It appears lately with Steve Jobs on medical leave, Apple Inc. is being slightly more open to the business world on their plans for the future. Some might guess this is in order to ease any worries investors may have with Jobs out of service. Tim Cook, filling in for Steve Jobs as of now, hinted recently to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., an investment group, that Apple is working on new iPhone handsets and pricing for them. Although this could be assumed by anyone, analyst Toni Sacconaghi (ranked top computer analyst by Institutional Investor magazine) met with Phil Schiller and Tim Cook earlier this week. Sacconaghi said Schiller has indicated that Apple has some “very exciting” plans for the iPhone THIS year and that the two seemed “confident” about Apple’s performance for this quarter.

Compared to how secretive the company used to be, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. claims that Tim Cook mentioned they are in the stage of netbook exploration, simply coming up with “ideas” at this point. Although there is no “imminent” plan for a release of a netbook by Apple, they see it as an “interesting opportunity.”

Analyst Toni Sacconaghi says he expects three things as of now. Apples stock will outperform expectations, the company will deliver new iPhones midyear 2009, and a new iMac desktop could very well be launched in March.

Two products that have been rumored updates for awhile include the Mac Mini and Apple TV. No news has yet appeared on when these could possibly be refreshed. Sacconaghi says Apple TV specifically is a product Apple is still excited about, but there are many “barriers” that need to be overcome, likely related to copyrights. It could very well be another product Apple released just a little before its time. Steve Jobs himself has even called the Apple TV a “hobby.”

So keep up to date at Equal Tech News throughout 2009 as possibilities fly of new iPhones this summer, iMacs this Spring, and Netbook rumors arise.  We’re excited to see if the analysts are right.

Source: Rocky Mountain News