Apple (News - Alert), Inc. is well-known for keeping its cards close to its chest till the last moment. So, it has become a favorite pastime of industry analysts to guess what the company might unveil at important events like Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and annual Macworld expo in San Francisco. This year rumors has it that Apple might roll out an ultra-slim laptop computer and online movie rentals at Macworld (Jan. 14-18, 2008).

 

Analysts are expecting a computer half as thick as Apple's current MacBook lineup, but using flash memory chips like those found in its iPod music players rather than a hard drive, Reuters said in a recent report. Laptops have been a significant source of revenue for Apple; the company recently reported that it sold 1.34 million MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops during the fourth quarter of its fiscal year ended last September, up 37 percent from a year earlier.

 

“The energy seems to be around a smaller-form-factor laptop computer,” Forrester analyst Charles Golvin was quoted as saying in the Reuters report. “What I'm guessing we might see from Apple is something a little more recognizable as a MacBook device, as a derivative of a laptop or tablet rather than a cool new form factor that sits between laptop and mobile phone.”

 

Another announcement expected from Apple at Macworld is a service allowing users to download movies from Fox, Warner Bros and other studios through the iTunes store, a move that could shake up the $9 billion U.S. movie rental market, Reuters said.