Former Apple Employees Give Macworld Predictions

by , 12:35 PM EST, January 11th, 2008

Eight former and famous Apple employees were surveyed by The Guardian to provide their predictions on what Apple will unveil at Macworld on Tuesday. They also weighed in on the smartest and dumbest things Apple has done lately.

Chuq von Rospach predicted a refresh of the Apple TV. David Sobotta predicted there will be a Macbook refresh without a hard drive but it won't be an ultra-portable. Mike Evangelist also predicted a new Apple TV.

Michael Gartenberg, who is now a consumer technology analyst for Jupiter Research predicted what whatever is predicted will be wrong. That might be the best prediction.

In terms of dumb things that Apple has done, Mr. von Rospach said that it was Apple's underestimation of the developer interest in the iPhone and mishandling the demand. David Sobotta, the former director of Apple federal sales, thought that bricking the iphone for people was the dumbest thing that Apple has done. Adam Engst agreed with that. Most agreed that the smartest things Apple has done lately was to create the iPhone.

The survey extended to asking what Apple's most dangerous competitor will be and the best acquisition Apple could make in the next year. All the former Apple employees provided thought provoking answers.