Macworld 2009 Predictions

Macworld 2009 kicks off in San Francisco on January 5^th. This is a time when the macintosh user community is awash with rumors and predictions of new and exciting products. In 2007 the iPhone was announced and then in 2008 it was the ultra thin and ultra portable Macbook Air, What is in store for 2009? Here are my predictions.

First prediction: Steve Jobs finally announces partnership with Dell to offer OS X 10.7 on Dell laptops and desktops. This one is long in coming because Apple is primarily a hardware company that makes a slick operating system. a) But in 2005, Micheal Dell said he would like to see OS X on the machines his company makes.

Another thing that makes this prediction likely is that there is a small, but growing community of homebrew people who have made it their passion to run OS X on basic hardware (this is illegal by the way). They have written drivers and other kinds of software which helps OS X run on basic hardware. Apple would not even need to support it, just open up the licensing agreements.

Second prediction: An updated MacBook Pro 17 inch screen model. The 15 inch screen models got a major overhaul last summer, but the 17 inch models only got a bit more ram and a slightly faster processor. At Macworld 2009, I expect an announcement on the updated 17 inch screen model with the dual graphics card option that the 15 inch model has, no firewire port, and quad core processors. This will the their first laptop with Intel's quad core processor units.

Third prediction: The Mac Mini will be discontinued. This is Apple's lowest priced model and it the slow seller because it is competing on price. Apple has never done well when it competed on price which is why their hardware and software is designed slicker and more aesthetically pleasing than their competitors. The Mac Mini is historically underpowered for applications such as Photoshop and Illustrator which a vast number of creative artists use Macintosh computers for. When you buy one, it does not come with a 'all in one' solution (for example, no monitor) that every other low end Mac form factor comes with.

I know I am going against the crowd on this one. While right now the rumor community is projecting a Mac Mini update, just a couple months ago is was projecting the demise of the Mac Mini. I am still of the mind set that the Mac Mini does not fit Apple's target market, target price point, or target form factor and as a result will be discontinued.

Fourth Prediction: Apple will announce an OS X netbook. This will replace the Mac Mini and will be about the same price point. It will have a 80-100 gig hard drive, an 8-10 inch color lcd screen, and a low end dual core processor. Netbooks have recently been all the rage and a small portable Mac netbook form factor machine would fit nicely in their currently portfolio of offering.

There you have it. How many of these am I going to be correct about? Check back January 10th after Macworld 2009 is over to see how many were correct!

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