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In our first Macworld related entry, it is best to summarize all rumors, mild or wild, leading up to Steve's keynote address on January 11th at 9AM. If you read all of the rumor sites, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the ammount of rumors so we are bringining you the current rumors with links.
Click "Full Story" for more.
Headless Mac - The eMac Jr. as I have dubbed it originally was slated for a $500 dollar price but is not looking at $600. I believe there will be two configurations. The original rumor, posted by Think Secret, stated this product to be an entry-level consumer Mac bundled with minimal I/O along with iLife '05 and iWork 1.0. Later sites such as MacDailyNews reported the possibility of this Mac being a final piece to the digital hub; the media center A/V. The headless Mac may run a version of Apple's UNIX Darwin and has minimal I/O just enough to connect iPod, photos and a keyboard. The unit would use existing Apple technologies and act as a PVR digital video recorder. The two models would different HD configuartions. An 80Gb model would be $499 and the 120Gb model at $599.
Flash iPod - Originally revived by the Group at TheMacMind, a flash based iPod is the next step for Apple in their digital player dominance. Steve stated at last year's Macworld Conference that 70% of the players sold are the small, low capacity and cheap players that users never use due to their learning curve and lack of storage. A $99-$199 range with a great user interface and sleek design may be the ticket for Apple to sell even more players and boost market share. More details were posted on .
iPhone - A Newton (PDA) revival or iPhone rumor has been thrown around for years. Apple actually announced their partnership with Motorola for their iTunes store months ago but many have picked up on this being an entirely new product with full support for Macintosh including (iSync, iPhoto, iTunes, Address Book, iCal and with a built in camera and bluetooth). A phone like this would be developed and manufactured by Motorola but would have everything Apple wants. iPhone is a speculative name so we will see. Posted on Macrumors.
iWork Office Suite - Apple's AppleWork suite has grown long in the tooth, last receiving a substantial update in 2001, the App has gotten small bug fixes and was just ported to OS 10. Apple needs an entry-level app for switchers and those not willing to drop the money on a copy of MS Office. After Apple released Safar web browser and Keynote presentation software at MWSF 03, I was sure a suite such as this or a major overhaul to AppleWorks was coming. It has been two years and sites such as Think Secret have posted details on the new app. iWork is reumroed to be released with Pages, Keynote, and another app possibly, "Spreadhseet".
Tiger - There have been small ramblings of a shipping date of January 11th and copies of the App shipping the day of release. Development is very far along and could possibly be done. Other dates rumored are March 29th and January 24th.
iPod and iTMS - The mini is suspected to get a small increase in capacity to 5gbs and possibly a few iPod 4th gen features. The iPod w/ click wheel may receive a small bump in capacity to 60Gbs on the high end. iTMS is also rumored to be released to new coutries such as Austrailia. A rumor that has been thrown out is iTunes 5. "Since iTunes is a free app to users, Apple tends to update it less often and only at Music events."
iLife '05 - iLife '05 has little info posted but should be full 1. updates of all apps to 5.0 across the line (excluding itunes which will get a small .7.1 update). Features are sparse as of now but a new app is rumored to be included as well as a hardware addition "break-out box" for Garageband 2.0. A new set of Garageband Jam Packs will also be included to work with 2.0 of the software. More details on other apps are available at Think Secret.
This is going to be an exciting show if any of the first three rumors are true.