Hottest Apple rumours for 2009

An Apple netbook, an iPhone Nano, a new Mac Mini and unlocked iPhones are coming in the New Year. Maybe.

The rumour mill has Steve Jobs ready to unveil a netbook at January's MacWorld Expo [Apple has since shocked fans with the news it is pulling out of the show after this year's installment, and that Steve Jobs will not take the stage this January. Details here).

Videocassette-sized, sub-$1000 netbooks were the fastest growing computer category in New Zealand during the third quarter, and worldwide have outsold iPhones – a trend Steve Jobs has no doubt noted.

So far the netbook market has been led by models like Asus’ eee PC and Dell’s $799 Inspiron Mini (reviewed here).

In October, Steve Jobs was cool on the netbook craze, saying “Apple doesn’t know how to make a cheap computer that isn’t a piece of junk.”

Now, analysts are predicting an Apple netbook will be the centrepiece of MacWorld expo in January.

A second hot MacWorld rumour – not backed by any detail – is that Apple will release a iPhone Nano, or slimmed down iPhone based on its thinnest iPod. The maybe-iPhone Nano would go head-to-head with the might-be-coming Microsoft Zune phone.

New Mac Mini
One more solid ground, it looks like a new, beefier version of Apple’s super-compact desktop will be unveiled at MacWorld.

Look for the new Mac Mini to come in two options with different processor speeds: a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and a 2.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.

The new Mac Mini should also have gruntier graphics, courtesy of nVidia, and will possibly get a makeover, with a new case cast from a single block of aluminium in the manner of the new unibody MacBooks.

Unlocked iPhones
On a less official note, the rogue iPhone Dev Team says it will deliver a New Year’s Eve present to the world’s gadget freaks: a downloadable programme for unlocking an iPhone to run on any telco’s network (here, of course, only Vodafone sells the iPhone – though that could well change once Telecom’s new network goes live in June – but unlocking opens the door to parallel imported units).

Earlier this year, Apple noticed that about 1.7 million more iPhones were on ATT&T’s network than had been officially activated through Apple’s website. The company then took steps to make unlocking a lot harder, and denying unlockers the ability to upgrade to the latest iPhone software, or to access the wildly popular AppStore.

Keep an eye on the DevTeam’s website to access the hack, but don’t come crying to NBR if your phone stops working, or you get arrested.