Apple: 2007 most exciting year ever

Apple head honcho Steve Jobs predicts 2007 will be the company's most exciting year ever for new products.

As ever, Apple's mercurial mastermind refused to be drawn on what exactly those "new products" would be, but of course, we've got a few predictions of our own.

We all know iTV will make an appearance in the first three months of the year, bringing with it European iTunes movie downloads, but will it stream in Hi-Def?

We reckon Apple could use a super-fast next-gen Wi-Fi network to get HD content to the box, and there are already murmurs that new iMacs come packing next-gen wireless kit, although it's disabled in the current version of Apple's operating system.

Next up, everyone's favourite legend, the iPhone. The latest rumours suggest it'll come in both music phone and smartphone flavours, catering for both ends of Apple's customer spectrum.

It's a natural progression for the iPod, and with new products like Nokia's N95 showing just how much can be squeezed into a mobile package, maybe Apple can pull it off.

Lastly, there's the long awaited touch screen iPod. Apple's patented every kind of touch technology going, so it's natural to think they're gearing up to launch a widescreen, touch sensitive 'Pod.

It'd be the perfect companion to the iTunes movie store, but until that's launched worldwide, there's little point in Apple going ahead with the new iPod's launch.

Of course, Jobs could always drop a few more surprises on the Apple faithful. We wouldn't be at all surprised if a small-form portable Mac made an appearance next year, and then there's the possibility of a greater push into the living room, maybe with an all-singing, all-dancing wonder-remote?