Speculation

We don't normally speculate much about Apple rumors here, but this one is simply too grand, too cool and too exciting to pass up.

Over at his [personal weblog](http://blog.screencastsonline.com/scoblog), [ScreenCasts Online](http://screencastsonline.com/) creator Don McAllister asks an interesting question: Why didn't Apple make *any* Mac-related announcements at MWSF? Yeah, the tv works *with* a Mac, but that's hardly the same thing as an announcement of an update to iLife or iWork, or a preview of additional features of Leopard, or other such goodies.

Some have suggested that the iPhone was simply too important a message to dillute with other announcements – and I suspect that that is probably true – but Don's take on the issue is far, far more exciting.

Consider the following pieces of evidence:

1. Apple has evidently discontinued the iSight video camera, which is no longer available at the online store or in Apple retail stores. This has led many to speculate that Apple is soon going to announce a new line of improved Cinema Displays including builit-in iSight cameras.

2. Apple's top-of-2007 website hype promised that this will be the year that everything changes. The line was, "The first 30 years were just the beginning. Welcome to 2007." That kind of hype could easily mean more than just a phone.

3. The iPhone includes a touch-based interface, which, in the Keynote and all marketing materials, is being refered to as "Multi-Touch ™."

4. More than a year ago, researchers at NYU released a video demonstration of a [technology](http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/) they called "Multi-Touch Interaction" which allows for fingertip control of a computer's UI in a fluid and realistic way (click that link to watch the really cool video).

5. Following Jobs's Keynote Address at MWSF, the NYU site was changed to include the line, "Update: Yes, we saw the keynote too! We have some very, very exciting updates coming soon- stay tuned!"

Hmmm.

As I said, I think that McAllister's prediction is unlikely. But I also think it's the coolest, most exciting prediction I've seen in a long time and, like with most predictions of complex, almost-fantasy technology, if anyone could do it, Apple could.

McAllister [says](http://blog.screencastsonline.com/scoblog/?p=176):

>OK, so here is my prediction!

>Leopard will include support for the multi touch gesture technology as demonstrated in the iPhone and be launched simultaneously with a completely revamped range of Desktop Macs and touchscreen Cinema Displays.

*That* would certainly redraw the landscape of personal computing. Consider for a minute: OS X has included support for tablet-based input for a long time now, thanks to [Inkwell](http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/inkwell/). Over on the Windows side, pundits have been trying for years to get users to believe that they should buy tablet PCs, but so far, most consumers are not convinced.

The problem with Tablet PCs is that, while they offer a different kind of input, they don't really offer a different kind of interface. That is to say, they begin with the tool (the pen), not with the interface. The designers never asked when pen-based input would be most appropriate... they just found a way to make it work everywhere, for better or for worse.

With the iPhone, Apple has created an entire device OS that you can operate with your fingertip. It's perfect and seamless and complete. Such a thing isn't appropriate for a computer, right? Well... what about full-screen photo editing in iPhoto, which is done entirely with pointing, clicking and sliders? What about editing in iMovie and Garageband, which is all about scrubbing timelines and re-arranging clips?

What if, when appropriate, Leopard changes to a full-screen, fingertip-based GUI (if you want), allowing you to "touch" your digital content the same way iPhone lets you touch your music?

I dunno... sounds cool. What do you think?

Here's an interesting bit of conjecture.

A while back, when Steve Jobs demoed Time Machine at the WWDC, I [wrote about](http://www.macmove.com/mm/archives/apple/thoughts-on-time-machine) how neat it would be if Apple included an external hard drive with all computers running Leopard so that backups would have a place to be written to.

Here's what I wrote:

>What if, when you buy a Mac, there’s a small, Apple-designed hard disk in the box, maybe something like an iPod, but without the screen and scroll-wheel? A quick search tells me that I can buy an external 250 GB hard drive for about US $100. Buying at volume, Apple can certainly afford to include one with a new computer purchase.

>Now, take it one step further: every current Mac has both Firewire and USB 2.0 ports. What if the boxed version of Leopard includes this hard disk as well? What if Apple were to sell Leopard along with a drive so that, out-of-the-box, every Mac user got everything they needed to never lose any data ever again?

>And, as long as we’re dreaming, what if Apple included this bus-powered drive and cable with every Mac or Leopard box without raising the price?

Well, over at [The Apple Blog](http://theappleblog.com), BJ Clark is [thinking](http://theappleblog.com/2007/01/10/pubnew-airport-extreme-features-leopard-ready/) along the same lines, with some up-to-date information regarding the new [Instant Drive Sharing](http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/sharing.html) capabilities built in to the upgraded AirPort Extreme:

>...backing up is a great idea, but it’s a bit pointless to back something up to the same drive or the same computer. Are you catching on here? Hook up a drive to the AirPort, and instant back up source. Pretty slick if you ask me.

That makes sense to me... a lot of sense.

Any day now, Apple will be making the new [iPod shuffle](http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle) available. Like its predecessor, the new shuffle will offer a gigabyte of storage space, no screen, and a paradigm-shattering industrial design. The size and shape of a book of matches, the new shuffle is so small that, on a recent [MacNotables](http://www.macnotables.com) podcast, I heard Andy Ihnatko refer to it as, "a paper clip with a play button."

I'm reserving judgement until they actually come into stock at my local Apple store, but I think Apple has another winner here. However, I want to focus my attention on an interesting new design element and a piece of news I received from a reader who – for obvious reasons – would like to remain anonymous.

That reader (whom I will call Phil) told me that he works at an Apple Retail Store. From time to time, Apple offers incentives to retail employees including discounts as large as 50% on products they would like to move off of the shelves. One such discount which happened recently is a 50% employee discount on items that Phil called, "iPod connectivity products." He said that this included mostly FM transmitters and auto power adapters. Now, I can't verify Phil's story, but it certainly sounds possible... so let's assume it is true.

So Apple is trying to empty its stores of things which plug into the dock connector of your iPod. Hmm. Apple is also about to release the new shuffle, which has no dock connector and, unlike the original shuffle, no way to connect to your computer except the headphone port. Check out the photos available of the new shuffle's dock: you will notice that the dock is nothing more than a glorified USB-to-headphone cable. I assume that the new shuffle will both sync and charge via its headphone port.

Do these seemingly unrelated pieces of information point to a redesign of the dock connector on all iPods? Is it possible that, right now, companies like Belkin and Kensington are engineering new connectivity products for an as-of-yet unannounced new line of iPods with no dock connector?

I suppose it is, and only time will tell. But, if I'm right, than you heard it here first. :)