The internet and Apple fans have been alive this week with speculation of what will be announced at tomorrow’s event. Apple have announced there will be a Macbook focused event, but as always the details are always the most interesting.
I expect Apple will release (or at least announce) a product or skew that hasn’t already been rumoured. There past two events (iPhone 3G + iPod refresh) haven’t been all that exciting, with Steve effectively checking the boxes we already knew about.
We haven’t see that famous “One more thing..” ending for a while, perhaps tomorrow could be the day Jobs brings it back with a curveball from left field.
The image above is a computer render from Gizmodo, based on supposed leaked photos of the new case design (which looks very similar to the current model). Apple have to do more than simply add a black border to the screen, increase processor speeds, and change the production process.
- I rate the rumours of a price cut as a mid-level chance.
- I can’t see Apple entering the sub-notebook market, it’s already flooded with so many skews, it’d be hard to stand out in the crowd, even for Apple.
- I don’t think we’ll see Blu-ray drives in Macbook’s, they’re still too costly, and consumer demand is still low for Blu-ray in general.
Prediction
My guess for the surprise is touch screens. While the Leopard may need an update to add support and the question of greasy fingerprints still needs to be answered, their major competitor Microsoft has made a song and dance about how Windows 7 will have multi-touch support. Could Apple steal their thunder and introduce it first ?
