Follow Up--Macworld Expo Speculation

On Monday we noted that the leading speculations for Steve Jobs' keynote address are a new iMac design and new keyboard and mouse designs and asked readers for their views. Many stated that Apple needs a major announcement, not just upgrades to give Apple's regrowth renewed momentum. We agree. A really new iMac design would achieve that but the keyboard and mouse would not. Of all the suggestions we received, two are reasonably likely and fit into the momentum boosting category.

First, several readers mentioned Apple's perceived decline in the CPU speed bragging rights as the Wintel world has a 1 GHz CPU while the fastest G3s and G4s are currently at 500 MHz. Faster PowerPC CPUs are coming soon but they appear to be in the 700 MHz ballpark rather than 1 GHz. So what does Apple do? The suggestion is a multiple processor Power Mac, dual or quad. A multiple processor Power Mac G4 is very likely. As one reader pointed out, Total Impact offers quad-G3/G4 PCI cards for the 8500-9600. A Power Mac G4 line of 500, 700, 1000 (dual 500s) and even 1600 (quad 400s) MHz would catch up and exceed the performance of the Wintels once again if the cost could be handled within Apple's pricing envelope. Last year the G4s were announced at Seybold following Macworld. Second, one reader suggested a real blockbuster, the iPhone. From Christopher Moore,

"I suspect that Apple will unveil the iPhone, which is a candy colored cordless phone manufactured by Nokia. It will work in conjunction with the Mac, and with appropriate software the computer can utilize caller ID and voice mail. It will also be able to utilize telephony technology which makes long distance calls over the Internet. You may even see it used as a type of chat program such as ICQ or AIM except that you use the phone to communicate with your parties over the Internet. Apple will also unveil the new iPhone website."

Internet/telephony/computing integration is an emerging technology that surpasses the PDA in functionality. If Apple were to become a significant player, this would explain Apple's apparent lack of interest in a PDA. The iPhone.Com domain was established in 1995 and is now owned by Internet Multimedia of Santa Rosa, CA. It currently yields a blank purple page when accessed. Apple owns the PowerBook.Com and iMac.Com domains but not iBook.Com as was speculated last year nor either PowerMac.Com nor PowerMacintosh.Com which are also both fallow at the moment. If an Apple digital phone were a reality, it would replace my analog Moto StarTac in an instant.

Okay, enough speculation. Steve Jobs' MWENYC00 keynote address is just two weeks from today. We can wait.