MacWorld 2008 Predictions Follow-up

Posted by Michael Koby

January 15, 2008 |

So lets take a look at how my predictions came out:

iPhone - Apple has a winner in the iPhone and everyone is expecting some form of news around the device. I expect that at the very least we will see some cool firmware updates and at most we’ll see the release of the 2nd generation device. I think that the release of the second generation iPhone is possible, but it might be simply an announcement with a release later in the year (similar to the original iPhone announcement). As for firmware updates, I expect that the release of the firmware updates that have been rumored for the past 2 weeks will see the light of day (cut & paste, multiple contact SMS, etc). Also, possibly expect a 16GB iPhone.

Well I was 1/2 right here. We saw the release of the rumored firmware but the 2nd generation phone was no where to be seen. Neither was the 16GB iPhone. Total score? I got one out of three (1/3)

MacBook Tablet - The rumors have been circulating for this one for a little while but, in the recent Wired iPhone article there is mention of a engineers working on a tablet device and telling Steve that they could get the interface to work on a phone. I expect this will device to be announced. Another reason to think this device will be announced is due to the release of last week’s 8-Core MacPro and XServe servers. It’s MACworld so we need some Mac related releases

No tablet but we did see the MacBook Air announced. Not quite a tablet but not really a “laptop” either. This is a new kind of Ultra-Mobile PC (UMPC). Score was none out of 1 (0/1)

Several people have pointed out that Apple’s Cinema Displays are up for a refresh. While this will more then likely be announced, I expect it to be in passing.

Missed entirely. Though this might come as a silent update in the next week or so. Still, no points for silent updates.

I would not expect much iPod news. They just released (back in September) a new iPod line. I would not expect major changes to these devices. At most expect a firmware update

I was dead on the money here. We got a firmware update to go along with another announcement. But no new iPod products.

Finally, iTunes Movie Rentals. I think that this is going to be one of the 2 main points of the keynote (the first being the MacBook tablet). There are confirmed rumors on this front, and usually Steve will announce even if things aren’t finalized (see iPhone announcement), if only to steal the thunder from the bloggers. If this is announced, you can expect that the iTunes movies being included on DVD-Rom content of DVD video movies to be included.

We have iTunes movie rentals with all the major studios backing the project. Fox also announced iTunes ready files on upcoming DVD releases (starting with the Family Guy Star Wars spoof DVD).

We also got an Apple TV refresh which when tied with the movie rentals is going to probably show Netflix a little competition with their own set top box (assuming we ever see it).

So my total score was like 4 out 9 (if you count my SDK addendum, which there was a small mention of the SDK but no firm release date). So for the first of Almost, Not Yet Macworld Predictions, not a bad score. Yes, it’s less than half, but Apple announcement have been known to be changed at the last minute so who knows. You pretty much have to predict a lot of stuff to get even one thing right it seems with these things. It was fun and we will definitely do it again next year.

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