The dust is about to settle on Macworld — without a major new product announcement to cause the consumer world to do cartwheels.

IDC analyst Richard Shim describes 2008’s event as one of the more modest Macworlds in recent years, as the implications of the announcements aren’t instant. Rather, the progress Apple is making will be felt gradually by the next couple of years, Shim explained.

“There wasn’t a surprise hit product like the iPhone. that year’s event in my mind is what I’ve been calling ‘fix-it’ Macworld. The enhancements Apple talked about applied to a number of common problems users have with various technology products,” Shim said.

Paving the Way for Digital Movie Rentals

At Macworld, Apple announced iTunes movie rentals featuring films from all the major movie studios, including 20th Century Fox, Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM, Lionsgate and New Line Cinema. Apple additionally unveiled all-new software for

Apple TV that allows movie fans to rent movies on the iTunes Store directly from their widescreen TV, and it lowered the price of Apple TV to $229.

“The movie rentals and Apple TV announcements plant a seed, but we have to wait for the plant to blossom. It takes day. They have made it a good experience in the sense that you don’t have to wait for the movie to finish downloading before you start watching it,” Shim said. “Apple is setting the stage for digital video distribution to become easier.”

Your Own Personal duration Capsule

Apple additionally introduced instance Capsule, a backup appliance that automatically and wirelessly backs up everything on one or more Macs running Leopard. date Capsule combines an 802.11n base station with a server-grade hard disk. Users plug it in, thereupon easily set up motorized wireless backup.

“Time Capsule is sort of like insurance, in…

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