AppleInsider has reported more sightings of slender “dark grey” or “gunmetal” colored notebooks. Could these be the rumored lightweight MacBook Pros or just a revamp for the rather chunky consumer MacBooks?
Though noticeably thinner but otherwise similar in size to the company’s 13-inch MacBooks, the notebook appeared to have a metallic sheen to it, which set it apart from the current black MacBook.
Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey notes that Apple will launch 2 new iPhones and and updated Apple TV next year. We can expect a “bumped” up version of the existing iPhone in January, a revamp for the 3G iPhone expected in the second half of the year and then an updated Apple TV with bigger storage and and LCD display.
You can tell we’re just a little excited over this. Apple has sent invites to sites (not us though, boo) for a “product presentation for Mac” at Apple Town Hall in Cupertino next week. What will we see? New iMacs? iPods? iLife? New apps? Totally new hardware?
AppleInsider is reporting that Apple’s upcoming iMac revamp will come with snazzy new keyboards similar to the MacBooks. They say:
Tapping the wizardry of industrial design chief Jonathan Ive and his team, the Cupertino-based Mac maker has reportedly crafted a super-slim external keyboard for the new Macs. It’s said to draw upon the aesthetic and feel of the low-profile keyboard which was first integrated with the company’s 13-inch MacBook portables in May of 2006.
ThinkSecret is reporting that they believe Apple will launch their longly awaited new generation of iMacs this August. They describe the new iMacs as:
The iMac, based on similar internals as the recent MacBook Pro, will sport a brushed aluminum enclosure and will measure just 2″ thick.
Wall Mossberg answered some visitor questions and said this on Flash support:
At launch, the iPhone version of the Safari browser is missing some plug-ins needed for playing common types of Web videos. The most important of these is the plug-in for Adobe’s Flash technology. Apple says it plans to add that plug-in through an early software update, which I am guessing will occur within the next couple of months.
NewsWireless.net is reporting that Apple has partnered with Vodafone, T-Mobile of Germany and Carphone Warehouse and is expected to announce the UK iPhone on Monday. It is expected to launch this October. They say:
Vodafone is currently in an ideal position to take on the iPhone, because its 3G network is hugely under-utilised. Pricing on mobile data is normally prohibitive, but Vodafone has recently revised its 3G data charges down, following “rip-off” complaints from users.
Update: We’re also hearing that the European iPhones will NOT feature WiFi because of battery issues. That would seriously put us off purchasing it.
AppleInsider is reporting that the long-awaited next generation updates to the iMac will come mid-late Summer. They say:
Apple engineers have been toiling long-hour days on a pair of radically redesigned 20- and 24-inch iMacs that will be both slimmer and sleeker than today’s offerings. When the project manifests later this summer, it will represent the first major industrial design overhaul to hit the flagship all-in-one consumer Apple desktops in nearly three years.
The current range of iMacs came in August 2004 replacing the “Sunflower” design which itself replaced the original iMac. How much thinner can these new iMacs be and what do you think they’ll look like? Will this be the first all metal iMac?
A new job posting by Apple on June 13th 2007 reveals that Apple is seeking software engineers for the “next generation of iWork”. Specifically, they are looking for a programmer to work on 3D features and should have experience with “OpenGL and other 3D technologies”. We’ve no idea what this could be for? A 3D word processor? New effects in Keynote? And if they’re just looking now will we see these new features in iWork ‘08 or ‘09 only? Come on Apple, iWork is pretty ancient already. Get a move on!
Apple is set to announce a massive upgrade of their .Mac internet suite. This much needed update comes after Jobs himself said “I couldn’t agree with you more and we will make up for lost time in the very near future”, in response to a question on .Macs rather poor state. The upgrade is due to Apple and Google’s cosy partnership. Google will be providing remote storage for Apple removing their reliance on Akamai.
We’re siding with AppleInsider by saying there will be NO new iMacs coming next week. Sorry ThinkSecret.
Some readers are reporting that according to a CNBC “On the Money” report, an AT&T store told them Apple’s cellphone would launch on June 20th. We’ll just wait for official confirmation from Apple. These launch rumors do get a tiring.
Update: Seems the 20th is a Wednesday!
Just got info from a new source so treat as “a possibility”. New MacBook Pros tomorrow powered by Intels new Santa Rosa chipset. One of the new model configs (the “middle” model) is as follows:
MacBook Pro 15.4″ (MA6019LL) - $2499
15.4″ LED-backlit LCD
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo “T7700″
2GB RAM
Radeon X1700M
160GB 7200RPM Hard Drive
Built-in Airport Card
Bluetooth 2.0
2 USB 2.0 ports
1 FireWire + 1 FireWire 800 port
DVD Burner (with BTO of Blu-ray player)
Mac OS X 10.4.9 (8P2178)
Sounds pretty good, yum! 
ThinkSecret cites an unconfirmed source who believes that Apple may show the long-awaited touch-screen iPod tomorrow and ship the device alongside the iPhone in June.
Update: Nothing happened, oh well.
Not totally sure about this but posting it out of interest nonetheless. Apple could be about to preview Logic 8 tomorrow online so as not to overshadow announcements next month at NAB. The application could potentially be renamed as it’s such a massive overhaul. Having been under development for the past 5 years, it has features such as a brand new drum engine, built-in tuning and timing module (similar to Melodyne), innovative time stretching loops and improved movie scoring tools. Hopefully that all made sense to someone, we’re not very “into” music applications. NAB starts Sunday 15th April and is likely to bring Final Cut Pro 6, updated Mac Pros and Final Cut Pro “extreme”. How exciting…
Update: So it didn’t happen today… but we didn’t really expect it to. There are murmurings of it being out tomorrow though.
Apple Recon is reporting that Apple is to hold a special event on February 20th. We must point out that the site has no known accuracy.
We have just gotten an anonymous tip from a source that indicates that Apple is planning a special event on February 20 to introduce Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), iLife ‘07 and iWork ‘07 as well as updated Mac Pros. Mac Pros will be available immediately with a free upgrade to 10.5 when it ships, and the ship date for 10.5 will be confirmed for 3/24/07 as we have been predicting for quite some time now.
We were pretty good last year with the predictions, this time we’ve got hold of exactly what Steve will be showing off at the Keynote next week. Sadly it seems that Apple has hyped this event up way too much, unless there have been last minute changes (like last year)…
The iTV will be shown off and announced for sale within the week with some early stock available in Apple Stores. It will feature Apple’s new Airport Extreme 802.11n. Mac OS X 10.4.9 will quietly be released so that Macs can interact with the new iTV. The iTunes Store will get new movie studios but it is still looking like the videos will be the same resolution as currently. Mac mini will be updated to new Core 2 Duo processors and will include the new 802.11n. Mac OS X Leopard will be shown off again with new features such as the ZFS filesystem. It will be announced that it is compatible and will run smoothly on Macs from the iMac G3 to the Powerbook G4 to the MacPro Quad. Updated MacPro and Xserves will be announced with the new Intel 8-core processors and there will be BTO options for Bluray and HD-DVD and will ship in early March with the release of Leopard (which supports these two new formats natively).
Update: Seems already there have been changes. AppleInsider is now reporting that the iTV will be delayed until late Jan/early Feb. Let’s hope Apple has some backup products to get this event going.
AppleInsider is reporting that Apple is set to launch three new iPod models during 2007. The first model is set to be a “video-centric” device, not the true iPod video we’re still waiting for. They make no comment on what the other two models will be. Analysts have recently said Apple could launch a 16GB iPod nano and also bump up the iPod shuffle specs.
Toshiba’s new 1.8″ hard drive can store 100GB of data whereas current models hold a maximum of 80GB. Toshiba plans to start mass producing the drives in January next year. Updated iPods at Macworld?
Apple is preparing to update their MacBook Pro range in Germany next week. The Photokina event on September 25th will also see the launch of Aperture 1.2. The new MacBook Pros will come in 2.33GHz and 2.16GHz models. There are rumors of a 1.83GHz powered 12″ model, but we cannot confirm them at this time. Apple will then again update ALL their Macs in Q1/2 next year to the upcoming second-wave of Merom which is due for launch next April… Which is when Leopard is due to launch… See what Apple’s doing? (Steve is oh so clever). We’ll keep you updated as ever.
Update: Sorry, the date for Photokina is 25th.
Steve Jobs “one more thing…” at the “It’s Showtime!” event next week could be an iPhone. All products sold in America must be safety checked by the FCC. Details and photos of the product are then made public. This process normally takes 6-8 weeks. So for them to catch the holiday season with the iPhone, they must have or be about to send the iPhone in for approval. Apple is then said to announce the product next week, but will only launch it with the approval… This way details and photos won’t leak. The iPhone is said to be available in 3 colors (Black, white and “platinum”) with a magnesium-alloy case as well as 2MP camera (photo and video capable) with flash. Also they apparently look similar to the upcoming iPod nanos which are also in magnesium-alloy casing and are said to come in colors.
Update: Hmm, seems not…
Here’s another of Apple’s “secret” Leopard features. With the launch of the iTunes Movie Store next week, Apple is preparing to evolve iTunes beyond its current state to be the ultimate media player. Next week, there will be a “Movies” link in the iTunes store, like the current “Music Videos” link to direct users to the new Movie section. It is then expected to get its own dedicated tab on the sidebar as “Movie Store” in a future iTunes update. Other features of the new iTunes 6.0.6 (or iTunes 6.1?) will include support for the new iPod nanos. Then in Leopard, iTunes will evolve alongside Front Row 2. Both Stores should be accessible from the FrontRow menu. The “iTunes Music Store” will be renamed as the Store is now not just music… The search features in the Store are also to recieve a facelift, with predictable searches (ala Google Suggest). Do bear in mind though, that all this can change by the time of Leopard’s launch - currently scheduled for April 2007. Now did that make any sense?…
Update: Who was right, who was right! Well sort of.
Apple is preparing to update their iMac range in September to be powered by Intels new Merom processors. These new processors have dual cores and are 64-bit compatible. The update will bring in a new flagship iMac model at 23″ with 2.33GHz processor followed by another model in 2.16GHz. These will be the first Macs to have Dual Core processors. It is expected that the whole Mac range will shift to the Merom by Spring next year as Mac OS X Leopard will take advantage of 64-bit…
Update: ThinkSecret and AppleInsider have both confirmed reports on the new iMac. Get your credit cards at the ready!
Update 2: They’ve now been released.
A digital distributor has confirmed to us that a new build of iTunes Producer was seeded to them last week. It now forces distributors to upload music tracks in their native lossless formats. Could we be seeing higher quality tracks coming with the next iTunes revision? We certainly hope so! Other rumored features for iTunes 7 include new social tools and a new metal-less interface.
A survey published by Apple today could possibly reveal features coming up in the next revision of iTunes. It mentions features such as “a rewards program if you buy more”, “ability to view what my friends wish they could buy”, “ability to view what my friends are listening to now (with their permission)’, “ability to view my friends’ playlists (with their permission)”, “ability to view my friends’ recent purchases (with their permission)” and “ability to view my friends’ favorite artists (with their permission)”. It looks like Apple is trying to make the iTunes Store more social. Also, it mentions how you would feel about Apple adding more movies and T.V. shows to the UK iTunes Store, at last! Maybe this will be previewed at WWDC?
Update: It also mentions about Apple possibly replacing lost songs through a maintenance agreement, as we reported last November.
