On Tuesday morning, Apple Computer chief executive Steve Jobs will take the familiar Macworld Expo stage at the Moscone Centre convention hall to tempt the Macintosh-faithful with new wares. This year's Macworld comes on the 20th anniversary of the Mac, which was introduced in a Super Bowl ad in 1984.
While much speculation has centred on whether Apple will debut a cheaper, lower-capacity iPod, a good deal of Jobs' keynote speech is likely to focus on software, as has been the case in past years.
According to Mac enthusiast site Think Secret, copies of Final Cut Express 2.0 have been arriving at CompUSA stores ahead of the keynote speech. Jobs debuted the original version of the entry-level professional video-editing program during his keynote speech last year. Other Apple sites have discussed rumours of a consumer audio program or even a new word-processing program to take on Microsoft.
Music is clearly the major focus at Apple these days, with much of its advertising dollars headed in that direction and a large chunk of the company's sales growth stemming from the iPod digital music player. The company has promised that more is in store for its music efforts, announcing a major promotion with PepsiCo that will kick off in conjunction with the Super Bowl.
Analysts say they are hoping to get an update on how well Apple's music store is doing.
"Though we do not expect a business update on demand trends, Jobs often uses his keynote as a focal point to drop some relevant metrics on the success of certain initiatives, such as a number of iTunes downloads," Bear Stearns analyst Andy Neff said in a research note on Monday.
It is unclear which Macs Apple might upgrade at the show, as it fairly recently updated several of its models. The company added a 20-inch screen option for the iMac in November, at the same time adding a dual 1.8GHz-processor version of its Power Mac G5. The iBook was bumped from a G3 processor to a more powerful G4 chip in October, while Apple revamped its PowerBook line through much of last year, adding a 15-inch aluminium PowerBook in September to go along with the 12-inch and 17-inch models it introduced last January.
