There was once a time where the advent of Steve Jobs walking on the stage for Apple would be enough to surpass anything else I had going on that day. I'd come in to work late, or watch the event, via QuickTime, on top of other windows during the workday. While I remain very curious, it's less of an obsession (some might disagree), and more of an obligation. I'm more hopeful that whatever is announced tomorrow does more for Apple's stock than anything else. We're long AAPL again, and any hint of "buy on the rumors, sell on the news" would knock our portfolio down a few pegs.Everybody and their dog has predictions for MacWorld. Some will be right, and others... not so much. Theories have ranged from a new cellular phone to a TiVo and Netflix killer, wide-screen HDTVs for the living room, new iMac designs, faster Mac Pros, upgraded MacBook Pros, a new wide-screen iPod, next generation Airport wireless, the introduction of OS X 10.5 (a.k.a. Leopard), new revisions of the iLife and iWork software suites, improved .Mac features, and integrated virtualization. Did I miss anything? Even with that long list, probably.
Regardless of what Steve Jobs announces tomorrow, you'll have one part of the population ecstatic over the smallest things, and in contrast, another extreme, deathly frustrated they didn't get exactly what they wanted. Some updates will be a surprise, others, boringly repetitive. But it's all in good fun, and all in good business. Every good marketer who gets the opportunity to speak in public should watch Jobs perform. He's excellent on stage, and he might not be up there for too much longer, as eventually, someone else will have to lead Apple. But until then, he's firmly in charge, and tomorrow, we'll hopefully be watching.