As Usual, Secrecy the Key Before Jobs’ Speech at Macworld

By John Boudreau, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

Jan. 15–Steve Jobs steps onto the big stage at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center at 9 a.m. to kick off the 24th annual Macworld convention and unveil Apple’s next big — or small — thing.

The buzz began in earnest Monday morning as thousands of attendees lined up for conferences. The Macworld early birds could only wonder what Apple would announce. A banner, though, gave a possible hint: “There’s something in the air.”

Could this be some new Apple wireless gadget? Will the company include Wimax on its laptops?

As usual, Apple was mum about its plans. But that has not stopped the prognosticators, from the Web to the Moscone hallways, from speculating on what Jobs has hidden under the black cloth.

The predictions focus on three key areas:

–A video rental service through iTunes.

–An ultralight laptop, dubbed the MacBook mini.

–Upgrades to the iPhone.

And of course prior to his speech there was a wave of Apple-related announcements. Google announced an upgrade to its home page for the iPhone on Monday, adding features to e-mail and calendar programs and allowing users to customize the site with their favorite applications.

Gmail users will see new messages automatically without having to refresh their in-boxes, the Mountain View-based company said.

And China Mobile said it ended talks to sell the iPhone in China, stalling Apple’s plans to introduce the handset in the biggest market

by users.

Rainie Lei, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for China Mobile, said she is unaware of any plans for further talks with Apple. She wouldn’t say why the discussions stopped. Jill Tan, a Hong Kong-based spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment. Apple is already looking to the future.

Another Macworld banner reads, “Thank you for attending. See you next year, January 5-9, 2009.

Bloomberg News contributed to this story.

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