NVinNYC

MWSF is in only a few hours from now since I’m doing this in the middle of the night so most of you won’t see this first but I present my bets here for posterity’s sake. Look for more through analysis elsewhere. In any case, here are my thoughts:

Update: Now with correct-o-meter.

The Yes

• New Small Form Factor Notebook: external optical drive, regular (non-flash) hard drive (though it may use flash memory on the motherboard to cache the hard drive & improve speed/battery life). Correct.
• iTunes Movie Rentals: DRMed? Very. HD? Maybe a few titles. Correct (number of HD titles remains to be seen).
• Managed iTunes DRM Movies on DVDs: Although few discs will have this feature. Correct, it slipped through the Keynote cracks though.  Unfortunately only on select Fox discs (what, no Disney?), see details here.
• Time Machine Supports Wireless Backup: Expect to hear lots about Time Machine during the keynote, but I wouldn’t expect new hardware. Correct, but wrong about new hardware (Apple couldn’t help themselves with Time Capsule).
• AppleTV Upgrade: Software only (no new hardware). Correct, free update for existing users, cheaper entry price.
• iPhone 16 GB: Easy yes. Wrong, look for this in a February Media Event with the iPhone Dev Kit release.
• Mac OS 10.5.2, iTunes 7.6, & iPhone 1.1.3: With demos (especially for iPhone), see above for reasons. Correct.

The No

• iPhone 3G: See you in Q3 (AT&T doesn’t have the HSPDA backbone for this yet). Correct.
• New Cinema Displays: Still in the pipe. WWDC perhaps. Apple wouldn’t have dropped the new Mac Pro models last week without them. Correct.
• More DRM Free Labels: Not the big ones. They want to leverage that power to Amazon. The indies are all in though. Correct.
• Tablets or Newtons: If it’s not an iPhone or iPod touch, you wont hear a peep. Correct.
• iPhone SDK Demo or Details: Sadly nothing firm on the SDK. Correct.
• New iWork/iLife: Obviously still too soon. Latest versions are 2008 anyway. Maybe next year. Correct.

The Maybe

• The Beatles on iTunes: If not now then certainly soon (perhaps an iTunes/iPhone media event in February for the iPhone SDK). Not yet.
• iPhone Third Party Developer Demo: I’m thinking they’ll demo with Sling or Google (Gears or Docs perhaps?) if anything. (Note this is different than SDK details.) Didn’t happen.

Overall, a pretty good batting average.

This morning Engadget published some pictures of a new Apple keyboard. It takes more than a few design queues from the MacBook keyboard and is extremely thin.

I’m inclined to believe that the shots are of a prototype keyboard as discussed by Erik Barzeski and DF. I will say that it looks fantastic and I would love to have one even in it’s current unperfected state. I recently ordered myself a USB (full-size) keyboard of laptop style keys and, though I’ve yet to use it, my experience using a MacBook has converted me to prefer well made scissor keys over the plunger keys found on most keyboards.

In any case it will be interesting to see how the final keyboard revision turns out. This might be the first Apple peripheral that I have to pick up…

Exciting stuff. I wish I still was working for them. Rumored new iPods, iMacs, Mac Book Pros, an iTunes movie service, maybe even a ‘One More Thing’ mystery device (which WWDC was sorely lacking)?

This is a largely unsubstantiated rumor (to the point where I would call it speculation, though well informed). Anyway, according to this article on iPod Hub, “Apple has been asking studios to include iPod video content on Blu-ray discs.” I’d have to say that would pretty much decide my next-gen format of choice.

Something like this could really be the decisive victory in the format war (once you realize that iPod owners are generally on the cutting edge of most electronics) and, assuming the other issues with copy protection are worked out, I’d be completely behind Blu-Ray (whereas now I’m undecided). It should be an interesting battle over the next few years.

Apple finally dropped the 17-inch MacBook Pro today as expected. It’s basically the same thing as the 15-inch model except it still has a FireWire 800 port and a Dual Layer SuperDrive (these were dropped on the 15-inch MacBook when it transitioned from the PowerBook). Other than those things, it’s basically the same as a fully loaded 15-inch model (with the high speed 2.16 GHz Core Duo). Good stuff.

Update (4/24/06): Though I did note it this morning when I was checking out the 17-inch MacBook, I didn’t mention the third USB port on this new model. After thinking about it (and having a friend note it to me), I realized this is noteworthy. All previous models of PowerBook G4 & MacBook have only had two USB ports, so this is a very welcome addition which brings the 17-inch model in line with the Intel mini & iMac and is highly appropriate for its role as a desktop replacement machine. Really, this highlights one of the large inadequacies of the 15-inch model (which is severly lacking in ports). I mean, how can 2 USB ports be enough for anyone now days (especially since iPods now only work over USB)?

Also, I wonder if Apple will update Boot Camp with drivers for this machine when it starts shipping out next week. There’s no mention of anything that would suggest that they’ll need to and it uses nearly the same hardware to the 15-inch model so I’m guessing no, but it will be interesting to see.

Update 2 (still 4/24/06): ThinkSecret points out that if you custom order the 15-inch MacBook Pro 2.0 GHz model and then bump it up to a 2.16 GHz processor it costs the same ($2799) as the 17-inch model. This is a little disturbing considering how much more you get on the bigger model: larger, higher-resolution screen, 120 GB hard drive (versus 100 GB in the 15-inch), and all the extra ports mentioned above. On the other hand you also get all the extra size and weight so I’m sure it’s a worthwhile trade off for some. It just makes me wonder if Apple will be dropping the price/bumping the specs of the 15-inch model soon (especially in light of the rumored Core Duo price drops).