Surprise, surprise-- there were virtually no surprises at Apple's annual shareholder meeting. There was certainly nothing as big as Jobs announcing that he was signing on as Apple's permanent CEO or anything; in fact, when asked about the possibility, he made it clear that he wasn't going to discuss the matter; according to a MacWEEK article, when a shareholder pressed him on the subject, Jobs replied, "If you would like me to do something else, just tell me." Of course, that thinly-veiled threat "horrified" the audience, who shouted, "No, no, no!" So apparently we can expect the status quo for a good long while. Which is, of course, just fine with us-- things feel more dramatic that way.

Instead of a permanent CEO, what the shareholders got was a smattering of hints about the future of Apple's product line and what Steve's got up his sleeve. The most telling statements had to do with portable computing, for which Apple now figures there are three markets, instead of just "consumer" and "professional." It breaks down like this: some people have money to burn, and they want a desktop machine shrunk down so they can lug it all over the world. That's presumably where high-end PowerBooks (like the current G3 Series and the upcoming Lombard) come in, with super-fast speeds, DVD video capability, fourteen-inch screens, and the like. Then there's the average computer-using consumer, who has different needs-- and a smaller budget. Enter P1, which Apple still hasn't publicly described. The third market, as Apple sees it, consists of "busy executives who just want to check e-mail while they're traveling." To target those buyers, Apple might consider creating a super-light, super-thin laptop that just acts as a communications station for execs on the go.

But the more astute viewers out there will notice something big missing from those three markets-- or, rather, something little. That's right, we're talking about handhelds. Steve was asked whether Apple had any plans to produce a "Newton-like" handheld PDA-type device, to which he responded that there were not. (That's directly condradictory to Apple's own promise to release a Mac OS-based handheld in 1999 back when they axed the Newton, by the way.) According to Steve, the demand for handhelds isn't big enough to warrant the development resources. "We've elected, for now, not to get into that business," he says. Okay-- so what about us Newton users who have been waiting patiently (well, okay, maybe not so patiently) for the promised Apple PDA? Here's the deal; Jobs all but confirmed the rumors that Apple will be sticking their logo on some version of a Palm handheld; furthermore, he mentioned that, yes, Apple has licensed some technology to Palm. Which means the Palm may get more Newton-like, at which point we at AtAT might finally be able to consider buying one. Real handwriting recognition, anyone?