Apple’s 30th Anniversary and the 30th Anniversary Mac

On April 1st, 2006, Apple will be celebrating its 30th Anniversary. A website, ThankyouSteve.com has started selling t-shirts and wristbands to celebrate the occasion. ThankyouSteve.com is prepared to launch in only a couple of days, and says it will be providing some “exciting content” for you and me to enjoy.

During the Macworld 2006 keynote in the Moscone Center, Steve pointed out that something will probably be announced for the 30th Anniversary.

He said, “One last thing. You know, Apple was founded on April fools’ day on 1976. We thought that was funny at the time. What that means is Apple will be 30 years old this April fools’ day. I don’t know what we are going to do for it, but since we may not see many of you before then, I just wanted to point it out. Thirty years making the best personal computers in the world.”

So is this a hint that something will happen?

April would be a great time to introduce a new Intel Mac. Most likely, the iBook and/or the Mac Mini. Some believe, including myself, that this could be the time that they will announce the Intel Mac Mini with DVR functionality. I would also not be surprised if it was the Intel iBook, probably with a bit of a design change and a brighter widescreen.

There have been reports that the Macworld 2006 keynote was actually edited not very long before it began, excluding some more products. Some believe that Apple canceled a 17″ version of the Macbook Pro, and some are speculating that Apple also cancelled some new iPod models. Of course these could just be rumors, but it does make sense for Apple to have cancelled the 17″.

• 1- Apple doesn’t exactly want the pro users who need a large screen buying the Macbook Pro, yet.
• 2- Apple’s Pro software is not Universal, there are probably some bugs in the Intel Macs, and 3rd party software companies (e.g. Adobe) have not released Universal applications for Intel Macs.

So, maybe Apple has something in store for their anniversary, I sure am hoping so… 😉