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No one can say with certainty what to expect from Apple Computer in 2003--no one outside of the immediate vicinity of Steve Jobs's office, anyway. But we've managed to find a dozen people willing to give it their best guess.

Macworld has pulled together contributing editors, industry observers, and Mac experts to peer into their flat-panel LCD crystal balls and tell us the answers to the following riddles:

• What will be Apple's most significant hardware product released in 2003?
  
  
• What will be the most significant Mac software product released in 2003?
  
  
• What will be the most important news to come from Apple this year?
  
  
• What will be the most significant thing to happen in the Mac market this year?
  
  

So what do our panelists foresee? A year filled with digital devices like PDAs and mobile phones, ongoing migration to Mac OS X, and an increasing market share for everybody's favorite platform. We only hope people in the immediate vicinity of Steve Jobs's office are taking notes.

Tasty Handhelds Expected

From Simon Jary, Macworld UK editor-in-chief:

Hardware: Definitely some new cool-looking digital device, but whether it will work outside of North America is another thing altogether. The rest will get bigger (or smaller) and better.

Software: 2003 will be the year that Adobe InDesign really goes head-to-head with QuarkXPress. Many people will switch to InDesign, but some XPress users will switch to PC. Apple will have learned its lesson, and will offer an upgrade fee for Mac OS X 10.3. More people will ditch .Mac when their fees rise to $99, so Apple needs to offer better incentives.

Apple news: Relations with developers will get sticky, with Apple releasing more apps of its own.

Market news: Market share will rise, but not spectacularly. Apple really needs to keep a focus on its installed base--there's still too many users sticking with OS 9.

Says David Blatner, Macworld contributing editor:

Hardware: The Apple IPDA, based on the Palm desktop software but combining a 5GB hard drive, built-in 2-megapixel camera, easy integration with all the "I" apps, and featuring Microsoft Office X, Bluetooth, and a voice recorder.

Software: QuarkXPress 6, which runs only in OS X. But alas, it comes too late, as many companies will switch to InDesign in 2003.

Apple news: Apple buys Xerox.

Market news: Two major PC computer manufacturers go out of business, Apple's "Switch" campaign starts to show real results, enterprise users begin to switch because of the OS X's Unix core, and Apple market share goes up to 10 percent again.

From Henry Bortman, Macworld contributing editor:

Hardware: A Mac-controlled digital-video recorder--or maybe a digital photo album.

Software: A Web browser from Apple.

Apple news: Support for OS X on Intel processors.

Market news: The increased availability of Bluetooth-enabled hardware.

According to Christopher Breen, Macworld contributing editor:

Hardware: Venturing out on a very shaky limb, I might suggest another "I" device. The IPhone? The IPad?

Software: The next major iteration of OS X, offering greater integration with Apple's applications, the Web, and network and personal computing devices.

Apple news: The severing of past partnerships and formation of new, unexpected business alliances.

Market news: The long shadow of OS 9 will finally fade away. By year's end, the majority of Mac users will pilot Macs running OS X.

Jim Dalrymple, news director of MacCentral.com, says:

Hardware: Apple's most significant potential hardware release will surround what processor the company decides to go with in the future.

Software: QuarkXPress for OS X.

Apple news: What the company will do with HyperTransport interconnect technology.

Market news: Apple will finally start to see an increase in market share from all sources--education, stores, and enterprise.

Networking on Horizon

Forecast from Adam C. Engst, Macworld contributing editor:

Hardware: LCDs everywhere. Prices on smaller LCDs are falling through the floor, so I'd expect to see Apple finally retire the CRT for good in 2003. Plus, there are much-higher-resolution LCD monitors coming on the market that could give us 23-inch Cinema Displays with 3600-by-2400-pixel resolution. But full support for resolution independence will be important at that point, or else toolbar icons could be minuscule.

Software: It might be too early, but I think Apple will be building some peer-to-peer networking technologies into Mac OS X. Then, instead of having a central file server, you could have each machine on a network contributing disk space to decentralized file storage. You would no longer care where a file was, since all public files would seem to be local and would be gathered by Mac OS X from wherever on the network they actually were located. Plus, such technology could provide a way of backing up data invisibly in the background to this network storage area.

Apple news: Look for Apple to increase support for wireless technologies in Macs in 2003. I expect to see AirPort cards and base stations that support 802.11b, 802.11a, and perhaps even 802.11g. Apple might even build Bluetooth support onto every Macintosh motherboard to eliminate cables, and that might allow it to switch to wireless keyboards and mice.

Market news: Let's go for broke and call 2003 the year that Apple releases a cell phone, perhaps on its own or perhaps in conjunction with another manufacturer. Why bother? Cell phone interfaces are generally lousy, many don't work well with the Mac in terms of transferring data or acting as a conduit for Internet access, and people are willing to buy new, expensive cell phones that offer some interesting combination of features or form factor.

From Glenn Fleishman, columnist, Seattle Times:

Hardware: A quad-processor Power Mac and Xserve with 2-GHz PowerPC processors.

Software: IHub, a program that offers workflow tools for managing all kinds of digital inputs and outputs, from scanners, DV camcorders, and digital cameras to ink jet printers, digital video recorders, Web galleries, and other formats, replacing several stand-alone, nonintegrated programs.

Apple news: Apple's commitment to processors other than those from Motorola powering Macintosh systems, while still not opening the OS to commodity hardware.

Market news: The improvements for enterprise support in OS X 10.2 will cause an enormous increase in sales, especially of Titanium PowerBooks, to previously untouchable corporations.

Says Bruce Fraser, Macworld contributing editor:

Hardware: G5-powered Macs--but not in early 2003.

Software: I'm under NDA (but it will have something to do with processing pixels).

Apple news: The existence of a well-documented OS X developers' kit for peripherals vendors.

Market news: Macs that can't boot from OS 9.

Comments by Shawn King, Host of "Your Mac Life":

Hardware: Upgraded and redesigned Power Mac towers. They'll have a different look and a whole new motherboard.

Software: It will be a series of product upgrades--Final Cut Pro 4, ITunes 4, IMovie 3, and so forth--that will continue to extend Apple's industry lead in those sectors.

Apple news: Profit, profit, profit. The Apple Stores will start making buckets of money, and Apple will look healthier across the board. Wall Street will still ignore the company, though.

Market news: All of the above.

Ever Optimistic

Says Ted Landau, Macworld contributing editor:

Hardware: Either a much-enhanced IPod, or something totally new (perhaps a device that works with Apple's Inkwell software). In second place is the arrival of a G5 Mac. At the very least, there should be some new motherboard designs that help justify why Apple gave up on OS 9 booting.

Software: I expect Apple to release a much-enhanced AppleWorks and OS X 10.3. Both of these are at the top of my list. I'm also hopeful that QuarkXPress for OS X makes it out the door in 2003.

Apple news: Apple's "Switch" ads and other attempts to increase its market share finally pay off: Apple's market share will noticeably increase. OS X adoption will also accelerate.

Market news: Same as the Apple news.

Predicts Tom Negrino, Macworld contributing editor:

Hardware: More consumer gear: either a TiVo- or ReplayTV-like digital video recorder that lets you use your Mac as outboard storage, or an Apple-branded handheld that combines the functions of an IPod, cell phone, and PDA--possibly both, in partnership with other companies, such as Philips and Sony Ericsson.

Software: QuarkXPress for OS X. Toward the end of the year, possibly Microsoft Office 11.

Apple news: I have no good answer here.

Market news: OS X will become the platform of choice for people and companies looking for an alternative to the Microsoft hegemony, especially larger companies that didn't get on board the new Microsoft forced-upgrades licensing plans that took effect last autumn. As the companies that chose not to upgrade from Office 97 replace those desktops, they'll look increasingly to OS X as a credible alternative both on the desktop-application side and in the server arena.

From Stephan Somogyi, Macworld contributing editor:

Hardware: Most impressive Macintosh hardware will be if Apple ships something with an IBM 970 in it. I do, however, have high hopes for more digital-hub hardware, something with the coolness of the IPod but in a new genre. Perhaps an Apple personal video recorder? An Apple PDA looks more likely with the release of the Dell Axim, though it's unclear to me whether Apple would take the IPod in the direction of a PDA or whether it would want a stand-alone device.

Software: With the growing acceptance of OS X as a Unix platform, I expect to see more developers looking at the Mac as a platform in general, so we might see completely new apps appearing. Some of the more interesting growth in the Mac market is in the enterprise area with the apparent success of Xserve.

Apple news: Sustained profitability plus growth would be good.

Market news: Market-share growth beyond 4 to 5 percent worldwide, if Apple can pull it off. In addition, Apple needs to grow the OS X install base within the overall Mac market. Going past, say, the 50 percent mark would be quite noteworthy.

According to Franklin N. Tessler, Macworld contributing editor:

Hardware: I think that we'll see another very cool "digital lifestyle" device, perhaps a PDA and cell phone combo that syncs really nicely with the Mac.

Software: An OS X version of QuarkXPress.

Apple news: One of Apple's top three executives will leave the company.

Market news: Market share will show some growth late in the year.

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