6/28/2K: Pre-Expo rumors are hard to come by, but we have this
one on good
authority.
Old timers may remember Apple II Forever, the slogan
Apple used to reassure Apple II users that they would not be
abandoned in the mad rush to the Macintosh.
Well Marty McFly (of Back the the Future) would be proud:
Apple is resuscitating the Apple II and some other abandoned
product lines - full details await a Jobsian announcement at
Macworld Expo next month.
First, realizing that lots of schools are still using those
ancient Apple IIs (the II+, IIe, IIc, and IIgs, among other
variants), 
Apple will unveil the
Apple IIf, the final model in the series. It will look like
the Platinum IIe Enhanced (right) but be a very different computer
under the hood, starting with a dual speed processor capable of
running at the Apple II's original 1 MHz or a stunning (well, for
the Apple II series) 10 MHz.
Features new to the Apple IIf include motherboard support for
the Apple 5-1/4" and 3-1/2" floppies, a USB port for the
mouse and other USB devices, LocalTalk and 10/100 ethernet ports,
support for inexpensive VGA monitors used in the PC world, an
AirPort slot and antenna, and an internal IDE hard
drive (size unknown). It will retain the original Apple II
expansion slots and form factor - but colorful, like the iMac. All
this and a whopping 128 KB of memory. (Remember, it's still based
on the 8-bit 6502 processor.)
At the same time, Apple will introduce the Apple IIf PCI
card, which puts the heart of the Apple IIf on a PCI card that
can fit inside any PCI computer: Mac, Macintosh clones, or Wintel
box. The IIf card will have an external port for connecting Apple
floppy drives. The card will be fully supported under Mac OS 8.1
and later as well as Windows 98 and Me.
Another blast from the past is the ImageWriter III, which
resurrects the time-tested concept of a dot matrix printer needed
by teachers making ditto masters. The heart of the IW III remains
the same as the rock solid IW II, but with LocalTalk and ethernet
support added into the mix. Of course, this being 2000, it will
come in translucent plastics like the iMac. Our guess is
blueberry.
The other resurrected technology is the Newton, but with some
serious twists. The NewtPad (we kid you not) retains the
size and format of the original Newton, but with both an ARM
processor for pen input and a PowerPC 750CX (the next generation
G3) to run the OS, which is OS X. The NewtPad will have a color
screen, rubberized grips on the side, and come in blueberry and
tangerine, just like the iBook.
The other half of the Newton resurrection is the
NewtBook, essentially a color, iBook-ized version of the
lamented eMate. Both machines will ship with 32 MB of nonvolatile
memory, include USB for pretty much any USB peripheral, and be
built like tanks.
Apple believes that these five products will give them the
leverage they need to grow market share in the education
market, where Apple has gone from being the dominant platform to
fighting for top market share in a market dominated by Windows
PCs.
- Anne Onymus
