Seybold San Francisco is invariably a big event for Apple Computer Inc (CI No 3,487), and the rumor this year is that perpetual interim CEO Steve Jobs will use his keynote to launch Apple’s next-generation business machine. The big selling point is a new logic board, code-named Sawtooth and based on the PowerPC G4 processor.
It’s an important step forward for Apple: the G4 uses a copper- based, 18 micron process, meaning potentially faster clock speeds (think 450MHz), lower voltage and better performance all round. But the Sawtooth project has apparently been plagued by delays, leading Apple to devise Yikes!, an interim plan to get G4s into existing Macintosh systems and play logic-board catch-up when Sawtooth matures. If Jobs does announce Yikes at Seybold, look for the Sawtooth launch at Macworld San Francisco in January 2000.
The beauty of that plan is that Sawtooth sales will count towards the first fiscal quarter of 2000, rather than the last quarter of 1999. Sources hint at price points around $1,599 for the G4-powered Sawtooth. In other Macintosh news, gossip site MacOSRumors reports that retailers have been promising shipment of the iBook consumer portable on September 26, 1999.
