We can only speculate what they might be thinking at Apple, but in my view they already have a PDA built right into the iPod (apart from being able to write notes). Consider the troubles that other PDA makers have had: four years of disappointing sales. _Four years_. That's an eternity in business. Apple has correctly surmised that the market has capped for these devices, and that people are far more willing to plunk down money on gizmos that let you store data in multiple gigs rather than a handful of megs. I expect that Apple might modify the iPod form slightly to make better use of the headphone jack so that it can accommodate a series of accessories, such as, say, a plug-in video screen to watch movies, maybe even a plug-in notepad. We'll see...
As for the much rumoured special-edition mac...I'm unconvinced. Those things tend to be vanity items that look pretty, sell to the converted, but don't generate enough new sales to turn a profit. Apple needs products to help it grow, rather than just sustain their market share. The trouble with putting a G5 cube (i.e., special edition) on the market is that it would simply chip into existing G5 PowerMac sales. Their biggest problem right now is to kick-start iMac sales, which by most accounts have been underwhelming relative to the previous model. They need to knock down the price tag while boosting performance. So here's what I think (and this is just idle speculation): in January, Apple will roll-out a new version of the iMac sporting a G4 at the low end and a G5 at the highend--both adopting a most more modest cost-efficient form, driving down the low-end sticker price to $999 USD.
