『iｍac to going』 の クチコミ掲示板

Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, will unveil a new consumer product that is "innovative, revolutionary and different" at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco on Jan. 7, the company said.

Fueling speculation about a flat-panel iMac, Apple said the "powerful, user-friendly and eye-catching" product will be launched worldwide and is expected to have an "enormous impact." The statements were made in an invitation sent to journalists in the Netherlands late last week.

Apple won't give out more details.

"We have already been too open, judging by the interest this is generating," said Ton van Garderen, general manager for Apple in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, adding that the Dutch invitation could be "more candid than those sent out in other countries."

However, analysts earlier this month said Apple placed a large order for 15-inch flat-panel LCDs for its all-in-one PC, according to media reports. Taiwanese laptop manufacturer Quanta Computer claimed to have won a contract to manufacture the new iMac.

Earlier this year Apple said it would only ship its computers with LCDs, but didn't specify the iMac at that time. The iMac has not had a major makeover since its launch in 1998.

Van Garderen would not confirm the flat-panel order and declined to say whether Apple feels the iMac is ready for a new look.

Brian Gammage, principal analyst with Dataquest, a unit of Gartner, said he had heard the talk about a flat-panel iMac and said the market has "been expecting an iMac product refresh for some time."

Gammage said he had spotted sketches of what is said to be the new product on various Mac-enthusiast Web sites and those make the new product look appealing.

"If this is what it will look like it would be an innovative approach to the market. It is an unobtrusive, low-profile unit, which is the direction PCs are headed," he said. "One assumes it will come with wireless input peripherals, building on the AirPort system."

After the Power Mac G4 Cube debacle, Apple needs a new desktop unit, according to Gammage.

"Given that we saw the Cube go away - it failed to grasp the imagination and the pockets of users - there is a definite requirement for a new desktop PC product," he said.

Sales of the iMac have been declining, bringing calls for a refreshed product. In its fourth quarter, ended Sept. 29, Apple said it shipped 294,000 units, slightly down from 306,000 in the third quarter and a significant drop from 571,000 in Apple's last quarter of 2000.

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