change in the MacBook line. It's too early to see 45nm processors in notebooks yet but we might see a solid-state drive option instead of a hard drive.
iPods
I have no idea what to expect from Jobs & Ives in regards to the iPod line. I'm not expecting anything spectacular in this department and believe that iPhone/MacBook talks will take up most of the Apple's presentation at MacWorld.
Hat tip to Mark Stephens and an anonymous Skribit user for suggesting I write about iPhone 2.0 and MacWorld Predictions. Close to 400 people voted for me to write about these topics.
What do you want to see at MacWorld and what do you think will actually be happening at MacWorld?