Iria

Apple Computer Inc. had no booth of its own at last week's massive annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It didn't need one. Apple's iPods were everywhere, the name of the company on myriad lips.

CEO Steve Jobs prefers to be the star of his own show and that's the plan Tuesday as he takes center stage at the Macworld Expo. Apple observers will be amazed if Jobs doesn't announce a riveting new product to keep up his company's steamrolling momentum.

Last year, Jobs used his keynote at the annual San Francisco conference to unveil the iPod shuffle — the company's first flash memory-based audio player — and the Mac mini, Apple's first foray in the affordable PC market.

On the eve of this year's Macworld, speculation revolved around Apple's planned move to microprocessors made by Intel Corp. The two companies announced a partnership in June, and many analysts expect Apple to consummate the deal with a product as early as Tuesday — six months ahead of schedule.

Whether the union delivers a more powerful Macintosh laptop or a Mac mini geared to fit more comfortably in the living room to display music, photos, video through a television remains to be seen.

But any new product could help buttress the rising fortunes of Apple, which has been on a revenue and stock market tear.
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Read More / Source: SFGate