What’s Left For Macworld?

This year was quite a busy one for Uncle Steve and the rest of his crew. Typically, this time of year finds Apple fan boys like myself salivating over what new hotness SJ will bestow upon us at the annual Macworld Expo. Other than an ultraportable notebook and iTunes movie rentals, I've not yet seen or heard much rumormongering concerning Macworld. The Apple-centric rumor sites are usually buzzing in late December about possible product and service announcements, but this year has been uncharacteristically quiet.

As I thought about why this might be the case, I realized that there just may not be much to talk about. Consider the major announcements out of Cupertino this year: iPhone, Leopard, iPod Touch, new iMacs, iWork '08 and iLife '08 were all headliners. The Mac Pro, Mac Book Pro and Mac Book all were refreshed this year as well. Even the Mac Mini got some upgrade love in 2007. Simply put, almost every product in Apple's lineup got some sort of attention this year. Which leads me to wonder if maybe there isn't a whole lot for Steve to talk about during the Macworld keynote. However, Jobs has to have something to talk about for two hours, right?

Of course there will be the requisite update on Apple Retail Store successes, iTunes sales figures, etc, but what's he going to fill the time with? I've got a few ideas:

Ultra-portable Notebook: Everyone seems to think this is a foregone conclusion. I'll buy it, although I don't see the love affair with a 13" notebook. It's got to have something special about it to set it apart from the Mac Book.

iTunes Movie Rentals: I can definitely see this happening, although I think it may be a part of something bigger...

Mac Pro Refresh: Those in the know say OS X 10.5.2 is very nearly ready and supports Intel's newest Xeon chips, which are currently only used by the Mac Pro and Xserve. Macworld is a consumer show, however, so I hesitate to think he'll spend much time talking about a decidedly professional product.

iPhone Software 2.0: Some of the rumor sites have started to buzz about an iPhone hardware upgrade, but I'm as much or more convinced that Uncle Steve will hit us with a big software upgrade for our beloved iPhones. Despite all of its awesomeness, the iPhone still lacks some basic features that most all other phones possess. My gut says Steve unveils a major iPhone software update that will bring us among other things, video capture, MMS, copy and paste and the previously seen Notes syncing. One would also have to think that such an update would prepare the way for installation of the third party apps that will be coming once the iPhone SDK is released in February. I think SJ will use Macworld to tout the SDK and invite a few choice developers to show off the apps they've been working on with an advance release of said SDK.

Apple TV: Some have already written the inscription on the Apple TV's tombstone, but I believe Steve has other plans. I believe something big will happen with Apple TV at Macworld, either in the form of a major software upgrade or a new hardware configuration or both. I can see iTunes movie rentals playing into this, but I think it would be much more than that. I think we're going to see some way(s) to get HD content from Apple and onto our TVs. I think we'll see improvements to media sharing with iTunes. I think we may even see some more integration with YouTube and possibly other content providers. I really think every attempt will be made to make the Apple TV relevant.

Even if all of these announcements were made, there may still be room for something unexpected and totally unforeseen, which SJ seems to love to spring on us. I guess we'll find out on January 15th.