This Week: Macworld Expectations

There have been a lot of speculation as to what Apple will announce this week in Macworld (the keynote being on Tuesday, Jan. 9th), and many have been quite wild, while others have been fairly conservative. Either way you look at it, someone want's to say that they got it right, and therefore become famous for their ability to "second guess" Apple's company directions. While I have my own theories, I would rather post what I want to see from Apple, as opposed to what I think they will debut. After all, I don't believe in dedication to any one brand, as long as my needs are met.

So, here is what I would like to see, as far as consumer electronics and software are concerned:

A Native Mac PDA
If you remember, I have posted this in the past regarding iPhone that has been rumored. As you know, I don't care about the phone itself, but everything I focused on was for a PDA. The one thing that I would love to see is a PDA by Apple that had applications that would work as Dashboard Widgets (and vice versa), and an interface like Front Row. That would clinch it for me, at least.

iTV with TV Connector
We know that the iTV device is on it's way, but those that have looked at the prototype, it didn't have a hookup for Cable. That means it's not meant to be a replacement for all your devices, just an additional one. Well, I would like to see a TV Connector that will work with the iTV device. There are currently several that will plug in through a USB or FireWire port to your laptop, so it shouldn't be that much more to have it plug into the iTV device with it's USB cable.

A Device to Integrate Cable/Sat. TV with iTV
Wouldn't it be great if all your video can be integrated into the iTV device? That's what I would like, and having an additional device that would integrate Cable and sat. TV with your iTV would make it that much more impressive. Granted, I don't expect this to come from Apple, but from the cable and satellite companies.

iCal integration with Exchange
While the new iCal Server (CalDAV) that is being included with Lepoard is timely, the reality is that most organizations use Exhange for their mail, calendar, etc. server. Why? Because it's all included within the same service. That being said, it's about time that Apple integrated Exchange support within iCal.

A Spreadsheet Program
Pages is decent, and Keynote works for a presentation program, but there still isn't an Excel program that was released by Apple that can compete. That being said, anyone that uses NeoOffice (Mac OS X port of Open Office) knows that there are alternatives to Microsoft's Excel.

More Movies in iTunes
Yes, I would like more movies available through iTunes. Not that I use iTunes a lot, since I generally like to have the additional video and special features, but there are several movies that I wouldn't have minded. Yes, I would purchase some movies though iTunes if I didn't care about special features.

So that is my list that I would like to see come out. While there are a number of other things that could be announced, these are the things I would like to see eventually.