Alright, here's what I think "may" happen when Steve takes the stage. My reasoning is based on the news & rumors of the past 6 months, as well as how Apple stands amongst and "against" its PC & Media competitors.
Hardware:
• Mac mini: It has a "target market" based upon size & price, so Apple will not tinker with it much. If it switches at MWSF it will be a 1.6GHz single-core Yonah on a Napa/Centrino bundle, or it may get the newest Pentium M that Intel announced alongside Yonah... I seriously doubt it will go dual-core, though the 1.6GHz price is close to that of its single-core sibling. However, even the Pentium M is on a 533MHz bus - with Centrino, DDR2, and Intel graphics it will still be 2-3x faster than at present. It will retain the 2.5" hard drive, but may change from ATA-100 to SATA...
• iMac: It might go Intel at MWSF (or shortly after)... If it does, it will be (32bit) dual-core Yonah. Otherwise I think it will wait for 64bit, dual-core Merom around September. Yonah is on 667MHz bus, while the 2.1GHz G5 is on 700MHz bus, so main benefit would be 2nd core. Not much else will change, though at some point in '06 I think Apple will add a 23" HD iMac...
• PowerMac: "Switch" in the Fall, when Conroe debuts alongside (or after) Merom. Next year Conroe should add quad-cores, as well...
• XServe: Waiting for Woodcrest, around same time as Conroe... Think dual quad-cores in 2007!
• iBook: May switch at MWSF, though not if PowerBook is left at G4 dinoSNore speed. It would likely have the 1.6GHz single-core Yonah (Intel lists the T1300 on their new price list - other speeds will appear later this Spring) on a Napa/Centrino bundle featuring Intel integrated graphics... Hey, it's still 2-3x faster than G4 iBook. It will likely split into single & dual-core Yonahs when Merom debuts.
• PowerBook: At MWSF (avail. by mid-Feb.). Dual-core Yonahs, PCI-Exp x16 mid & high-end GPUs with 128-256MB of DDR2 VRAM, SATA hard drives, DL SuperDrives, 802.11n(?), built-in iSight, FrWr 400 & 800, USB2, an IR port for the Front Row remote (think, Keynote presentations)... The 12" might go 13" WS, while the 15" & 17" will gain higher resolutions... When Merom debuts we will see PowerBook split into "regular" 32bit, dual-core Yonahs and "Pro" models with Merom and BluRay...
• The "MacIntel mini DVR" that people desire so badly may be announced at MWSF, but will be an entirely different model. It will (likely) incorporate Intel's Viiv platform in a brushed metal or black "pizza box" (to match your AV setup), with a choice of 1.6/1.8/2.0/2.16GHz Yonah dual-cores. It will come with an "Apple Intelli-Mote" (lame name, but 'user friendly' remote), run MacOS X 10.4.4 "LifeStyle Edition" with Front Row 2.0 (DVR + TV), have a built-in 802.11n (or WiMax or UWB) wireless base station, with hookups for all your hi-def AV equipment. It will have 3.5" SATA150 hard drive(s?) with choices of 160/250/500GB, and feature a PCI-Exp x16 mid-range GPU with 128MB or 256MB of fast DDR2 VRAM, as well as 512MB-4GB of DDR2 RAM... Available in standard or BTO configurations, and priced from $750 (hey, it has a base station, etc.!) on up to $2,500 for the extreme AV-phile with BluRay...
Later in 2006 Front Row 3.0 will use Delicious Library (licensed or bought outright), which will enable your Apple DVR to know the contents of your full collection of physical DVDs & CDs, as well as any music, videos, tv shows, short films and features you have purchased from iTMS. If you want to watch a DVD that is not currently in the DVD player, it will list it as an option via the Delicious Library database it has collected. Also, it will use the high-speed cable to connect to the iTMS.
• Displays: I don't see Apple using Plasmas - go to your local electronics superstore and compare picture quality of all the LCDs & Plasmas... The LCDs may cost more, but they are much sharper for HD... That's why there is little room for Apple to increase their "flagship" display size from the present 30", while maintaining their standards. Maybe something in the 37-42" range - beyond that the price skyrockets...
• One fantasy scenario: Apple takes the guts of the G5 iMac, turbocharges it with Intel's Viiv, then "marries" it to a 30" or larger LCD HDTV... Either by itself, or working with the Apple AV-Media DVR mentioned above, it would rule the digital home.
• MacOS X: 10.4.4 released at MWSF for PPC and "MacIntels" (harder for hackers to load it on generic PCs). Steve won't say much about Leopard - at last year's WWDC, amongst the Intel stuff, he said that Apple would wait until this year's WWDC to focus on 10.5...
• iLife '06: Will include both Front Row 2.0 (with USB-IR remote for "legacy" PPC Macs), PhotoBooth and this mysterious "iWeb" that Apple "leaked" on its very own website.
• iWork '06: Pages 2.0, Keynote 3.0 and Numbers, this rumored spreadsheet component... Personally, I don't know why Apple didn't just try to take the best elements of AppleWorks and start from there - was it Carbon or Cocoa? The page-layout functions of Pages sound nice (I've never actually seen it), but they could have been added to a Cocoa-rewrite of AppleWorks.
• .Mac: There's the "apparent" 1TB transfer bandwidth some members have spotted... And rumors of price cuts for the service... What I'd like to see is a .Mac Premium level, where for $150 per year you gain access to the "iTMS Global Bazaar", which allows .Mac members to preview & purchase content from any of the international versions of the iTMS - Apple would handle the currency exchange as a courtesy to its Premium members. Also, there have been rumors of better homepage features (iWeb?)... I think one of the big changes has to do with the following area of Apple's pie...
• iTMS: More video content announcements at MWSF, including TV shows at the various international iTMSs... However, because of the greedy media conglomerates they won't allow "cross-border" purchases to happen (yet!). This NY state Attorney General's lawsuit against the music labels will "put the fear of god in 'em" when they sit down to re-up their iTMS licenses this Spring (variable rates will not be in the equation). I think we may see a subscription-type service for video - main benefit is higher bit-rate & resolution, while not clogging up your hard drive with GINORMOUS AV files.
Around the end of March, Apple will announce a world-wide iTMS contest for the 1 Billionth download ($10,000 Apple Store "online" gift certificate + $10,000 iTMS gift card to lucky downloader; as well as a 60GB iPod + 1,000 songs for each downloader of the Nine 1,000,000th song leading up to it).
Later this Spring Apple will release a true vPod, which integrates with their AV-Media Server. It will have a 5.5-7.5" LCD, and either a 80 or 100GB SATA, as well as an SD card slot (maybe a Type-II PC Card slot with multi-format reader?). It will run a subset of Front Row (with iLife & QuickTime functions as needed), plus use Widgets (Stickies, weather, Yellow Pages, etc.).
