What aces does Steve Jobs have up his sleeves this year? As everyone eagerly awaits his Macworld keynote, rumors on what could become this year’s “hit” never seize to appear. It has to be an amazing gadget that will take the tech world by storm and raise the numbers of Apple addicts, just like the iPhone did last year. Will he be able to make gadget fans count the days before it will become available in stores? Still remains to be seen, but if anyone can do it, Steve Jobs is the man.

The tech world is talking about Apple bringing iPhone’s “big brother” to the Macworld, the MacBook Air, an ultra-light extra-thin notebook which could feature an incorporated touch-screen technology, a LED display and probably a flash drive, but officials declined to comment, despite the screen pictures that have been circulating on the web, after an employee “accidentally” clicked the ‘Publish’ button.

How about the iPhone? Apple can’t just leave it aside, as customers demands started to pour in just months after its release. The announcement everyone awaits for is the step iPhone will make in the 3G world, as carriers around the globe already made 3G services available to their customers. Steve Jobs said Apple developers were working on that, but he did not give any specific details on a possible launch date. And that’s not all, as iPhone users expect a firmware upgrade to become available as soon as possible…and Macworld could be just the place for that.

So far, Apple is doing pretty well on the stock market, after the iPhone and iPod sales came to set the record straight on the gadget market, taking the company’s annual profit to $3 billion in 2007. In anticipation of the new products to be announced at Macworld, analysts estimate a boost in shares and a significant increase in revenue for Apple. 50,000 Apple fans are expected to attend the annual expo event, whose 24th edition will be held at the Moscone Center starting January 15.