Steve Jobs to deliver opening keynote at MacWorld 2008

In a shocking turn of events, IDG World Expo officially announced today that Steve Jobs will in fact headline next year's MacWorld San Francisco conference, with his opening keynote address set to go down at 9:00AM sharp on January 15th. Exactly what that keynote will entail remains a mystery, of course, although we've certainly heard plenty of rumblings on the matter. Whatever it is El-Jobso has in store, you can be sure we'll have by-the-minute coverage of it, so mark your calenders and watch this space, or not.

[Thanks, Mark]

[Mike Street @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:32PM]

Good! I won't buy any iPod products until after this keynote.

[Khris @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:41PM]

iPods are safe.......3G, 16gb iPhone is on it's way

[E71 @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:19PM]

Steve Jobs takes a crap at 11 - We now go live to the scene.

[Luis @ Dec 3rd 2007 11:12PM]

Dont say that I cant take being left behind with my edge iphone! :(
In other news its my birthday that day. Thanks Apple for the bday present.

[applefreak @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:36PM]

no offence, but isnt this the way that ALL Apple events are opened?

[Zak @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:40PM]

Yes, hence the sarcastic use of "In a shocking turn of events". :)

[ThePengwin @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:44PM]

i wish people would use semantic html markup and wrap their sarcasm in tags. it would make the greuling task of deciphering sarcasm from actual normal writing :D

[goshea @ Dec 3rd 2007 7:50PM]

If you can find a non-ironic use of "in a shocking turn of events" in the past thirty years you should feel superior to the goon that used in non-ironically. No. Really.

[JTM @ Dec 3rd 2007 9:49PM]

It's really not that uncommon to see "in a shocking turn of events" in actual news stories about unexpected events. I'll admit, I didn't see the irony in the statement either.

[kevinm @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:44PM]

You never know, Phil might host it in the future.

[Barry @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:49PM]

Mac Nano multitouch tablet with dock which converts it to a full-blown Leopard machine.

[farfisa @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:49PM]

I hear they're coming out with a phone!

[Ireland @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:36PM]

Your hearing, but you aint listening ;)

I hear there going to come out with either an ultra-portable MacBook or a Mac touch (10" or 11" tablet).

[Ireland @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:47PM]

My typos make my skin crawl, especially given that Engadget provides no digg-like edit option :(

[Fernando @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:51PM]

I predict the iRack!!!!

[polvadis @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:03PM]

iRack is already in progress, it's the iRan that we're waiting for.

[Robert @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:58PM]

32gb iPod touch *fingers crossed* (being sarcastic)

[Luigi193 @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:02PM]

Why is he wearing...BROWN IN that PICTURE???

[chay @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:25PM]

To match his Zune?

[Wwhat @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:25PM]

Shows his power, nobody dares say anything :)

[Ellianth @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:56PM]

he accidently spilled some bleach on his only black turtleneck :S.

[vaporland @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:25PM]

it's black when the RDF is working...

[one1082 @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:02PM]

This is news?

[Rex @ Dec 3rd 2007 11:56PM]

No, this in Engadget.

[noot @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:06PM]

iGame? Apple's game console?

[Zak @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:16PM]

Nah, they tried that already with the Pippin.

[thethirdmoose @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:20PM]

They are going to bring back the pippin. It will be called the Apple iPippin and will combine the Apple TV and the Pippin. Also, they will buy nintendo. I am completely serious. George Bush told me. Also, Jesus told me.

[atrain @ Dec 4th 2007 12:35AM]

Look at Nintendo! Its the same white color they use, the same simple GUI's, etc. Now all we have to wait for is the aluminum WiiPro (Gives DVD playback, and gets closer to real HD).

Apple has no stake in the Console wars, and I don't see a reason that they would want to get involved. So far, Nintendo is the only company that doesn't loose money for each console they sell (Though I admit, I haven't checked the stats for quite a while now). They usually depend on the games to make a profit. Gaming is a tricky market to get into, and they have no reason to devote part of their software teams towards creating games.

But if they did, I bet it would be awesome, assuming they release an SDK in a timely fashion, and invite 3rd party developers. (Unlike the iPhone...)

[iRable @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:23PM]

hmmm how about a 13" ultra portable laptop with touch screen keyboard? Take off some room with them old keys instead of shirnking them? Maybe.....but I don't think it will happen you the so called "itablet" won't work in some perspective you must remember that something like an "itablet" needs a lot of processors and there would be no iSight for u will always be looking down and not straight foward idk but I think they are just going to release third party apps for iPhone and itouch :/ but nothing wrong with your ideas just don't try and tell people that they are facts.

[Donald @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:26PM]

I'm crossing my fingers for Beatles on iTunes + Yellow Submarine iPod

[Truegod @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:29PM]

Yeah! Setting my iCal event now. I assume 9 a.m. Cali. time, so 12 p.m. for us eastern timezone people.

[Todd @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:29PM]

In all seriousness, what would it take to get me excited about this year's MacWorld announcements:

- Cinema Display refresh (with lower prices!)
- Legit software downloads for iPhone via iTunes (in January)
- Apple tablet

An Apple designed GPS unit would be cool, too. Especially if the directions were spoken by "Albert".

[Robert @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:35PM]

i dnt see any point in getting excited over this with new ipods and a imac just out all thats left is a new mouse or cinema display.

[St. Stephen @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:38PM]

Robert you are obviously completely deranged and delusional. This event will forever change the course of human history.

[Robert @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:42PM]

of course i see it now i finally see the light

[Abuzar @ Dec 3rd 2007 8:04PM]

Ooh a new mouse! Can't wait for that.

[AlexP @ Dec 3rd 2007 8:15PM]

You forgot about the Macbook and Macbook Pro (integrate mighty mouse features to the pad please, and update that bloody keyboard so the keys match the ones on the newer ones).

[Robert @ Dec 4th 2007 1:28PM]

Actually i guess that a new mouse would be good my mighty mouse is a bit crap, im not to intrested if the new laptop is gunna be announced its not gunna be a replacement for a macbook anyway.

[Robert @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:44PM]

What is the one keynote worthy thing, none of this seems to be worthy.

Of course the last few years are hard to beat, maybe they will display the iGiveUp.

[CharlieX @ Dec 3rd 2007 5:56PM]

ZOMG! Steve Jobs! no way

[Bart @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:03PM]

I would really like to see a mid-range Mac. Something with decent specs and a dedicated graphics slot for under $1000. Something I can upgrade when I get more cash or down the road when I need something faster.

Of course, this would kill harm their HW profits down the road, but we can always dream.

[TJ @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:09PM]

ummm.... can engadget writers spell CALENDAR correctly?

[Jamie Marsden @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:11PM]

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/apple_unveils_new_product

Will we be seeing something along these lines? I can only hope so.

I admit with some degree of satisfaction that when this article was published last year, I showed it to my rather credulous mac-loving flatmate who read it literally and pronounced it to be awesome.

[barbecued zucchini @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:16PM]

Steve will be announcing the new one button keyboard, that clicks 10,000 - million times faster than a PC keyboard. Plus it is simple enough for the average mac user with only one key.

Plus he will announce "New" "revolutionary" "fast" iPhone functionality - multi-recipient SMS and the totally new Apple invention called MMS. He will also be setting up a new feature to mobile phones never before seen called "copy" and "paste" naturally way faster than on a PC.

[vdogg89 @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:54PM]

i just bought the ipod touch, with a 3 month return policy at Costco. Are they gonna refresh the ipod touches at all or should i anticipate a refresh

[adam Jackson @ Dec 3rd 2007 6:59PM]

Don't forget about the parties of Macworld..

http://upcoming.yahoo.com/tag/macworld/

[John @ Dec 3rd 2007 7:10PM]

Still, the ultimate two questions about whatever new products released will be:
1. Can it Crysis?
2. Will it blend?

[spence5624 @ Dec 3rd 2007 7:57PM]

My Friend works for apple and got a product protocol form Apple. Saying that in Janurary Apple will introduce new Macbooks And Macbook Pro. Everything will basically be the same as the ones out now but they will incorporate Apples Multitouch technology.

[Arno @ Dec 3rd 2007 9:53PM]

I want, no, I *need* a new MBP to be announced so I can finally buy myself a Mac.

[Speddy @ Dec 3rd 2007 10:13PM]

A Ultra-light macBook (think UMPC). Penryn-based Mac Pro (45nm Xeons..running at 3.4Ghz x 8 cores on 1600Mhz bus), with SAS drives, BluRay Superdrive, using new AMD-ATI Radeo 2900HD cards (Come on Apple, go to PCI 2.0 bus and ATI 3800HD cards). 16GB iPhone on 3G network a given (32GB iTouch would be nice...and up the iPod Nano's to 16GB). Updated Xserve and RAID would be nice...like support for iSCSI and SAS drives.

But really. Apple likes this "Wait, one more thing" drama but it hurts their bottom line. Too many folks put off buying till after the show. And even then, things don't ship till February or March. Look at Office 2008 for the Mac...and the dreaded coming of Adobe's CS4 suite.