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MWSF 03: Rumor Roundup – All That and an iPhone


It’s a good thing that Apple is apparently abandoning Macworlds, because pretty much all of us would be losing our press passes. Yes, even the likes of Forbes and Wired seem to be printing every conceivable potential product announcement for the keynote: SuperPods, iPhones, even tablet web pads and iChat video conferencing. Get ready to cross the plausibility barrier and enter the wacky world of Expo rumors.

The most popular rumors on the net right now are the Color SuperPod, a new Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, and a .mac online Address Book going live January 7. Given the inclusion of Address Book syncing in iSync, that last one is more of an “extreme likelihood” than a rumor.

Forbes is expecting several Apple software updates, including the addition of videoconferencing capability to iChat, and UPS package tracking and Google Web search to Sherlock. “Apple is said to be working on its own Web browser software. And, reportedly, Apple’s all-new machines will have Bluetooth wireless connection capabilities integrated,” the article states. ”Also, expect some new hardware updates, including speed bumps to the iMac and eMac computer lines, and a larger screen for the flat-panel iMac.” (Here’s our keynote prediction: if Jobs fails to introduce anything substantive and then gets smug about features Apple has badly copied from Watson, there will be a riot. In fact, some sort of expanded Sherlock could be behind the Apple web-browsing rumor. Here’s how to make us happy, Apple: help finish Chimera and make that OS X’s standard browser.)

Wired is betting on updated portables with Bluetooth, faster eMacs and iMacs with 19″ screens, wireless Bluetooth keyboards and mice, and updated iApps. But their “one more thing” predictions get really hopeful: an Apple handheld, a cell phone, or a Web Pad. Let this be a lesson to you: the iPDA rumor will never die!

The keynote will be broadcast at http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/mwsf03/.

By Jason O'Grady

Founded the PowerPage in 1995.