Oh come on, everyone’s doing them. My turn.

What do I think will happen at the Steve-note tomorrow?

I think folks who are expecting new G5s or iMacs now will be disappointed. The G5s have already been revised once since they began shipping in September. And there was a new 20″ iMac recently. Apple saves the big announcements for keynotes and I don’t see where they’re going to make major changes to product lines that were recently revamped with little fanfare.

I would *love* to see some sort of announcement regarding the G3 iBooks, but that’s not going to happen either. Jobs has the world stage, he’s not going to use it to talk about what Apple did wrong. If there’s an announcement regarding a repair extension or upgrade program to address the logic board issues of the G3 iBook, it’ll happen quietly and probably after Macworld. If at all.

I think hardware announcements are going to center around a digital hub device. Some sites are talking about an “iBox” TV-set top device. Hmmm…. Interesting. But I think it’s too far away. Literally. A TV-set device, even if it works with the Mac in some way still centers around the television which I believes moves Apple away from the digital hub idea where the *Mac* is at the center. I can’t imagine the tech support nightmare such a device would be for Apple. “It’s not working. I plugged it into my RCA TV, and I want it to work with my Sony receiver and Panasonic VHS player.” Apple has said before that they utilize their advantage in owning both the software and the hardware. The Mac has to stay in the middle…making the Mac a peripheral/add-on to the television as the center of the digital world is a mistake, and I’m saying so whether the rumor is true or not.

A device like EyeTV where you can watch broadcast/cable through your Mac with PVR features is more likely if there’s going to be this kind of product at all. Expanding on the iPod in some way shape or form is a given. Eric was looking at a Circuit City flyer at all the different MP3 players out there and he remarked that an iPod under $150 would blow all competition out of the water. Seems like the logical next step. I don’t think I’d get one though. I’m looking to converge my mobile devices, not get another one. Would Apple make that all-in-one device I want that is so far answered with the difficult-to-get Treo 600? Not this go around.

So with hardware covered, it’s my guess that software will take the bulk of the time. New versions of Final Cut Express (which have apparently already shipped to resellers), the iLife applications and maybe the new version of Safari.