A MacRumors post is suggesting that it’s high time for Apple [AAPL] to start rolling out its 2009 product refreshes, as well as any new items on the roadmap.
One of the things that Apple is now sensitive to is, of course, the Intel [INTC] product roadmap, particularly the CPU rollouts. As you’ve probably seen, the Nehalem CPUs have been making the rounds, and Apple has its several pallets’ worth of CPUs ready to go into something(s). The “something(s)” in question are most likely the Mac Pro line, which in the past has sported both the single quad-core Xeon and dual quad-core Xeon configurations. In fact, last year’s model is my favorite pro-level workstation, where I get a lot of heavy-duty work done.
But the iMac and Mac mini lines have been languishing as well. This is partly due to the upswing in portable computing device interest, such as notebooks, netbooks, smartphone, and mobile pads. Nevertheless, that deskbound computer is the mainstay of many households and businesses, and it would be folly to ignore those two markets, given that a lot of the computers currently deployed have missed a few refresh cycles over the past 2-3 years. A lot of people who have been postponing replacing their dying PCs are now starting to look around for value plays for their hard-earned money, and Apple machines have continued to demonstrate their remarkable ROI, resale value, and staying power, especially when compared against their Windows counterparts.
I’m not convinced that the proposed March 24, 2009 date is a firm date for product refresh announcements, as a media event. Since Macworld 2009′s disappointing lack of Mac Pro announcements, I think that an earlier rollout (without any unnecessary fanfare, even) would be a more palatable occurrence, in light of the current economic troubles; the consumer base may be more amenable to signs of company responsibility with regard to substance over style in the marketing/advertising areas. If last year’s Mac Pro rollouts are any indication, this makes more sense. 
