The MacWorld Conference & Expo is an annual even for Apple where, historically, important announcements have been made. It’s where Steve released the iPhone on the world, and it’s where Bill Gates was boooood in 1997. At last years event Apple unveiled a plethora of products and services: the MacBook Air, iTunes Movie Rentals, an iPod Touch Software Update, iPhone Software Update, SDK announcement, and the Time Capsule.

Rumors are a-flutter this year, according to MacRumors.com, Apple is planning on unleashing Cinema Display Updates, focusing the entire MWSF ‘09 around Mac products, with Sir Steve Jobs expected to deliver the opening keynote on Tuesday, January 6th.

Apple’s Cinema Displays haven’t received any attention for nearly 2 years. All currently shipping Mac notebooks come with integrated iSight cameras, and the Cinema Displays do not, even though Apple stopped selling stand-alone iSight cameras in December of 2006.

Back in June rumors about an iSight HD briefly surfaced, but they are not likely. MacBlogz has an ongoing petition to try and gauge how many of our readers are waiting for new Cinema Displays or notebook updates. Rants focused around the insanity of how long it’s taking Apple to address these products are not hard to find. An ode titled “My Macbook Pro Woes” can be found here. Additionally, MacBlogz has been able to confirm the inclusion of a “Macbook-Air-Like” keyboard in the new Macbook Pro which is expected to be released October 14th.

It’s still unconfirmed whether Apple CEO Steve Jobs will be delivering his keynote speech at the event, but historically, he has been very consistent with big product announcements.

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President and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters, David Rehr, has described the digital transition as “the most significant advancement of television technology since color TV was introduced.” What better an opportunity for Apple to penetrate what is already an enormous market bursting at the seams with people in need of a Digital TV upgrade.

Apple has maintained the ability to revolutionize almost every product that they touch. In January of 2007 we were privy to the announcement of a little device called the iPhone, which subsequently changed the face of the entire mobile market, an industry that was seen as nearly impenetrable, and in-a-rut at the time.

A Digital Flat Panel LED TV would be a more than plausible venture that would undoubtedly stay in line with a new mysterious “product transition,” that Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer had recently mentioned. And it would also quiet down Greenpeace. Building the Apple TV into a standalone TV set could give consumers an unparalleled device. Of course, it would need to be done right. Apple currently gets a lot of slack for the Apple TV even being a product in existence. Some would say that a Mac mini would give the user full blown OS X, as well as everything the Mac mini can do. So what good is the Apple TV at all?

Either way, combining all of the aspects of the current Apple TV (or mac mini), built into to a physical screen enclosure, could provide consumers with a “best-of-both” worlds option.

The ability to stream all iTunes related media sans the additional box would differentiate Apple from competitors such as Netflix who has recently teamed up with hardware makers to accomplish a similar goal. Features such as a built-in Blu-Ray player would only sweeten the deal.

While some could consider an endeavor such as this to be a bit irrational, we must remember that without risk there is no reward. Moreover, Apple has more than adequate resources, and a hefty pile of cash to make this happen. The digital transition will happen…that is a fact. Thus the market for digital TVs will drastically increase. This could not be a better a fit for Apple to once again reinvent not only themselves but an entire industry. I could only hope to see a product such as this loom on the horizon.

Update: Thanx to reader Tom H. for the clarification about the term “cease-to-exist.” The correction is that all analog signals will be turned into digital signals. They won’t vanish.

If you guys have any other information that you think may be helpful for the digital switch, please share it in the comments below

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Their website states the following:

Although these “touch” enabled products may seem like an option to cure your desire to get fingerprints all over your display, they don’t seem worth the rather hefty price tags. The current 20″ iMac SlipCOVER System sells for $699 and $899 for the 24″ (that’s on top of your iMac’s initial cost). It may seem like companies and developers attempting to replicate Apple’s “multi-touch” technology within their own software/hardware are getting pretty close to the real thing, but they’re not.

No company is going to be able to replicate Apple’s revolutionary technology except for Apple, Inc. The simple matter is Apple’s attention to details at every step of the way. Responsiveness, usability, ease-of-use and the overall quest for that perfect “User Experience”; All of these factors coupled with genius marketing tactics are what play into Apple’s success with new technologies. Apple’s products don’t only create massive amounts of hype, they live up to all of it (people WANT Apple’s devices, and they love them months after they’ve owned them). Something that Apple’s competitors simply are not able to do or make happen. It’s nice to see fellow companies like Troll Touch try and replicate a sought after technology and experience, but their products seem to miss the mark.

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