Apple today continued its habit of making a big splash at the National Association of Braodcasters show. In the past, Apple has released major hardware and software at the Las Vegas show, including the 17-inch MacBook Pro at least year’s show, Final Cut Pro, Xsan, and Motion. Today’s show proved no exception, as Apple unveiled a slew of new and updated products. Perhaps more interesting than what Apple discussed at the show, though, is what wasn’t discussed.

Spoiled by the MacBook Pro announcement at last year’s NAB, there were some expectations of hardware updates for the MacBook or MacBook Pro. Major rumor sites had given few hints of new or updated products for the consumer market. Still, many were hoping for at least moderate revisions, such as Core2Duo speed bumps or realignment of the Mac mini and iMac pricing structure. Instead, there was virtually no mention of any of Apple’s major hardware lines.

One suggestion was that Apple would be announcing at least the option of a Blu-Ray drive in some of their machines. Apple has been a member of the Blu-Ray Disc Association since March 2005, and an announcement offering hardware to support the format would be of interest both to people attending NAB and to the more typical Mac user. Particularly with companies such as FastMac offering Blu-Ray upgrades for Macs, it appears there’s a market for at least the option of a Blu-Ray drive.

Despite Apple’s official backing of Blu-Ray, that decision was made prior to switching to Intel, an HD-DVD backer, and it seems there’s some momentum in the industry to head off a format war by simply using drives that support both formats. Our suspicion is that Apple is not only waiting for prices to come down to more reasonable levels, but also to be able to offer a drive that can handle CD, DVD, Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD, and possibly even write all formats. While Apple has taken stands in the past, such as with switching to USB and dropping floppies, it seems they want to hedge their bets on this one.

Filed under: Miscellaneous, Opinion