MacRecon > What will we see in MacWorld ‘08?

Just as the Holidays pass, all Apple fans know which event to look forward to: January’s MacWorld Expo in San Francisco. MacWorld is highly anticipated because it’s ground zero for watching the next best products from Apple, as unveiled by Steve Jobs in his keynote. And just like any past MacWorlds, speculation and rumor as to what we will see is not MIA before the event. The following are some of the rumors that have been floating in the web, as well as some speculation of my own.

iPhone 2. Of course, it’s barely going to be a year since the iPhone was unveiled, but people are already anticipating it. And more than a couple of AT&T representatives have let it slip that we will see it soon. Some of the possible upgrades may be (the greatly asked for) 3G wireless, as well as expanded memory. Of course, I wouldn’t put it past Apple to surprise us with even more new features no one could have foreseen… as well as a better name than “iPhone 2″ — that one’s just too Sony-like. iPhone Extreme? Plain iPhone? That’s more like it.

iTunes 8. New music hardware merits a new iTunes update, and this time could be the big shift from version 7 to 8 — as some might have noticed that the number’s been representative of the current year also, as of late. Big rumored improvements include tagging abilities, as well as the much-anticipated movie rental service (which Fox and other studios have supposedly signed into). It’s pretty much assumed that the Apple TV will support direct rental downloads to compete with other devices such as the vudu — but some would still love for this feature to also migrate to the iPhone/touch Wi-Fi Store.

New Apple TV? Or just an update? Perhaps Apple’s weakest delivery in 2007, the device could finally get the features it so desperately needs in the form of a hardware refresh, or just a downloadable update for current users — if not both. My money’s on the downloadable update, unless Apple finally realized it needs to incorporate a DVR into the device. And Blu-ray might be a long shot, but it’d be better than the rumored, simple DVD drive.

New MacBook model. The details are sketchy at best, but there’s plenty of evidence to support it: the huge order of 13″ displays Apple placed, as well as some promised new notebooks from MacWord to celebrities that were invited to perform at Apple HQ (not to mention some new notebook sightings around Apple HQ). But sources never seem to agree as to what exactly is this new notebook. Is it a refresh to the current MacBook line? The replacement for the long-gone 12″ PowerBook? A brand-new ultra-portable? Time will only tell, but I’d love to believe that it’ll be the replacement for the 12″ PowerBook.

iPhone SDK. As previously mentioned, the iPhone/touch SDK will probably make an early appearance with some interesting demos from third-party developers — right before the final kit reaches everyone else’s hands in February. This could easily be the highlight of Steve’s keynote if the rumored list of invited devs to demo the SDK is to be believed. *Cough!* Delicious Monster. *Cough!*

What about a new iLife or iWork suite? Since Apple released their last updates later in 2007 than expected, it’s anyone’s guess as to whether Apple will resume the regular schedule of releasing these updates at MacWorld, or will do it later in the year once again.

Mac Pros. It’s been a while since these models got any real attention. Will they see the spotlight in January?

Yes, as previously mentioned, all of this is nothing more than rumor and speculation, so there’s bound to be more misses than hits — what do you think we’ll see at MacWorld?