Jobs preparing to lift his veil of secrecy

Now that CES is over, Steve Jobs has the stage all to himself this week as the Macworld Expo gets underway (check out The Guardian's story on how Jobs preps for his major keynotes). As usual, the rumors are flying in anticipation of Jobs' keynote tomorrow morning. Fellow ZDNet blogger Jason O'Grady speculates that one of the highlights will be 42- and 50-inch plasma displays with built-in in Macs and compatible with Intel's Viiv platform. There's also speculation about Intel-based laptops and numerous content distribution deals, and ab updated iLife suite of consumer software and .Mac service. Maybe some iPod tweaks as well.

Tomorrow at 9:00 AM, Jobs will come on stage in his trademark blue jean outfit and demonstrate why he is one of the most admired CEOs by CEOs. A great deal of the mystique and Jobs' ability to create what has been called a "reality distortion field" is his command of the stage and ability to keep whatever Apple is planning to introduce a secret. In an age in which getting at proprietary information, such as product specs, is far easier, Jobs still keeps a lid on it, mostly through force of personality with the troops, suppliers, partners, etc and threats of legal action. Keeping the veil of secrecy yields benefits in terms of marketing and building up the suspense, but it would all be for naught if Apple introduced a bunch of shabby products.  As long as Jobs can continue to produce the hit products and maintain the cool factor of the brand, Apple will get its share. Microsoft, Sony, Creative Labs (check out iPod competitor Creative Zen Vision: M), Google, Yahoo and others can only hope to grab some of Jobs' mojo.

Stay tuned for our coverage tomorrow...