Upgrade season: Apple products enter upgrade cycle

Thu, 07/31/2008 - 5:16am — Jonny Evans
2624

 If you plan shopping for a MacBook, MacBook Pro or any iPod, then you need to move fast - Apple is running down available stocks.

The company is warning its products will be in short supply, telling resellers it has begun reducing production of its laptops and iPods.

Apple is even advising resellers to get a few weeks worth of stock in to deal with the supply problem.

We've been anticipating new iPods and MacBooks for some time now, and believe plans to introduced the all-new laptops were delayed when Intel was unable to manufacture  its new 45-nanometre Centrino 2 chips (expected to power the new range) to schedule.

Processors have always been a major concern to Apple, which is probably why it's looking to license ARM technology for its mobile devices.

We've also been predicting some interesting movement in the MacBook/Pro range: the new models will be thinner, will host a multi-touch glass trackpad and will be manufactured in one piece of aluminum.

Apple's iPod range should also see improvement. MacRumors claims the iPod touch will see 64GB max capacity and also receive a GPS implant, which in conjunction with the App Store transforms the device into a second wireless mobile platform.

The new iPod nano is anticipated to be less wide, but longer, than the current edition, but with a larger screen that's situated along the length of the device.

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer's warned of product transitions ahead last week, saying: "We have some investments in front of us that I can’t discuss with you today where we’re going to be delivering state of the art new products that our competitors just aren’t going to be able to match, and as a result, I would see gross margins being about 30 per cent and that’s – that’s all I can tell you at this point."

While we await the new models, here's a few concepts we came across earlier this week...

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Comments

I see 64 GB coming, but not

2212

I see 64 GB coming, but not GPS, which would spec the Touch too close to the iPhone.

Agree, if I could upgrade my

1820

Agree, if I could upgrade my Touch to one with GPS, I wouldn't be sitting here trying to figure out how to convince Rogers' retention department to give me a decent iPhone plan before I flee to the competition.

I didn't see the spot in the

1720

I didn't see the spot in the Macrumors link where they mention 64 gig max and GPS... just me?

do you really think 64 of

1524

do you really think 64 of flash for that price is gonna be available? i mean, flash memory is cheaper but... not that much, if so most likely iphones would be 16 and 32... i really dont see 64 as possible for the same price, maybe gps... but then again, its just me

It sounds like they are

1916

It sounds like they are already thinking about that Tablet Mac that's been rumored for a long time. I hope they also get that iMac casing for it. That would be a blessing for me. I would just need some way to get a stylus on there perhaps (since I use Photoshop, Illustrator, and creative apps of that nature.) Otherwise, I can just zoom in and out, but they will probably need a zoom like that on the iPhone for that.

I also wonder what kind of ports would be on it (if any). If people are going to be using these, let's say, to perform live musically, they will definitely at least way to plug in a USB device. I imagine because of the possible portable qualities of a tablet, people will probably want to use it for other things besides mobile computing.