As any Mac enthusiast well knows, Macworld San Francisco opens tomorrow with Steve Jobs' keynote speech. Traditionally, this is where Steve announces Apple's next big thing. There has been chatter on all the rumor sites about what tomorrow will unveil, including iPods designed for video, new monitor designs, improved AirPort wireless networking stations, and speed-bumped machines. Some brave souls have even guessed that tomorrow we'll hear announcements about Apple's new PDA, or that OS X will now run on Intel chips.

My prediction: Steve Jobs will announce nothing. If he announces anything, it will be dinky, frivolous software announcements that very few people could care less about, and then follow up that disappointment with the announcement that Apple will be increasing their prices, and charging for iApps that were formerly free. As a result, the streets of San Francisco will run with blood.

All Mac enthusiasts know that the G4 towers are slower than dirt, that both the mobile machines and the towers are dying for new enclosures, that Apple's market share is slipping and so is their stock price. The former crown prince of innovation hasn't been pulling anything out of its hat for way too long; their last neat thing was the iPod, and that can only carry a company so far. Now they've let themselves get thrown onto the ropes again, and the only thing that's going to save them now is a one-two punch of innovative products and drastic measures. There have been reports for months of a build of OS X that runs on Intel chips; support issues be damned, release it. There have been rumors for years about tablet Macs, Mac PDAs, and all kinds of new Apple toys. Do something with them. For Christ's sake, Steve, do something. Your faithful are growing ever more irritated every day.

I predict that the rumors of 2003 being Apple's best year ever, innovation-wise, are all just smoke being blown up our collective behinds. C'mon, Steve. Prove me wrong.