Apple Expo Paris Booth

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif

Apple Expo Paris starts this week from September 20th to 24th in Paris, France. Despite rumors that Steve Jobs would give the keynote address, Apple announced that there would be no opening keynote speech at Apple Expo Paris.

Several reports (macplus/french, YourMacLife Post) note that part of Apple's booth are covered in black cloth:

Apple's booth looks the same as it always does.....except for the black cloth draping one section of the booth and the absence of Powerbooks and iBooks in the booth.

Although security appears to be tight around the booth, some early photos have been posted including a small glance at the black cloth.

[gangst]

I wonder if we'll see new products? Strange as there is no keynote!

[anthonymoody]

Anyone check the ship times of laptops from the apple store?

TM

[tamtam]

lets hope we see serious updates on the laptops

[Abercrombieboy]

Intel powered laptops so soon? I think Apple would be wasting money to put more investment into a dead processor (PowerPC) at this time. x86 is the future so I would be suprised to see anything big come out of Apple until the Intel models are introduced.

If you are dreaming of some super cool, super fast PPC stuff coming in the next few months...keep dreaming. I am sure that 95% of Apple's resources right now are focused on "Intel Inside."

[the.smo]

hmm... no presence of powerbooks and ibooks and a huge drape over a section... guess we wont be seeing anything from apple!

oh yea, btw - the ship times for the powerbooks and the ibooks at the apple store are pretty much normal - nothing out of the ordinary - who knows anymore...

[cheekyspanky]

Where in those photos is this black cloth supposed to be? In one picture it looks like an area could be blocked off - but in the next you can see that area as well..?!

Maybe i'm a little blind today.

*edit* ...Ohh, THAT black cloth..yup, I was blind!

Doesn't look like it's hiding anything significant, only a small area seems to be covered.

[LaMerVipere]

Probably just slightly speed-bumped PowerBooks—if it's anything notebook related, that is.

[Astral Cars]

I'd say considering there is no keynote and we aren't due for anything intel it's probably just a little speed bump and maybe a new feature (like the scrolling trackpad sort of thing.) I wouldn't expect much more.

[chaos86]

theyre keeping something secret... thats always a good sign

[ijimk]

Wonder if this is the last Power PC upgrade for the PBs?

[alexeismertin]

Very little in the way of processor upgrades left in the G4, so that leaves just the screen & possibly faster/bigger hard drives or a price drop.

Most Powermac & Powerbooks are at the UK Refurb store but with a ship date of 8 days.

Its probably nothing, but could be something.

[Ino]

Both Powerbooks AND iBooks hidden...but the iBooks just got an update?

Whatever, we're all hoping for updated Powerbooks anyway...this is likely to be the last of the PBs, to last us at least through MWSF and at most till...WWDC?

[cheekyspanky]

The blocked off area is kind of joined/opposite the iLife 05 section - maybe this is a new software product? It's right next to the Apple Shop too, so that would fit in with people picking it up and buying it straight away.

[andrewm]

Someone must have said this before, but just in case, let me once again be the one with the far-fetched idea.

What if it isn't a new PowerBook or iBook, but actually an Intel-based notebook, currently on the market (or something that was slated for release) that runs OS X, with a Rosetta that's been perfected to a degree far higher than we all anticipated?

:-D

[Ino]

In the U.S. store, current Powerbooks ship within 24 hours...with the exception of the 12" with SuperDrive...

...could a minor update be possible...minor as in not even to the whole line? I mean the iBook 12" is capable of getting more RAM than the PB 12" at the moment...

[Hertog]

Originally Posted by andrewm

Someone must have said this before, but just in case, let me once again be the one with the far-fetched idea.

What if it isn't a new PowerBook or iBook, but actually an Intel-based notebook, currently on the market (or something that was slated for release) that runs OS X, with a Rosetta that's been perfected to a degree far higher than we all anticipated?

:-D

Somehow I get the feeling that Steve would have given a keynote speech then

[jicon]

What if a 40GB harddrive is replaced with 40GB worth of flash memory?

[balamw]

Originally Posted by cheekyspanky

The blocked off area is kind of joined/opposite the iLife 05 section - maybe this is a new software product? It's right next to the Apple Shop too, so that would fit in with people picking it up and buying it straight away.

Interesting thought.

The macplus link says a lot more than that there was a black cloth and something under it.

For those who don't read French, here's a google translation edited for readability:

One of our readers seems to have been able to throw a glance on what was woven this afternoon, with the APPLE stand of Hall 5 of Paris-Expo. It would seem that the products "dissimulated under a thick black cloud" are in fact of iBooks, but of gray color, light gray and some darker than the others. They were presented closed, and our friend thinks of having recognized a model 12 inches, or smaller, as one 14 inches. Information - or the rumour - raises more questions which it does not answer: why the gray color if they are iBooks, why different shades of gray, and could it rather be PowerBooks, or even of Tablet-Macs able to view contents?. Still many questions remain until Tuesday morning, the more so as Think Secret, usually very well informed, almost categorically excluded an announcement concerning portables...

B

[Daveway]

This just coming into Appleinsider.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1277

Looks like we may see new Powerbooks and Powermacs.

[gangst]

Hopefully we will see the rumoured Powermac updates taking place. Bring on the dual dual G5's!

[Ino]

Originally Posted by Daveway

This just coming into Appleinsider.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1277

Looks like we may see new Powerbooks and Powermacs.

Alright! At least one or the other, if not both!

And if we do see higher resolution displays on the PB, perhaps we'll gradually see them in iMacs and ACDs as well?

[Yvan256]

Originally Posted by cheekyspanky

The blocked off area is kind of joined/opposite the iLife 05 section - maybe this is a new software product? It's right next to the Apple Shop too, so that would fit in with people picking it up and buying it straight away.

We do have to remember the Keynote of the ROKR/iPod nano: Steve had some new transitions (for both objects and slides). My guess/vote, then, is for "iWork '06, very early edition".

[Ino]

Originally Posted by Yvan256

We do have to remember the Keynote of the ROKR/iPod nano: Steve had some new transitions (for both objects and slides). My guess/vote, then, is for "iWork '06, very early edition".

Ooh...that would explain the other thread where someone posted that adding iWork raised the ship times of PBs by a few days...nice!

[tekmoe]

Originally Posted by Daveway

This just coming into Appleinsider.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1277

Looks like we may see new Powerbooks and Powermacs.

this is great news!@$

very good very good very good. if all goes well, i will be ordering my brand new 17" powerbook tomorrow morning!