All right, so Apple has certainly dominated the headlines in recent months with the iPhone 4, the unfortunate Antennagate scandal, a new iPod lineup and a resurrected Apple TV that hopes to shed its hobby status. That pretty much takes care of everything, except for a certain product category that doesn’t get much press these days.

Ahead of last week’s Apple event, some suggested Apple might release an iLife ’11 upgrade. There’s even a page devoted to that product over at Amazon, although I suppose it might be gone if Apple decides that such an announcement was premature.

Obviously, iLife is a suite of Mac software, so it had no place at an event focused on handheld gadgets. iTunes 10 for the Mac and PC is the hub for those gadgets, so it had to be upgraded too, although some might question the value of Ping in a crowded social networking segment.

So when iLife appears, and I would expect that’ll happen between now and early 2011, remember that it’s strictly a Mac application. There won’t be a Windows version, simply because that would make people less inclined to consider buying a Mac. That’s why you won’t see iWork for Windows either. So long as Apple wants the Mac to remain substantially different from a Windows box, cross-platform initiatives will be carefully limited.

Safari is there to expand the Web compatibility equation with Apple’s browser, iTunes for obvious commercial reasons, supporting Apple’s mobile devices. Same for QuickTime, so you get the picture.

Beyond iLife, there is the question whether Apple plans to release any further Mac hardware upgrades this year. The note-books had their day in the sun this past spring, though I suppose there might be reason to upgrade them yet again if there is any new Intel hardware to offer, or Apple opts to add AMD processors to the MacBook to deliver decent performance at an even lower price.

That leaves the MacBook Air, the computer that seems to have less and less value in light of the arrival of the iPad. It is small, cute, but underpowered. It would seem the MacBook serves the purpose of a light note-book that’s modestly affordable and powerful enough for most tasks other than heavy-duty gaming and 3D rendering. And even the gaming scores can deliver the promise of playable performance for many titles.

Of course, the standard MacBook also weighs 1.7 pounds more than the Air and isn’t quite as thin. However, it all comes down to sales. If Apple was moving the Air in sufficient quantities, there would be a reasonable incentive to deliver an upgrade, perhaps in the next few weeks. Even with mediocre sales, it wouldn’t cost much to upgrade the parts and perhaps add RAM. Maybe even make the RAM replaceable. I wonder who got the idea that it should be non-replaceable and barely sufficient.

And, of course, an AMD-based MacBook Air might permit Apple to pare the price to a more sensible level.

Come 2011, I expect the talk about Mac OS 10.7 to increase. Certainly Snow Leopard seems to have been quite successful from a retail standpoint, and it has been stable enough, although there have been several maintenance updates to fix various problems.

The big question, though, is how Apple plans to deal with the gaming explosion. Certainly the mobile platform is doing well, what with nearly 50,000 gaming titles now available for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and more developers in that industry coming on board.

The recent Snow Leopard Graphics update was designed, in large part, to deliver much better gaming scores on many Macs. Up till now, such apps haven’t done so well on the Mac platform. This is the area where Windows has traditionally been far superior. Even when a Windows game comes to the Mac, and sometimes it can take many months to happen, performance is apt to be subpar except for the most powerful Mac configurations. That doesn’t encourage people to buy the products, and so your favorite computing platform continues as a second class citizen.

But the success of games in Apple’s largest product segments is widely expected to produce a legendary “halo effect” that will encourage gaming companies to take the Mac seriously for once. That, of course, and the promise of better performance. Valve, the company that brought the Steam platform to the Mac a few months back, claims to be working with Apple, AMD and NVIDIA to boost the frame rates without preventing you from using the most advanced display features. Maybe it won’t quite match what you get on a Windows box, but few would complain about a 75% or 85% solution at an affordable price.

Of course, if Apple really wanted to break out in the gaming market, adding a gaming feature to the Apple TV would represent a tremendous threat to Sony, Nintendo and, of course, Microsoft. Some expected that to happen with the original product introduction, but that wouldn’t prevent a near-future software upgrade from Apple offering that solution.

But for now, get ready for some positive Mac discussions at long last. I hope.

The skeptics say that Apple Inc. has a lot of nerve, pushing out new products with the claims that they are game-changers, magical, insanely great and all that jazz. Certainly no company can hit a home run every single time, and, besides, there are competitors lining up to eat Apple’s lunch, including the dessert.

Contrast Apple’s egotistical behavior with that of Microsoft, which promises to imitate a competitor’s product next year or the year after that. It doesn’t seem to make sense to want to denigrate your own product, but if you can’t match or beat the competition, at least show your good intentions.

Now last week’s product announcements are, as usual a mixed bag. While the chatter is pretty positive about the new iPods and the attempt to take Apple TV beyond the “hobby” category, it seems that Apple’s efforts at social networking, by adding the Ping service to iTunes 10, are drawing criticisms. I mean, do you really need another Face-book or Twitter? Isn’t one of each quite enough for your busy life?

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On the whole, it appears that Apple is getting great marks for its fall musical event, where a new lineup of iPods debuted. And, despite using a guitar on the invitation (denoting only music), Apple also upgraded its favorite hobby product, the Apple TV.

It seems, as usual, that some members of the media have concerns about the gear Apple presented, and deeper concerns about some of the features and perhaps products that weren’t part of the agenda, such as a new iLife and perhaps an upgrade for the aging MacBook Air. Certainly there are valid points to raise, or at least they seem valid on the surface.

Take the fact that the new iPod nano doesn’t let you view movies, nor take videos. Why would Apple remove two perfectly useful features? Was it all a compromise to switch to a square case design, or was there a deeper purpose in their removal?

One area in which Apple excels is knowing not just what features to add, but which to omit, or perhaps to remove. So in this case, the powers that be decided that you didn’t need an iPod nano with a camcorder, or even with the ability to watch videos. In a sense, the nano is returning to its roots as it were, as a device primarily designed for listening rather than watching. The only thing you’re meant to watch is the touchscreen interface, or perhaps a photo from your library. Clearly Apple also deemed the presence of an FM radio and Nike+ to be useful.

Now I suppose it could be argued that Apple was greedy, and removed the other features strictly to save dollars, although having such a small form factor might have made it difficult to add a camera. Or maybe, just maybe, their market research indicated that the vast majority of customers really didn’t care about movies and making videos, so they went bye-bye. It might have been nice to see a lower price as well, but I am not about to guess what the production costs and profit margins might be.

The other issue is the touchscreen itself, although it looks real nice. You see, with physical controls, you can learn to reach inside your pocket and actually control the functions once you get a sense of where the buttons are situated. But with a touchscreen, you have to actually see the virtual buttons first. Now maybe I’m making too much of a deal over this, but it seems like a shortcoming.

In the end, if the iPod nano tanks in the marketplace, Apple’s decision will have been shown to be unwise. But it may also be a hot seller, which would vindicate Apple’s approach.

When it comes to the iPod touch, having an HD camcorder capability, and a front-facing camera for FaceTime, brings the product ever closer in concept to the iPhone — without the contract, as Steve Jobs says. But why not go the whole hog and add a real five megapixel camera, for sharp photos? I cannot imagine it would increase the bill of materials all that much, nor somehow cannibalize sales from the iPhone. It’s not as if the target markets really overlap all that much.

As far as the Apple TV is concerned, one complaint I’ve heard on several occasions is the fact that there’s no internal storage to speak of. I expect there’s enough memory to handle routine buffering ahead of video playback, but that’s all.

Every product has its compromises, and the price of a tiny form factor and super cheap price meant something had to go, and storage had to be at the top of the list. But since you’re meant to stream content from your Mac, PC, or the cloud, there’s nothing to be concerned about. Besides, once Apple’s gigantic new data center is online, it may push even more of your stuff to the cloud, even your iTunes stuff, although I rather suspect you’ll still be able to have backup storage on your computer.

The real question, though, is just how many people will adopt the Apple TV. It’s not as if people have been clamoring for yet another set-top box, and that may be one nasty fact that Google doesn’t quite comprehend as they try to generate interest for Google TV. I’m not altogether sure why you’d need one, whether built in to your TV, deployed as yet another set-top box, or as a software upgrade from your cable or satellite provider.

Clearly the Apple TV may not serve everyone’s needs. It appears to be useful as an alternate content device, not a replacement for your current products. Indeed, I wonder why I’d want to pay 99 cents for a TV show if I already have a DVR. Yeah, I suppose if I forget to record a show, I’m afforded a second chance to see it, or I have an opportunity to see it again. Of course, there are other streaming services available, even free ones if you can tolerate the ads. When it comes to movies, I think most needs are largely met by cable or satellite services, plus a video rental service.

But that doesn’t mean Apple TV is destined to fail. The previous version earned a profit for Apple, and, at $99, the new model is a fairly casual purchase, particularly for the holidays. Time will tell whether or not Apple can remove the hobby label.

You just know that when Apple holds a special event, everything will be coming up roses. There’s never bad news, even when products or features vanish from the lineup.

Ahead of the new product announcements at Apple’s special event this week, among the more fascinating numbers was the one indicating that some 120 million iOS devices have been sold, with some 230,000 new activations per day. During his presentation, Steve Jobs reminded the audience that other companies deliver seemingly impressive numbers that do not only reflect new activations, but upgrades from previous products..

At the same time, despite rumors to the contrary, Apple announced the release of iOS 4.1 with the iPhone 4 proximity sensor fix, along with fixes for Bluetooth and performance issues on the iPhone 3G. The new update also adds HDR photo support, to let you take pictures with greater dynamic range, the ability to upload HD video over Wi-Fi, TV show rentals and the introduction of the promised Game Center.

The update, for the iPhone and iPod touch, will appear next week.

Apple also announced the arrival of iOS 4.2 this November, which adds the latest and greatest version 4 features for the iPad, along with wireless printing, a long-requested feature for Apple’s mobile platform. The new feature adds a standard print function in apps that require printing, such as Pages. Another new feature is AirPlay, a variation on the AirTunes feature that also supports streaming video. iOS 4.2 will also work on the iPhone and iPod touch.

But the main event was the iPod and, so far, Apple has sold 275 million of them, and this year Apple touted all-new designs for the entire lineup as sales have been on the decline. The new iPod shuffle, a tiny square device, includes buttons at long last, Playlists, Genius mixes and the existing VoiceOver capability, so the gadget reads out what it’s playing. It’s hardly larger than your thumb, comes in five colors and offers 15 hours playtime on a single charge. The price for the lone 2GB configuration is $49.

The new iPod nano is also square, as shown in some of those speculative pictures, and it’s only slightly larger than the shuffle. Now it’s virtually all screen, using a multitouch feature in place of physical buttons, except for volume. It offers 24 hours audio playback per charge. The FM radio and Nike+ features from the previous version are retained, but it appears the camcorder feature is history. It sells for $149 for the 8GB version and $179 for the 16GB version.

In the past year, according to Jobs, the iPod touch has not only become the most popular model in the lineup, it has also become the number one portable game player on the planet. It outsells Nintendo and Sony combined, says Apple, and has a 50% global market share.

Unlike the new iPhone, the touch sports a curved rather than squared case. It adds the same Retina Display used on the iPhone 4, Apple’s A4 chip, 3-axis Gyro, and front and rear cameras. The front camera supports FaceTime, whereas the rear supports HD movie recording rather than just taking snapshots. Battery life is estimated at 40 hours, and the prices remain at $229 for the 8GB version, $299 for 32GB, and $399 64GB of storage.

The new iPods will be shipping next week.

Oh and one less thing: Steve Jobs said absolutely nothing about the legacy iPod classic, although it’s still listed at Apple’s site, at least for the time being.

In announcing the arrival of iTunes 10, Jobs introduced a new logo that ditches the CD, to observe the fact that digital music downloads will exceed the sale of CDs come next year. The key new feature is Ping, described as a music-based social network that lets you follow your favorite artists and participate in discussions with your online friends, following them in much the same way you follow people with Twitter. The Ping feature is also becoming available on the iPhone and iPod touch.

In his one more thing announcement, Steve amended it to be “One more hobby,” Apple TV’s successor. Introduced in September 2006, this attempt to bring the Apple experience to the living room has never been a huge hit, nor has any competitive product. Jobs said users love them, however. Existing customers reportedly have told Apple they want movies and TV shows, especially in HD, and they want to pay lower prices for content. They also don’t want a computer on their TV; they go to their widescreen TVs for entertainment. They also don’t want to manage storage of their stuff, nor be confronted with the task of syncing on their computer, because it’s too complicated for the average user.

Unlike all the speculation that it would look like an iPhone and would be renamed iTV, it’s still Apple TV, essentially a miniaturized version of the original at one quarter scale. It has a built-in power supply, with an HDMI connector, an Ethernet port, optical audio port and also sports 802.11n Wi-Fi. A slim aluminum remote comes with the new gadget, which will be available in four weeks for $99.

As far as content is concerned, the new Apple TV offers rentals, not purchases. All movies and TV shows will be stored in the cloud, although content can also br streamed from your computer. First-run HD movies rent for $4.99, the same day they come out on DVD and Blu-ray. To rent HD TV shows, it’ll cost you 99 cents, as predicted. ABC and Fox are first to leave the starting gate. Other networks will probably be forced to join up later on. There will also be support for Netflix streaming videos as part of the package.

All and all, Apple’s announcements appear to be a huge plus for the holiday season. Left unsaid is when a new version of the iLife suite might appear, and whether Apple will ever upgrade the aging MacBook Air.