(January 7, 2002) - What can you do today that will take you two hours, requires you to have access to the Esplanade Ballroom of San Francisco's Moscone Center, and is described--at www.apple.com--as "big...even by our standards"?

The answer: attend today's MacWorld keynote address by Mr Stephen Jobs.

Speculation is rife as to what has caused Apple to move up the Steve Jobs keynote so that it now opens the whole show this morning, and doubtless there are changes/updates to the iMac line afoot that may explain a great deal of the hype. But there's one widely recurring thought that will interest readers of WBT who read our item "Forget Laptops, Here Come Hiptops" back in September (Sept. 8, 2001 http://www.sys-con.com/wireless/news.cfm?id=52) about the Palo Alto startup Danger, Inc., and its much talked-about Hiptop wireless device: what if Apple were shortly to be snapping up Danger, Inc., and planning to unleash the Hiptop to a mass market?

The logic would be impeccable, says the buzz from San Francisco.

First and foremost, despite the notorious failure of the Newton, can a company as committed to Cool as Apple is really fail to offer its customers portable access to the mobile, digital world of Always-On? Second, Danger's "Hiptop" device isn't just another PDA, it's a permanently on-the-network messaging device capable of instant messaging, e-mail, and downloading Web pages. It also naturally features a phone, personal information management, entertainment applications and a camera accessory.

Third, and maybe most telling, one of the newest board members at Danger, Inc., is none other than Steve Wozniak, cofounder of...Apple Computer, Inc.

(Danger CEO Andy Rubin is also ex-Apple by the way.)

When "Woz" joined Danger's board just four weeks ago, he went on record as saying that "Danger embodies the excitement, enthusiasm, and passion that innovative technology is capable of producing. It reminds me of Apple's early days and the focus on building products easy enough for anyone to use."

Since it was also the first board position Wozniak had accepted in the past four years--half a century measured in "Wireless Time"--industry analysts naturally wondered at the time whether it betokened some impending dramatic shift in the fortunes of Danger, Inc., which already last October obtained second-round financing of $36 million to go with the $11 million already raised in start-up capital.

Of course, there may be no acquisition announcement this morning at "the World's Most Comprehensive Mac OS event" --Apple may be waiting till the CES opens in Las Vegas tomorrow. But in the meantime, anyone who dreams of being able to Go Wireless under the auspices of Steve Jobs and his team will be holding their breath...in case "Woz" has dramatically succeeded in wooing Apple to wireless.

http://www.danger.com