Beyond the Rumors...

[MacRumors]

Beyond the rumor sites. Way beyond.

Apple.com - 5 days til MacWorld Expo.

[buffsldr]

That is a huge statement given our seemingly inexhaustible ability to speculate. I just don't think i can wait any longer!!!

[arn]

they're just teasing us now...

arn

[trilogic]

In Switzerland we have a saying: "Vorfreude ist die groesste Freude" this means that "anticipation is the greatest joy"

[lera]

Indeed it is. I don't know about G5 towers and 1Ghz iMacs but I know that what ever hapends on the 7th isn't going to mater because I'l have had a heart attack from excitement. See you on the flip side.

1) VW Beetle like car that is apple logo'd
2) Car is obviously battery powered (or hybrid) and can drive for 10+ hours without a charge (to match your iPod)
3) iPod plugs into the firewired dashboard for all your favorite tunes.
4) Handspring makes a PDA/Cel with Newton OS that is connected to the steering wheel and is voice activated so that chatting is handsfree.
5) Tibook docks on the center console and iMap automatically starts up, checks the cars GPS and puts the Apple car on the map.
6) As you start the car, it automatically dials out to get internet access and your eWorld account is logged onto.
7) Heads up display can be toggled with an iPod-like control on the steering wheel to show car functions, iMap, eWorld, iPod screen, Newton screen,...

I was just joking when I started to write this... but everything I've said... the technology exists. (except for the 10 hour battery life for the car)... I want one.

[iwantanewmac]

They're just fooling around.
They've sold everything they've got and went on a plane to the bahama's and live there forever.

[BurntCalc]

My God! I can't believe that Apple would go so far as to hype something up this big unless we're all missing something important here. Let's speculate....

What are the major rumors out there so far?
-G5
-Flat Panel iMac
-New consumer device (sony/apple?)
-AMD/Intel version of OSX
-Dodecahedron enclosures (that's 12 sided)
-Touch pad technology
-PDA

So.... beyond the rumor sites, eh? What in the world could we possibly be missing here? It is either all of the above, or some of the above and then something else which no one has heard a whisper about. The big question is... What is Product X? (no pun intended)

Myself, I'd make a wild guess and say that it will be several types of consumer devices. What do they do? Probably the same stuff that most devices do, only it'll be so amazingly simple to use that people will slap themselves on their foreheads and say "Gee! Now why didn't I think of that?"

Makes sense, no? I mean, Apple is best at reinventing things with insane flair. We're not gonna see flying cars or anything, so what's left?

-BurntCalc

a) a full X10 setup (with gigawire options) in a box...
b) ...connecting to the iMediaCenter...
c) ...which consists of...pioneer dvd writer, removable touch screen/remote (extended ipod-style interface), able to support new media components (digital radio, mp3, cd-whatever, dvd, etc, etc) with gigawire.
d) whilst u don't need a mac to use all this, having a mac allows you to use the iMediaCenter as a (integrated)peripheral.
e) ...and a dock to use part of the system, in your car.
f) and finally, a mouse with fingerprint id technology built in, which continuously monitors and authenticates the user.

[C_a_r_s_t_e_n]

This is cool - Apple is just unpredictible!

[kishba]

so i wake up this morning and see this new phrase at apple.com.... am i still dreaming?

apple is really brave to say something like this

[kishba]

just thought i would add fuel to the fire

imac shipping is up to 7 days from the online apple store but the g4 still has normal shipping estimates (~3days)


what the heck is going to be so revolutionary?

[pkradd]

Apple is just having some fun, for a change. They're tweaking all the macheads.

No matter what products they introduce, the usual moaning and whinning will occur anyway.

Somebody in Cupertino has a great sense of humor.

[Falleron]

Here in the UK the build times are somewhat different!

Imac - 15 days
iBook - 7 days
PowerBook - 15 days
PowerMac - 7 days

[j763]

I've heard little on rumor sites about mergers. With IBM's personal computer business producing massive losses for the companies, are IBM going to crawl to apple? Or maybe apple will grab Motorola and do that in house?? Or maybe we'll see Sony and Apple join as a force in digital devices... M$ are competing with sony in a number of markets (for example xbox vs ps2 and sericsson)... Just speculation...

But bringing the discussion back to earth, i think pkradd is right, it's someone at apple with a sense of humor who must enjoy watching these and other forums light up with people speculating even more.


'If you expect to be overwhelmed, you'll be underwhelmed. If you expect to be underwhelmed, you'll be overwhelmed'
-Me, 10:50PM Jan 2nd.

[blakespot]

I fear what is coming.

I fear that the purchase frenzy that it will put me in will cause my wife to divorce me.



blakespot

[gandalf55]

These headlines have been programmed into the page for a while - Apple didn't put that up in response to actual reading of rumor sites like this one.

For all this hype, I predict:

- g5 announcement - shipping delayed to near future
- flat panel iMac (almost a letdown after all our speculation - heh)
- iPod 1.0 firmware 1.3 (onboard EQ & more)
- iPhoto debuts
- iView (dvd hardware player)
- Gigawire in the announced g5s
- new revs of iBook, TI g4, desktop g4s

drumroll...

mini-OSX running on a pocket-PC
OSX available for Wintel folk
iTunes for Wintel folk (for iPods)

[elfin buddy]

if apple is going to release any new iDevices, they will probably be very similar to the iPod. with the iPod, apple took an existing technology (the portable mp3 player) massively improved on it. it is reasonable to expect other iDevices to follow suit. so to find out what they apple is cooking up, we have to ask ourselves "what device involves computer technology and can be massively improved upon without too much trouble?" take a digital camera for example (im no pro on digital cameras, im just speculating and i may be wrong). the digital cameras of today usually use flash memory cards for storage. same goes for most mp3 players. apple improved on the mp3 player by adding a huge hard drive. apple could also improve on the digital camera by adding a huge hard drive to that. if it followed the design of the iPod, it would be the size of deck of cards. it would also have firewire. imagine a digital camera like that! it would cost a lot so it would probably fill the same marketing niche as the iPod. it seems that apple is trying to make these iDevices far better than any of the competition. apply that same reasoning to just about any high tech device u use today and see what u can come up with =)

someone here mentioned the iView, a hardware dvd player if i remember correctly. to find out how likely this is, we apply the same logic i just applied to the digital camera. how can it be massively improved upon in a way that involves computers? apple will not make a dvd player unless it sees a way to blow all other dvd players away.

there are so many things in todays world that could be easily improved upon if only given a bit of thought. good luck and happy speculating!

[crassusad44]

Well. Apple does not usually hype events like this, if they don't have anything to deliver.
Guess we'll have to wait, unless we die of excitement, and Steve Jobs is waiting at the gates of heaven, revealing it all to us...

[marco114]

News this big can't stay hidden forever. It will come out before MacWorld. I definitely don't think the sayings on the site are pre-programmed. I've been mining the graphics for quite awhile trying to see if there are any other ones in thier site.

Possiblilites:

• This has merger written all over it. I am thinking Apple buys a game company, NVidia, ATI, Sony, Motorola or ome other current partner. IBM is too big for Apple to buy their Market Cap is $200+ Billion. IF they announce any type of merger with M$, i'd be upset.

• Every new Powermac comes with a Segway Human Transporter

• OS X on Intel does not seem logical or probible.

• We are going to see a new Apple with a completely new direction with a radically changed lineup of computers and devices. They pretty much just auctioned off a lot of their inventory on DoveBid last week.

• They may have found a way to run OS 9 apps natively in OS X quite possibly.

• I still thing Apple is going to release a huge huge server with everthing I and everyone else ever wanted.

• SGI currently sucks, maybe some type of merger with them? Pixar is probably one of SGI's better customers.

[dp3]

It's a scooter, obviously. One that crashes periodically.

[marco114]

Ok, I just downloaded one of the graphics off of Apple's site.

It was created on:

Jan 1, 2002 at 3:54PM.

It's definitely a response to whatever they see here and elsewhere. I am sure they read this site. In fact I know they do.

[mbcastleman]

I don't know but Nokia is finally announcing the introduction of their communicator. Maybe Apple has a phone PDA. Maybe a camera that leverages airport.

a) the iBox to take on the xbox and...
b) ...new emulation technology from sony enabling ps2 and xbox games to run on the iBox
c) and, of course, the iFridge.

doh!

So what will it say tomorrow?

"Quite simply, the biggest announcement in the history of technology."

or

"Apple is about to change the lifestyle of every being on this planet..."

or

"Man has walked on the moon. Apple has done one better."

or perhaps

"Uh, Beej, I wouldn't go that far..."

(Go on Apple, I dare ya!)