Upgrade season: Apple products enter upgrade cycle

 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…