Upcoming Releases: PowerMacs, iMacs, iTunes?

[MacRumors]

New rumor reports have slowed to a trickle over the past few months... though this appears partly due to a lack of significant announcements from Apple over the same time period.

All signs, however, are pointing towards the next few weeks as a final release time for pending Apple releases -- including PowerMacs, iMacs as well as the worldwide iTunes Music Store launch.

iTunes

A European iTunes release in June has the most evidence available at this time. Apple had promised that the release of the Worldwide iTunes Music Store would come soon. Early sources reported that internal goals pegged an iTunes Europe launch in May 2004. Delays pushed the expected date to June 2004, according to our sources. Recent independent reports have placed the iTunes Europe launch specifically on June 15th, 2004.

A few other sources appear to confirm this date, and one suggests that iTunes Canada will also be part of the launch. Apple was previously known to be in negotiations with Canadian licensing agencies.

iMac G5

Apple last updated the iMac in November 2003 with the introduction of a 20" G4 iMac.

One reliable source had reported in May that the next iMac revision would sport a PowerPC G5 processor.

This ambitious report has seen some corroboration with a recent Appleinsider claim that resellers will no longer be receiving iMac G4 shipments, paving the way for an upcoming iMac G5.

PowerMac G5s

The most anticipated release is that of the updated PowerMac G5s. Last updated at WWDC in June of 2003, the PowerMacs were promised to hit 3.0 GHz by [end of [2004] summer or in 12 months (from June 2003)], but a lack of interim updates have spawned skepticism amongst the Mac faithful.

The introduction of 90nm PowerPC 970s in the January 2004 Xserves sparked some hope, but later reports indicated that cooling issues had delayed PowerMac updates.

The most consistent information available simply points to an all Dual PowerMac revision, recently Pictured in an unreleased service manual.

Wireless

By current whispers, Wireless is reported to be "big" coming from Apple. The only related new technology that has been recently reported is Wireless Firewire which has recently been approved and new products (in general) based on this technology are expected by year's end.

Something Else?

I remain hesitant to even suggest something else as the frequency of various Tablet/iBox rumors seems to overwhelm more traditional (ie. realistic) reports... but some scattered whispers have suggested "something else" altogether... related to a hangable display/appliance. More details will be posted if/when available...

[QCassidy352]

how about displays? Are we still assuming they'll come with the powermacs? That's what I'm waiting for!

[swingerofbirch]

i may or may not be an employee of apple, which means i may or may not be able to give what may or may not be confidential information, and to possibly protect myself i may or may not be able to only give information in the form of abstract language which may or may not contain a hidden message:

i'll be hosting a party friday night; i'll be serving hot fruit, who's coming? there will be three types of hot fruit and a decoration where you might normally see my monet

[Note from moderator: In a later post referring to this post, swingerofbirch says "i am not an apple employee....i was just simply feeling silly".]

[AoWolf]

This is mostly old news but hey why not talk about it more...

[agreenster]

Be careful swinger of birch-- the NDA also covers abstract slippages of the tongue.

Anyway, I've heard small whispers to expect the announcements to come before WWDC. I dont have any reliablity though.

My opinion? Yay 3ghzs G5's. Bring em on. Yay iMac G5. Bring it on.

Big LCD wall hangy thing? What?

Wireless Firewire? I'll believe it when I see it. Wireless iPod would be hellacool.

[stoid]

Originally Posted by swingerofbirch

i may or may not be an employee of apple, which means i may or may not be able to give what may or may not be confidential information, and to possibly protect myself i may or may not be able to only give information in the form of abstract language which may or may not contain a hidden message:

i'll be hosting a party friday night; i'll be serving hot fruit, who's coming? there will be three types of hot fruit and a decoration where you might normally see my monet

And you may or may not be a spammer.

Anyway, I'm sure that no matter what Apple does, if they do not release new displays, there will be uproar and unrest!

[toughboy]

I dream myself working at my table with my 17" iMac G5 and syncronizing my new (or old with an add-on, really doesnt matter) iPod with NO CABLES via wireless firewire..

WOW, that sounds cool, isnt it?

[AoWolf]

Originally Posted by swingerofbirch

i may or may not be an employee of apple, which means i may or may not be able to give what may or may not be confidential information, and to possibly protect myself i may or may not be able to only give information in the form of abstract language which may or may not contain a hidden message:

i'll be hosting a party friday night; i'll be serving hot fruit, who's coming? there will be three types of hot fruit and a decoration where you might normally see my monet

3 new macs eh? I hope your telling the truth.

[QCassidy352]

Originally Posted by swingerofbirch

i may or may not be an employee of apple, which means i may or may not be able to give what may or may not be confidential information, and to possibly protect myself i may or may not be able to only give information in the form of abstract language which may or may not contain a hidden message:

i'll be hosting a party friday night; i'll be serving hot fruit, who's coming? there will be three types of hot fruit and a decoration where you might normally see my monet

friday night? since when does apple do anything major on a friday?

And what would I see your monet in, a frame? Or more generically, a display?

...But of course, you're not talking about Apple, but rather about a party that you're having.

[markoibook]

Bring on the UK Music Store - and bring on those all dual G5 Powermacs!!!!!

[PRØBE]

Originally Posted by QCassidy352

friday night? since when does apple do anything major on a friday?

And what would I see your monet in, a frame? Or more generically, a display?

...But of course, you're not talking about Apple, but rather about a party that you're having.

Erm...one would normally find a Monet hanging on an erm...WALL much as arn hinted at on the front page. The new displays might therefore be "hangable"
This would be very a very cool feature.

[AoWolf]

Originally Posted by PRØBE

Erm...one would normally find a Monet hanging on an erm...WALL much as arn hinted at on the front page. The new displays might therefore be "hangable"
This would be very a very cool feature.

Maybe it's some kind of Plasma tv thing, this would fit with the consumer product rumors.

[boy]

I want displays.

[MacFan26]

The updates sound awesome. Wireless firewire though? I wouldn't think they'd release them before WWDC, what would be the point of that? Besides it's only a couple weeks away anyway. I do hope they update the displays too!

[aswitcher]

Originally Posted by MacFan26

The updates sound awesome. Wireless firewire though? I wouldn't think they'd release them before WWDC, what would be the point of that?

Wireless Firewire.

When would I really use that? iPod - no. DV Camera - no. Computer to Computer - maybe, but networking is prefered.

Not sure how useful this will immediately be...

[Mudbug]

Originally Posted by MacFan26

The updates sound awesome. Wireless firewire though? I wouldn't think they'd release them before WWDC, what would be the point of that? Besides it's only a couple weeks away anyway. I do hope they update the displays too!

this actually makes sense - last year, Steve's demo of Panther seemed rushed since there was so much to announce. If new products are released ahead of time, and literature already made available to the public before the event, he can overview the new stuff and show it's metal with the demo of Tiger, without wasting all the time with product announcements. The conference is for developers, like it or not, and not really for hardware developers either. They're there for the software applications of the Mac, with the new hardware as garnish.

And Aswitcher - it has to be available on the computer before it's available on peripherals, otherwise there really is no point. Apple is usually the pointman on involving new technologies, and wireless firewire would be the obvious next step.

[Hawthorne]

1. Mini-iPods for the rest of the world, which if IIRC were supposed to be released right about now, which, paired with iTMS for the rest of the G-8 would make for one helluva announcement, and;

2. 60gb iPods, as per Toshiba's leak^H^H^H^H foul-up . I wonder if His Steveness is looking for other mini-drive makers over that... I digress. I wouldn't expect to see those for a while, though, given that the drives were just announced.

[JW Pepper]

Well I would quite like a 20" G5 iMac for home and a DP3ghz G5 PM, so this could be an expensive month for me.

[aussiemac86]

**This is just rampant speulation**

Just thinking wouldnt it be cool if apple released a new wall hangable display, that was big enough to replace someones TV.........Some kind of integration of macs and TV/Stereo etc.

If they were to do this, perhaps the wireless firewire would have something to do with getting a signal from a mac set up with a normal display, as i dont see people wanting to do word processing etc form the other side of the room. But surfing the web, itunes, watching movies, viewing iphoto etc might be a bit of fun to do on a big screen hanigng on you wall.... who knows?

[Hawthorne]

Originally Posted by aswitcher

Wireless Firewire.

When would I really use that? iPod - no. DV Camera - no. Computer to Computer - maybe, but networking is prefered.

Not sure how useful this will immediately be...

Well, the current bandwidith of 802.11(x) prevents its use to broadcast signals from the computer to a TV.

But Wireless Firewire has enough, and more.

And Apple needs to update its displays.

Hmmm.

[pyrotoaster]

Originally Posted by Mudbug

this actually makes sense - last year, Steve's demo of Panther seemed rushed since there was so much to announce. If new products are released ahead of time, and literature already made available to the public before the event, he can overview the new stuff and show it's metal with the demo of Tiger, without wasting all the time with product announcements. The conference is for developers, like it or not, and not really for hardware developers either. They're there for the software applications of the Mac, with the new hardware as garnish.

And Aswitcher - it has to be available on the computer before it's available on peripherals, otherwise there really is no point. Apple is usually the pointman on involving new technologies, and wireless firewire would be the obvious next step.

We've become too used to the idea of the WWDC keynote being the new summer Stevenote/Product Release shindig. I'm not sure you'll wind up being right, but you make a perfectly good point.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a series of releases metered out over two or three weeks, like they did a few months back (one week it was new laptops, and then there was Motion, and then iTunes, et cetera.)

Wireless Firewire still sounds almost too bizarre to believe, although I'd love it if my iPod would sync up wirelessly (I'd actually use the iCal syncing).

[swissmann]

I don't know if Apple's secrecy helps or hurts them. For example I have been reading rumors of displays for a long time now. If I had known a year ago that Apple wouldn't update their displays for this long I probably would have bought one. Instead I am hanging on to a piece of junk 17" CRT that can't keep focus. How many people are waiting for a Rev B Powermac G5? I think quite a few. If they had known it would be June again and still no Rev B would they have bought a G5 last October. In October I am sure they were thinking - just wait till January and Rev. B will be here. I am most wanting those things that have been rumored that probably will never exist - Newton Revival, Headless cheap Mac, Quad Processor G5. I am guessing that we get updates but no real wow factor. "iMac" is an old word now and doesn't hold much excitement. If the completely redesigned G4 iMac was called "the new iMac" what do we call the new G5 iMac - the "new new iMac" or "newer iMac". Maybe a name change would do it some good. Something like calling PowerMacs "Papa Macs", iMac "Mama Macs", and eMacs "Baby Macs" ...I just realized how stupid I sound. But anyway I think "iMac" is old.

[rendezvouscp]

Originally Posted by swissmann

Something like calling PowerMacs "Papa Macs", iMac "Mama Macs", and eMacs "Baby Macs" ...I just realized how stupid I sound.

Have I seen those titles on hamburgers? *Looks at an A&W menu...*
–Chase

[MacFan26]

Originally Posted by Mudbug

If new products are released ahead of time, and literature already made available to the public before the event, he can overview the new stuff and show it's metal with the demo of Tiger, without wasting all the time with product announcements. The conference is for developers, like it or not, and not really for hardware developers either. They're there for the software applications of the Mac, with the new hardware as garnish.

You're right, it does make more sense to release at least the new hardware before the conference. I wouldn't want to go to a developer's conference and spend the whole time hearing about hardware. I just get carried away knowing that Steve likes to unveil new hardware

[Porchland]

Originally Posted by aussiemac86

**This is just rampant speulation**

Just thinking wouldnt it be cool if apple released a new wall hangable display, that was big enough to replace someones TV.........Some kind of integration of macs and TV/Stereo etc.

If they were to do this, perhaps the wireless firewire would have something to do with getting a signal from a mac set up with a normal display, as i dont see people wanting to do word processing etc form the other side of the room. But surfing the web, itunes, watching movies, viewing iphoto etc might be a bit of fun to do on a big screen hanigng on you wall.... who knows?

And, really, this is the logical killer app of wireless firewire: Moving video signal to a display. Connecting an iPod, harddrive, etc., to a computer wirelessly just isn't very important.

Fast-transfer wireless technology plus a plasma monitor is a much bigger deal, and it's very Apple. Plug in power cord; hang display on wall; hit "on" button.