WWDC 2008 Preview: Rumors, Speculation, and Innuendo

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WWDC is nearly upon us. San Francisco’s Moscone West is plastered with Apple logos. Rumors are in the air. Unannounced products are just out of reach. Rather than try to calm the fervor, I’m just going to pour some gas onto the blaze with the help of my friend Zoltar, The Fortune Telling Machine. It’s that time again — Cult of Mac’s Top 5 Unlikely WWDC wishes! Four of them are credible rumors, the other’s a crazy rumor that I started. See if you can tell the difference!

5. New MacBooks
With the rest of Apple’s product line moving to anodized aluminum cases, having MacBooks in retro-iPod white is looking jankier by the day. It’s high time that Apple revamped its low-end laptops to match the hot design of the current generation iMac. And if Apple wanted to throw a real graphics card and a higher-resolution screen into the mix, that would be nice, too.
Likelihood (out of five): Three. The MacBook has gotten a processor boost as recently as February, but this is a sorely needed shot in the arm for the product line, and Apple likely needs a Mac announcement in addition to whatever happens in the iPhone and iPod universe.

3. Mac mini recast as Mac Theater
The fate of the Mac mini has been endlessly debated over the last three years. Yet despite a declaration more than a year ago that the mini was on its way out, Apple continues to make the lowest-end Mac. It just doesn’t have a clear purpose within Apple’s product portfolio. At the same time, the AppleTV hasn’t set the world on fire. It’s time for Apple to scrap both products and make a real home theater play. Not one of those horrid Home Media Servers that the PC guys are making, but a powerful Mac optimized for the living room that looks like it belongs in the living room. Take all the features of the AppleTV, all the features of a Mac, then add in a BluRay drive, HDMI ports, and digital audio out. Use a low-end CPU and video-optimized graphics card. Sell the thing for $800 and watch as the world starts buying a home theater computer for the very first time.
Likelihood: One. Apple won’t make the Mac Theater, I just wish they would.

2. Mac OS X Snow Leopard Announced
Leopard is the biggest change in Mac OS X since the public beta, and, as such, it’s going through some growing pains. Apple needs to fix some of the outstanding consistency, performance, and interface issues to speed adoption of Leopard. That might not be possible through a series of minor updates. Like the company did with Mac OS X 10.1, it might be time to move up to 10.6 with a cheap or free upgrade that focuses on the basics to set up the company for innovation in 10.7
Likelihood: Long-term: Five. Monday: Four. If Apple does this, they need to announce early, even if the next rev of OS X doesn’t drop until January.

1. New iPhone with 3G
This is what everyone is sure will arrive on Monday. The iPhone, for all of its wonders, is hampered both domestically and, especially, abroad, by its slow EDGE data connection. Hooking up a fat data pipe to the iPhone’s considerable capabilities will make its sales sky-rocket, particularly in Europe, which has minimal EDGE coverage and absurdly pervasive 3G. The only real question in my mind is what will it cost, how much can it store, and which hardware features besides 3G will make it? Though GPS could be fun, I’m personally rooting most for a front-facing video camera for truly mobile iChat video conferencing. The Mac already offers the world’s best consumer video chat — being able to do that on an iPhone would just be the icing on the cake. If they’ve got that and 32 GB storage, I’ll buy one on day one.
Likelihood: Five. If Apple doesn’t have a new iPhone ready on Monday, AAPL stock is going down the toilet. It’ll be there. Apple never screws some like this up.