If you ’re the kind of someone who likes to try and divine Apple ’s intentions based on press event invitations the company station out , Apple took care of a lot of the supposition - oeuvre for you Wednesday with itsinvite to next calendar week ’s Mac - centrical get - together . The invitation features an Apple logotype with a lion peek out from behind . And in case the Leo mental imagery was n’t enough of a clew for a caller that enjoys cat - themed code epithet for its manoeuver system updates , Apple explicitly promises a “ sneak peek of the next major version of Mac OS X ” on October 20 .
So it ’s decide , then — next Wednesday ’s upshot will see the unveiling of OS X 10.7 , which will most belike be called OS X Lion . There will be numerous denotation to this update being the “ King of the Jungle ” and maybe Steve Jobs will even end the event by leading the assembled press in a sing - along of “ The Circle of Life . ” Now that that ’s settled , we can just sit back quietly and swirl our thumbs until next Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT , right ?
Well , not on the button . While an atomic number 8 10 preview certainly figures to occupy center stage next week , it likely wo n’t be the only announcement Apple has to make . If Apple follows the script of premature OS disco biscuit update , Wednesday ’s press effect figures to be a preview , not a launch itself . Apple executives will talk up OS X 10.7 ’s new features , demonstration a few of them for the jam , draft the ways in which this update will move the Mac platform forward … and then tell us not to carry a shipping mathematical product until some time in 2011 . ( Around next summer ’s Worldwide Developers Conference , if I had to make a guess , which would be in line with the run arrangement upgrade cycle that Apple has used since slowing down from the frenzied update - a - class footstep of OS X ’s other days . )
Another hint that next Wednesday will be more than just a coming attraction for OS X 10.7 lies in the wording of the invitation . Specifically , Apple has told the take in to “ come see what ’s next for the Mac on October 20,includinga sneak peek of the next major version of Mac OS X. ” ( Emphasis added . ) That ’s “ include ” as in “ not just fix to . ” Which gives us a week to envision out what Apple might have up its sleeve .
Could it be new hardware ? October Mac loss sure as shooting are n’t unprecedented . Last year , Apple introduced new iMacs , update the Mac miniskirt , and even roll out a unibody white MacBook ; the previous yr saw an inspection and repair of Apple ’s laptop computer line . With this summer ’s Mac Pro andiMacupdates still fresh on the brainpan , the focus this time around would seem to fall on laptops .
I ’m not entirely convinced that hardware is on the agenda for next Wednesday . Apple updated the MacBook Pro channel in April , with theMacBook follow suita calendar month later . Neither product line strikes me as especially long in the tooth . That said , it feel like it ’s an full archaeologic full point has live by since we ’ve visualize a new MacBook Air . ( Well , more than a year since the last aura update , at any charge per unit . ) An zephyr update would probably be more than just a speed jut , but Apple could take the wrapping off a newfangled exemplar and even relegate the processor fastness of its other laptops and still have flock of time leave over next week to give OS X its meter in the spotlight .
I think , though , that two Apple package offerings seem like even better candidates for some cheek meter on Wednesday — iLife and iWork . That ’s a shot drive as more by my power to read a calendar than it is to scan afternoon tea leaves . iLife ’ 09 and iWork ’ 09 made their debuts back when Apple still give ear swap shows—22 calendar month ago , if you ’re hit along at dwelling . When you ’re three - one-fourth of the way through 2010 and 2011 is already in sight , software program with an ’ 09 on the label really wo n’t turn off it . what is more , Microsoft plans to ship a new version of Officethis calendar month , and I ’m sure there ’s an Apple administrator or two who would n’t bear in mind stealing some of the software program monster ’s thunder in the office productivity blank space .
Those are the obvious choices to share the point with an atomic number 76 X preview next hebdomad . But then again , Apple has never been about doing the obvious , has it ? If you ’ve got an eccentric possibility about what might get denote next Wednesday feel barren to apportion it in our forum .
