Not long ago, Apple announced to the media that they would be
holding an event on September 9th. From the format of the invitation,
the event is widely expected to relate to the iPod platform.
I would consider this a reasonable guess. In fact, I expect we won't
see any significant Mac product releases until at least 2009.
A Season for Everything, and Everything in its Season
If you look back at the last 8 months, you might notice something
about Apple's product releases: With the exception of the iPhone 3G,
they have all been Mac-related. The only iPod-related product launches
were simple capacity increases. Every Mac except the Mac mini was
updated.
IMHO, this leaves the entire iPod lineup ripe for refreshment.
However, I hope that the second generation iPod touch, if it actually
comes to pass, is more than a simple shell change. I think a simple
visual refresh would be a waste of money, as I stated in my article
What About
the iPod touch? I guess I will just have to wait until next Tuesday
to see if I was wise in buying a new iPod touch.
Contrary to some opinions, I don't think the touch's price will drop
to match the iPhone. A new iPhone costs about the same as the old one
did. The only way to get it for $200 is to qualify for hundreds of
dollars of subsidies; the full price is still high.
But I digress.
A Pivotal Year Approaches
In 2009, there will be a few things coming down the pipe that will
make it an excellent year for new Mac releases. First, Intel's new
Nehalem platform will be released in phases. We'll probably start to
see it appearing in the different Mac models by the end of Summer 2009.
I think this because that is also currently the expected release period
for the new "Snow Leopard" (Mac OS X 10.6), which I think will be
tailored to take full advantage of all of Nehalem's capabilities.
I wouldn't be surprised if no new Macs with Nehalem come out until
the release of Snow Leopard.
On that note, I hope we'll soon see some more features of Snow
Leopard. I would especially like to hear about Apple's plan to shrink
the operating system, i.e. what kind of percentage are we talking
about? Some semi-concrete numbers would probably serve to generate more
buzz about the upcoming Season of the Mac. 
