Apple spokesman: No new products until 2009

It has been a long few, um, weeks since Apple last launched a new product — the new MacBooks. The Internet is already chomping at the bit for more. While it was always unlikely that Apple would hold any more events before its big MacWorld conference in January, rumors were starting to circulate of smaller product refreshes taking place in November. Those rumors now appear debunked, according to Macworld.

“Our holiday line-up is set,” Apple spokesman Bill Evans told the magazine. This reads a lot like, “There will be no iMac and Mac Mini updates in November — buy away.”

Those two product lines were involved in the rumors for a November 10 or 11 product refresh. While the iMac has been updated fairly recently (early 2008), the Mac Mini has not seen an update since 2007. And it basically has remained the same product since its launch in 2005. The biggest change it underwent was the transition to the Intel line of chips along with every other Apple computer.

Rumors of the Mac Mini’s death were swirling recently because of Apple’s seeming neglect of the product line. Instead, it may see a refresh — perhaps at MacWorld. Certainly, if Apple is going to keep the product around, it will probably upgrade from the integrated Intel graphic chips to the newer NVIDIA-made ones, which Apple is now putting in all of its notebook computers.

It looks like I can now open my new Apple TV without worrying that Apple is set to launch a killer Mac Mini/Apple TV hybrid next week. In the Apple world, it’s a rare commodity to be able to enjoy a product for while knowing that no update is imminent — for a few weeks, at least.