It's Showtime...

...and it's about FUCKING time too. Recently Apple sent out invitations to the press to attend a special keynote address by Steve "Reality Distortion Field" Jobs at the Paris Apple Expo. The invitations simply read "It's Showtime."

Apple has been slacking on product announcements for awhile now. Sure the Nano was cool and the transition to Intel was a much-appreciated speed boost (and one step closer to unifying personal computing), but we haven't seen anything truely exciting or ground-breaking from the Cupertino folks in a long time. iPod Hi-Fi? Nike+iPod? Fun, but please; these are toys.

To be fair, Josh does have a Hi-Fi and while I still think it's overpriced, it does sound pretty damn good, even on batteries. But the point is that nothing really new has come out of Apple for awhile. So when rumors started swirling about a special event on Sept. 12th, the Mac forums lit up with rampant speculation and wild claims. Everything from a Windows Media Center killer, to the iTunes Movie Store, to the fabled "widescreen iPod" and even the near mythical iPhone is being touted as the big announcement.

Well if you filter out all the craziness, most people agree that this is the most likely list of things being introduced:

• Updated iPod Nano - Up to 8GB, metal shell, multiple colors (wait...where have I seen this before?)
  
• iTunes Movie Store - Kinda self-explanatory, but own or rent?
  
• Core 2 Duo - Replacing of the Core Duos with Core 2 Duos in the iMac and MacBook lines
• 23" iMac - Better, faster, stronger
• Mac Mini Refresh - Core Solo getting the axe, Core Duos for both models
• Updated 5th gen iPods - Same price point, but with 40 and 80GB drives
• And one more thing...

Pretty good lineup for a special event. Just about everything seems to be revolving around making a Mac and an iPod the center of your music AND movie experience. But still, nothing revolutionary right?

Wrong.

On Sept. 5th, with no warning, annoucement, or fanfare (and completely surprising, well, EVERYONE), Apple released all new iMacs with Core 2 Duo processers, added a 24" iMac that is HD-capable (i.e. 1080p), reduced the price of the two smaller models, AND refreshed the Mac Mini line while keeping the same price point. Whoa. Oh and did I mention that the 24" iMac is now VESA-compliant? Meaning you can mount it on the wall like any modern plasma or LCD HDTV. And at 24", it's ready to be a prime HD-capable entertainment device.

It's interesting to note that every previous annoucement of new or updated Intel-based Macs was done at either a special event or a normal expor like MacWorld or WWDC. Which begs the question: What could possibly be happening on the 12th that an update of TWO entire computer lines, AND the introduction of a completely new model was deemed too minor to warrant sharing the stage with this unknown annoucement? Whatever it is, it's BIG. Like possibly the biggest thing Apple has done since, well possibly the iPod.

I mean when you have a special event to introduce a battery-powered boombox and an FM tuner and NOTHING ELSE, stiffing the new 24" iMac of anything less than the full Steve Jobs-black-turtleneck-and-jeans treatment means that something is happening that has been in the works for a long time. Something that could be incredible. Something that should have EVERY company in the ENTIRE digital entertainment business SCARED SHITLESS.