Once again, Macworld San Francisco is upon us, and once again, it's prediction time! These are our guesses for what new amazing things will come out at this year's Macworld:
Microsoft Office 2008 – Ok, this is an easy one, cause it's already been announced. But praise high heaven for an Intel-native upgrade to Office. Microsoft's first major upgrade in 4 years!
Faster Mac Pros and Xserves - Ok, another easy one - already announced! 8-Core bliss on the top of the line Mac Pro and the Xserve.
No Upgraded iPhone - While others have predicted talk of another iPhone, I don't think Steve will announce an bigger, better one now. Apple wants to cash in on the success of their iPhone as is and distribute it as widely as possible. But - a smaller one for less $? That's a possibility - I give that a 50% chance.
Ultra-Portable - There's been a lot of talk about smaller, lighter laptop since the 12" Powerbook disappeared, and it's about time that they delivered on the promise. Look for a "Mini Mac Book Pro" - silver, sleek, no optical drive (built in), but light, fast, and with amazing mobile features. Another killer portable product for Apple - with some amazing battery life, is my big 'out on a ledge' guess for this rumor.
Apple TV Movies on Demand Upgrade - "Over the Wire" movie rentals to the Apple TV. I predicted it would happen in my previous blog post, but good thing I didn't hold my breath. I think the time is right for online content delivery of movies and shows straight to your HD TV using Apple TV.
One quick note: Some analysts claim that the Apple TV is a flop. Once again, Steve and Co. are off fooling everyone. The Apple TV was a "hobby" and "experiment" and also a damn good way to seed Apple's set-top movie rental download hardware box into the living rooms of thousands of households. Recently, I read a Harvard Business Review article about "A Staged Solution to the Catch-22" - where HBR says that the smart companies create staged product introductions to offset the risks of launching a two-sided platform. A smaller initial market can seed one side of the platform and start it with enough momentum to get over the "Catch-22" of launching a chicken-and-egg product (like set-top online movie rentals). Apple's one of the smartest.
Long shots - these are the 5% that Apple's been working on this without anyone getting a sniff of it.
Tablet - It's more likely that Apple will integrated the touch interface into an OS X device that runs in a tablet form factor. I think the timing for this product is just about right - Windows is a horrible tablet OS - and Apple can show that they can revolutionize the smaller (but important) tablet market, then it could really be a big deal. Why? Because Tablets are used in special enterprise environments, like hospitals, shipping companies, and warehouses, where the form factor is made for people to get work done. So a Tablet running OS X - and able to run databases like Filemaker or Web 2.0 Applications - could get Apple into big business in a way that laptops and iMacs won't.
A New Mac - There's room for a better desktop Mac - tower, but smaller than the Mac Pro. But not too small like a Mac Mini. But I doubt this will happen, because it will require moving around too many of their other product lines (iMac, Mac Mini, etc).
Touch Cinema Screen - Like the Wacom Tablet an Apple Cinema Screen with their innovative touch sensitive interface of the iPhone integrated. I honestly don't think the OS or users are ready for this yet, but it's possible.
So there you have it. Our predictions for Macworld 2008... Next week, were we right? I doubt it. Steve is good at doing the unpredictable.
