I had a recur dream this past weekend . I was sitting in Moscone Center , waiting for Steve Jobs to deliver his Macworld Expo tonic . The Apple CEO take the phase to a thunderous ovation and began a recitation of Apple ’s preceding twelvemonth — the success of the iPod , the tone ending of Tiger , the upcoming transition to Intel buffalo chip . And just as we ’re getting to the compass point in the speech where Jobs traditionally begin rattle off the new product Apple plans on introducing , he looked right at me and said , “ Well , that ’s all I mystify for today … see you folks subsequently . ” He stride off the level , again to a deafening standing ovation , as my foreman here atMacworldturns to me and articulate , Well , how do you plan on fill all the pages in the cartridge withthat ? ”
Which is about when I bolt good in layer , drenched in travail , reminding myself that it ’s all a horrible , horrible pipe dream .
Yes , I have pipe dream about Macworld Expo keynote . And if that strikes you as terribly sad , believe that my Macworld Expo incubus has in reality been one of the more pleasant Nox terrors to visit me recently , as the absolute majority of my REM eternal sleep has been overlook by visions of the bathroom pipe that broke while I was on Christmas vacation . So , in that sense , a vision of Steve Jobs leave us Mac user empty - handed after Expo keynote is a relatively pleasant respite .
Still , I ’m somewhat surefooted my nightmare of a product - free Expo tonic wo n’t add up to make it when the Apple CEO steps on stage for real Tuesday break of the day . For starter , when you ’re down to one exhibition a year , you ’ve really puzzle to make your public pronouncements at trade shows enumeration . And secondly , Steve Jobs is n’t the sorting of guy to agree to speak at these matter , only to fill the time with idle chit - New World chat . That ’s the sort matter you leave to the subsidiary so you could concentrate on The Big Picture .
So what can we ask from Steve Jobs at Tuesday ’s keynote ? I ’m sure I have no idea . But , just for the rice beer of continue the sacred tradition of being laughably wrong in public so that others might finger good about their prognosticative skills , here ’s what we ’ll be talk about 24 hour from now .
• novel versions of iLife and iWork . OK , that forecasting is a little tepid — when you put the actual spillage year in the name of the product , you ’re pretty much announce to the world a commitment to an annual climb cps ( unless , of trend , you work for a Redmond , Wash.-based concern ) . So , just to eff up this footer forecasting a little snatch , let ’s say that iWork will add a unexampled figure - crunch program ( AppleWorks had a spreadsheet tool , after all ) , while iLife will add that Front run-in multimedia management program that all the Thomas Kyd are talking about these Clarence Day .
• Everyone else seems to think Apple is quick to unveil a laptop with an Intel - ramp up scrap inside , so who am I to debate unlike ? Apple will off both Intel - base iBooks and PowerBooks — the former will be ready to ship now , the latter , not for a few months .
• At some point in the tonic , Jobs will make a very pointed laugh at the expense of Adobe and its new Lightroom covering , without ever mentioning Adobe by name . People will express mirth .
• At some point in the keynote , Jobs will also make a very pointed jape at the expense of Bill Gates and his Vista presentation at CES last week . ( mayhap he can use a clip fromthis video ) . Here , Jobs will have no problem mentioning anyone by name . People will still express mirth .
• I think we ’ll see a couple dissimilar executives from assorted media companies take the air on leg to plight their allegiance to the iTunes Music Store by offering their content for sale . I ’ve already made it perfectly clear who I go for will be among that grouping .
As for the capper , the “ One More Thing … ” announcement that Jobs typically use to end these affairs on a eminent note … I have no earthly clue . An iPod so small you’re able to equilibrise it on your pollex ? A showing so widely , you’re able to learn movies in their original theatrical aspect proportion … from across the yard ? A home amusement equipment that merges the Mac and digital media while periodically emitting a pleasant citrus fruit scent ? One of the drawbacks to Apple ’s parade of intersection effect this past tumble is that the most obvious innovations have already been taken tending of . So where do you go from here ?
I ’m indisputable someone at Apple has count on out the result to that question and will clew the rest of us in on Tuesday . If not , well , then maybe that aspiration about my broken lav pipes is n’t the most unpleasant one I ’ve had late , after all .
