Gifts from Steve Jobs.

Naturally, the Internet is full of rumors about possible new products that will be shown at MacWorld 2009. Perhaps it will be…

…tablet. Rumors that Apple will start selling tablet computers have been circulating for several months. The tablet is said to be 12 or 13 inches diagonally, and will be similar in many ways to the iPhone. It may use an Intel Atom as a processor. Apple has patented several «tablet» designs since 1995, and in 2004, Steve Jobs briefly mentioned an Apple PDA that the company considered not ready for market. The downside to all these rumors is that Apple has apparently been working on its supertablet for about a decade. It is not necessarily going to release or even introduce it in 2009.

…netbook. Many analysts believe, not without reason, that Apple's ultra-budget notebooks could conquer this rapidly developing market, which has enormous potential. For this purpose, Apple is allegedly preparing a netbook costing less than $500. The main objection here is only one — the prices for Apple notebooks have never fallen below $999.

…iPhone for $99 (currently $199 in the US). It is speculated that Apple may lower the price of the iPhone or sell the 4GB version at that price. While that would be nice, Apple has already discontinued the 4GB models. There is no reason why it would bring them back, as demand for the regular iPhone shows no sign of slowing down. A much more plausible rumor claims that an iPhone nano, or simply «little iPhone,» with a smaller screen will be introduced. But for Macworld's top story, the little iPhone seems a bit small.

…iMac with a touchscreen. Not a hugely useful, but an extremely effective upgrade. However, it is unlikely that Apple would want to stick a touchscreen interface on all its products without looking back. In the case of desktop computers, it may simply be inconvenient. The rumor was based on Jobs's visit to the Korean LG factory. It is LG that supplies displays for the Apple iMac, and it is LG that developed touchscreen technology for displays that supports multiple simultaneous touches.

…a device for reading books. Supporters of this version argue that Apple is simply obliged to release a product that will surpass the Kindle in popularity. Jobs himself once brushed off such assumptions, saying that no one reads books. He noted that 40 percent of Americans read one book a year, or even less.

…new software. Here, next to each other, are the next versions of the iLife and iWork packages, improvements to the previously unsuccessfully launched MobileMe, as well as a detailed presentation of the next version of the Mac OS X operating system — Snow Leopard. There is nothing to add to this list, unless something new appears.

…iTunes Revolution. Apple may be taking a major step in the development of its golden goose — the iTunes online store. There are persistent rumors that the company will remove copy protection from purchased songs and is currently convincing labels of the need for this step.

…something. An analyst from Global Equities Research recently announced that Apple intends to release something that belongs to an entirely new category of devices. Apparently, it will be somehow related to a processor developed by P.A. Semi, a company Apple bought. He did not say anything else about the mysterious new product.

Macrorealism

Without going through a bunch of fantastic devices, you can roughly guess what Apple will present in January. Perhaps you won’t predict the main surprise, but that’s what it’s a surprise for. So, almost certainly:

…the Mac Mini will be upgraded. The little white box, which is the least powerful desktop «Mac», has become indecently weak. It was last updated in software in November 2007, and in hardware in August of the same year. The Mac Mini still does not support the 802.11n wireless standard, uses a 667 MHz bus and an integrated Intel 950 graphics card. The latter, to put it mildly, left much to be desired when it was first inserted into the Mac Mini. The trend of replacing integrated Intel graphics cards in laptops with Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics suggests that a similar solution could be used in the Mac Mini. And it's worth noting that the Mac Mini is the only one in the Apple computer line (not counting the old MacBook) that hasn't yet acquired an aluminum case.