The current rumours are the:

Tablet Mac
This has been a recurring rumour for years now, but Apple has evidently been filing a few touch-screen patents recently - not that that actually means anything since they own a ton of patensts for things they’ve never used on shipping products.

real Video iPod
Another one that’s been around for a while and is also linked to those touch-screen ideas. The “real” Video iPod supposedly has a touch-screen “wheel” instead of the iPod’s click-wheel. This is said to be announced on 1 April - Apple’s anniversary rather than April Fool’s Day, but Saturday isn’t a usual day for Apple announcements.

Either of these could also be a semi-”Newton 2”. Then there’s the continuing iPhone stories.

One magazine has just published an article about an iGame device being released by Apple at a US expo in May to take on Nintendo for the handheld games market ... but it’s in their April issue of the magazine and is almost guaranteed to be a April Fool’s Day joke (something they evidently do every year).

Outside hardware, Apple has just bought a big server building which is rumoured to be for adding movie downloads to iTunes / iPod.

The next real product is likely to be the iBook and PowerMac replacements using the Intel chips since these are the only two bits that haven’t been updated recently. The Developer’s Conference has been moved from July to August this year, so seems pretty likely that the PowerMac will be announced then to ship in September.

After that we start the merry-go-round again. 

the “next big thing” is going to be Apple’s introduction of their entry level notebook computer. If they could produce an inexpensive laptop (to compete with the PC makers) their system sales would skyrocket. 2 grand is a bit much for most students and many families, it keeps the new generation of laptops out of the hands of the ideal market, students and small businesses.

Get the laptops in the hands of student’s early on, they wont even bother trying to play around with windows.

Hopefully with this switch to Intel, we should see a jump in games available to the Mac, that were once only PCs; the personal computer isn’t just for work in our society, it has become a media center, kids expect it to provide entertainment as well as a tool. Apple should be flirting with the game makers every chance they get.

I think it’ll be a leather version of the felt slip case that the iPod already comes with.  It’ll be emblazoned with the iPod logo and cost $100 gzillion dollars.

Eblis - Mar 25, 2006 11:39pm

i don’t know, i saw that patent for stairs that Stevie Jobs put his name on… iStairs… iStaircase?

http://hrmpf.com/wordpress/67/its-all-in-the-details-steve-stores-and-staircases/

My god, I thought you were joking.

Hey, at least they’re not white/brushed metal.

I thought i had posted something about solid state drives built into their new notebooks (to improve battery life). Well, i’ll see what i can remember…
the drive will act as a boot device, it will contain the system, and the most commonly used applications- everything else will be stored on the platter based/standard notebook hard drive.

-- it’s going to happen-- but if they were first to market with this kind of hardware-- they would be setting the stage for all future notebooks.

i would love if apple introduced a “sub” notebook line.... i loved the 12inch, the 15inch is growing on me… but if there was a little 7inch version--- something more “paperback book” sized… i would be first in line to buy it.

i can’t believe that people are buying 17in notebooks! (i think there is a PC maker selling a 19in!), but why even bother… they say it’s for presentations… how many people in the business world show their presentations on their laptops? I’ve always seen them plug into a projector.

yes, a nice apple subnotebook-- long battery life, wireless access and a dvd drive… the perfect machine…

and they should sell it as not a true computer, but an “accessory” to their desktops… plug it in, and it mirrors your other system.

i wish they had released a 12in intel notebook with their 15in version… i would have rather bought that… too much screen!!!!

The iBook replacements (probably called “MacBook") are rumoured to be being released this month or early next month and are said to be 13.3” in size ... not quite 12”, but close.

Also rumoured to be being released at the same time is the big 17” MacBook Pro (the PowerBook replacement).

The staircase is an “Apple idea” and so has been patented. If you want to build the same staircase anywhere you’ll legally have to get Apple’s permission, or be sued out of existence when they find out.