Because some the great unwashed can never be incorrect in public enough to close them up once and for all , here ’s what I expect to hear when Steve Jobs take the stage at the Worldwide Developers Conference in just a few scant time of day . These predictions are complete guesses , and not specially educate ones at that . They are not establish on information from Apple insiders , foreigner , or anyone who has ever repel by Apple central office . In fact , to ensure the purity of these predictions , I have n’t read any Apple news for the last six month just to keep my mind clear — which has made it more hard than you might opine to solve forMacworld .
But hey , if we can get a couple of Steve Jobs keynote predictions out of it , then that ’s a sacrifice I ’m unforced to make . So in my bestAmazing Criswellimpersonation , I forecast …
•Apple will preview Leopard : OK , you do n’t need any sorting of crystallization ball to see that one coming . So let ’s switch in some more specific — and no doubt wildly inaccurate — predictions about OS X 10.5 .
It ’ll run on both PowerPC- and Intel - based machines , I guess . ( Of course , I mount out on that especial limb already , did n’t I ? ) Apple will just proffer a preview during this keynote , but will assure a full release sometime in 2007 — let ’s says spring 2007 just to add a mild point of specificity . The bulk of what gets discussed will be sweetening to exist features — Mail , Safari , Spotlight and the like — though there will also be significant attention paid to Boot Camp integration , allowing Intel - based Mac proprietor to boot into Windows if they so opt . On that billet , I think there might be some centering on Mac gaming — how dual - booting will benefit it and maybe some other under - the - punk advance targeted at game developers . Call it an inkling , if you will , or a supposition . Or wishful thinking .
•Apple will unveil the heir to the Power Mac : Again , this should not exactly take you by surprisal if you ’ve been learn the papers . I expect the central processor f number of the Intel splintering powering these theoretic screen background to be close to that of their PowerPC counterparts — that would be keeping with precedent set by other Intel - based hardware introductions . I also wait these young simple machine to easily top the PowerPC - based mannikin when it comes to be given Universal Binary apps .
But that ’s not the only ironware promulgation I ’m anticipate .
•Apple will announce an upgrade to the MacBook Pro lines : That Core Duo 2 announcement from Intel a couple weeks back let in five processors designed specifically for laptops . Those chips promise performance gains while maintaining battery animation , which seems in line with the goals Steve Jobs determine out last yr when he foretell the electrical switch to Intel chips . It may impress some people as too presently for a central processing unit upgrade , but keep in mind that the first MacBooks have been on the marketplace for nearly eight months now and that the crew at a developer league is potential to cheer such an upgrade .
•Steve Jobs will be join on the leg by a sight of Mac developers , telling of the joys of develop apps that ladder natively on Intel chips : And one of those developers will be a grownup - time company who will harbinger a concrete release date for the Universal Binary version of one of its flagship apps .
So who ’s it going to be ? Adobe ? Microsoft ? Hey , I do n’t have any problem being wrong in populace , but I do like to taste and avoid being ridiculously wrong .
•You wo n’t pick up a give-and-take about such gamy rumors like an Apple - branded roving phone or a motion picture lease service through iTunes : The first rumor , I just turn over to be an urban caption , not unlike the Yeti or affordable lodging in the Bay Area . As for the second , I ’ve already enumerated the reasons this one ai n’t happening , but just to sum up , such a service is a consumer - orient offering . And WWDC , to paraphrasea great genus Manis all about developer , developers , developers .
