Apple Hosts Media Event on February 28th for "Fun New Products"
by , 1:25 PM EST, February 21st, 2006
Apple Computer sent out invitations Tuesday to the media for a media event on February 28th, 2006 in order to introduce what it is calling "fun new products." There is no indication as to whether or not the products to be announced are in the iPod or Macintosh divisions.
Unlike past events in recent years, this event will be held on Apple's campus, and not at the San Jose theater or Moscone West keynote hall that have been the location of iPod and Macintosh media events.
In addition, in light of recent fake media event invitations that have been sent to Mac sites in the past month, The Mac Observer confirmed with Apple that the invitation we received is legitimate.
Apple asks the media to come and see "fun new products"
That's an interesting way for Apple to bill this event, and makes me doubt that we'll see new Macs introduced here. However, this seems like the perfect invite for the rumored Apple iPod boom-box-like-thing, and maybe even the incredibly long-rumored iPhone.
Of course, if Apple rolls out a bunch of accessories for the iPod and/or Mac, as I'm assuming, this would be the absolute perfect moment for Steve to pull a "One more thing" and drop a major bombshell that no one will see coming. A 6G iPod with full video screen? An Intel iBook?
Only time will tell, but this will make for a great week of speculation.
Everyone seems to have forgotten about a concept that's been flying under the radar for quite a while, with video garnering so much attention.
Games. iPod games. (Not just brickout, etc: better ones). As in, perhaps: official Apple-supported games the could be uploaded to existing iPods; color games for the newer models; how about a games section on iTunes?; what about an officially supported "games" SDK for 3rd party developers?; etc. etc.
The possibility of using the iPod as some form of additional games platform has always been there, it's just... quietly gone unrecognized.
Yes, the UI for games would be pretty thin right now (scroll and click wheel only), but things can be done with that, too. And there is the pending, phantom possibility of future iPods with fully touch-sensitive front panels based on recent Apple patents; and/or games that might have to do with control that includes orientation sensing.
The word "Fun" seem to be the tipoff here to me. What else is "Fun", if not Games?
CloseViewName:geoduckPosts: 1726Joined: 30 Dec 2003 Tue Feb 21, 2006 3:11 pmSubject:
How about an iMac optimized for Gamers along with simultaneous releases of Intel native versions of a bunch of games? There was speculation about this sort of thing when the first Intel iMacs were announced in January.
as Al Pacino would say... if they are inviting everyone onto the campus, it must be big doings- ie, something(s) new, as well as any "incremental" announcements such as intel ibooks, etc. Perhaps they will be offering tours after, to give the media a better feel for what Apple does... into the inner sanctum, so to speak. This sounds big to me, not just a couple of new games.
What better way to encourage ipod owners to buy into apple computers? I am sure there are a lot of gamers among the millions of ipod owners out there and this would be a perfect bridge for them to make the switch to apple computers which currently appeal to pros and people in know - a mac mini with extended graphics capabilities would be an immense success I am sure. What do you think? Something like a intel mobile processer which work quite well for games coupled the with ati x1600 in a small form factor? If Apple havent already thought of it, you heard it here first and I want royalties!
According to Digg (the MOST ACCURATE source of all time), iLounge was invited.
That leads one to believe this is iPod-related. (Or lounge-related? Lawsuit-related? Didn't Apple threaten to sue them out of existence if they didn't change their name?)
I have it on good authority that Steve Jobs is going to announce the $100 Apple laptop for the poor children of East Elbonia. Its key features will be a crank and a penny slot. In place of batteries, the students can either crank the crank for 2 minutes to get 10 minutes of use out of the computer, or they can insert a penny for the same usage time. The shell of this new laptop will have Bono's face engraved in it and it will be called the FreedomBook 100. A slightly upgraded version that accepts nickels and has a larger crank will be called the FreedomBook 129.95 and will cost $129.95. Both FreedomBooks will be powered by Intel dual core 286 chips, and include industry standard RS-232 ports for peripheral connectivity.
At the announcement, Jobs will publicly offer Nicholas Negroponte, the recently departed MIT Media Lab head, a job cleaning keyboards in the backroom of an Apple Store. Negorponte is expected to accept the offer, as his $100 laptop has a smaller crank and no embossed image of Bono. Plus, it runs Linux, which no East Elbonian will ever be able to figure out.
Think about it. Nintendo is the only console platform that is not competeting with Apple (Sony and Microsoft is). Nintendo and Apple think outside of the beige box and are innovators. Nintendo and Apple join forces and with a certain Nintendo-on-a-card functionality built into the Mac now, it would instantly provide tons of games on the Mac platform. So fun could mean "Games".
Or a Boombox with iTunes visualizer built-in would be kind of fun.
Or... I don't know... I'm thinking games because it's fun. But I think they can finally come out with the iPhone (it would be nice if it was Palm OS compatible).
I think it'll be something completely new, not a revision of anything that they have now (ie iBook, iPod, Mac Mini), at least as the main attraction "One more thing" thing. My vote is for the video game sentiment- a controller attachment to the 5G iPod along with better games.
Maybe a wireless attachment for the iPods- a solution for those who don't have USB 2 ports.
Think about it how is a game cube disk going to fit into a slot loading CD slot on a macintosh? Playstation or xBox i would find more likely, but still too unlikely to be true.
Word is they pawned it off on M-Audio. They call it....iControl. A really good product, actually, but they so badly botched the launch that even I lost interest. I never could figure out if or when it was available and how much it cost. When I finally went to the Apple store to get one, they had quit stocking it.
Nice job, fellas.
As for a prediction for Feb. 28...I don't think it's gonna be an earth-shattering announcement. First of all, they would've given the media more time to speculate and hype. Second, I doubt they would waste their time inviting the likes of iLounge (sorry guys) to a major event. Thirdly, the timing just seems really off for something major like an iPhone or game machine, or even a tablet or media center.
I really think this is just gonna be an update to the iPod line. Improved 5G? New shuffle? You know, word was they were working on a new shuffle, even if the Nano is now in 1GB size.
Who knows. I'm not expecting to be blown away, though.
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Guest wrote: Whatever happened to Asteroid? Remember that product that caused Apple to sue?
As Steve is, i'm a visionary too! The "fun" word equals young people, equal iPod.
fun equals play, yeah this will be some sort of new iPod model, i remember Steve keynote and the time he speak the word fun was: when he was playing iChat and Photo Booth, bingo! The new iPod will have a camera just like all the new iMacs and MacBooks, it will be fun, will be a nice digital video camera of low resolution, and will be the handy tool for building video podcasts. I'm Steve's mind spy!
I anticipating this event much especially as Apple has been with shrewd precision doing everything right. The intel transition seems ahead of schedule, itunes is banging- video not quite where it perhaps could be. Hence 1) ipod video over due, 2)itunes enhancement to allow burning these videos to disk is a must! 3)Apple iphone should not continue to be on hold even if the realase is for a basic software compatible itunes phone 4) ibook asap even if ship in a month etc--geez what does it take to boot stocks?
1)I seriously considered buying the Archos MP3/video player, but was not sure if the price was not too high (would drop fast). They said the iPod for videos has replaced the VCR. Thus a bigger screen video ipod would be great with live TV capability.
2)Satelite radio enabled ipod
3)Wi-fi phones are the next thing and so a wifi enabled phone with the ability toi switch from wifi to network would be a hit. Network provider I say they will go with Virgin Mobile or Vodaphone(if the two are not linked already, no time to research that). Look for Richard Branson to be the guest of honor.
A pay as you go on a wifi phone would be great, when you are in a hotspot or at home with a wireless network your calls are free. On the go you are on vodaphone/virgin.
4)Of course motorola is tauting the new thin phone through cingular. I think they wanted to steal iPhone's thunder.
5) gaming device maybe linked to 1, with very good battery life.The unit could also be a aimed at sony's last hideout from apple, a game device.
6) a solar battery recharger, or ipod with a removable solar pannel on the back. Summer is coming.
It's a UK company...Solio, or something like that, charges phones too, very slick. But I'm not buying it yet cause I'm pissed it does not have LG phone adapters! And they lied to me about getting them,"SOON"...like over a year ago, Limey BASTARDS!!
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