One word, AMD.

Hard to say really, most likely a move to Centrino 2.

I still wish Apple would sell a version of OSX that ran on regular PCs right out of the box. That way I wouldn't be spending several times what crappy, two-generation-old Apple desktop hardware is worth, but I could still get the benefits of OSX. I'd pay for it.

That'd obviously be too much work for Apple, though, getting OSX to work with more of a variety of hardware and having it be popular enough to require virus protection measures, which Apple would have to develop.

game console with touch support...

Apple = 100% pure hype...

"...technologies and features that others can't match."

For this unnamed product to truly be new it would have to come out of left field. There are lots of people asking for a Mac tablet, and that would make sense, but it wouldn't be new enough*.

Does anyone think that Apple could be working on an Eee-PC killer? Imagine a MacBook the same size as the Eee and about four to six times the price, or more likely one to two time the price with a dataplan.

How many people who have seen an Eee say, 'I wish that had WiMax and supported touch gestures'? How many people who like the Eee but haven't bought one will wonder why they didn't ask it?

*Maybe it is new enough. Apple is working to clear its inventory of MacBooks and MacBook pros. Maybe they consider Santa Rosa + touch screen to be the next big thing?

What other tech can lower profit margins other than commodity desktop computers? xMac, here we go!

Maybe they'll introduce some new product names "others can't match". Like "Mac10" or "MacGyver".

Apple iPr0n

The product transition is the new Mac Book Pros. They're pretty much the same model since 2006 so it's now time to redo them with more flexibility in mind especially when it comes to the battery.

Adi

Or the new chips for iPhones/iPods whatever, since Apple just bought a semiconductor company.

Apple certainly has given a nice gift to rumor mongers everywhere. I get the impression that they are talking about both technological advantages and economies of scale advantages. The only area where apple has an economies of scale advantage is in their use of NAND. Their biggest technological advantage is in their "touch platform" (iPhone / iPod touch)

So I think this means that they will try to aggressively expand the touch platform. I would expect lower prices on existing models and perhaps new models with an expanded feature set.

I agree that new macbooks / MBPs are coming, but I don't think that would be sufficient to warrant the lower margins and the aggressive rhetoric.

Nehalem Mac Pro's? Perhaps they had to pay extra to get early dibs on Gainestown.