Any entity that has passionate fans and followers is likely to have more than its fair share of Chicken Littles. Whether it be Disneyland fanatics fearing the changes coming to Uncle Walt’s Tom Sawyer Island (hello, Jack Sparrow), or the Apple faithful (mis)reading between the lines and fearing so-far non-existent doom and gloom, it happens everywhere.

The MacWorld Expo was without mention of upcoming Mac models when Steve Jobs presented the keynote. Instead, AppleTV and the upcoming iPhone got all the attention. Stepping back from the “reality distortion field,” all one has to do is realize, from a media standpoint, a new MacPro with faster processor (or more of them) or a MacBook with a larger hard drive would end up being mere footnotes to any article mentioning a brand new product bearing the famous Apple logo.

It makes sense to me, but to many, it is once again a signal of the End of Times, and Macs are surely doomed.

Have faith, brethren. The Mac will rise again. Apple has alot riding on the upcoming Mac OS X release that always drives new hardware sales, and they can’t sell that new hardware without having new hardware.

And after the iPhone introduction, you can bet the media will be lining up to RSVP for whatever “special product introduction” Apple presents next…

As a corporation, Apple has done much to generate both good karma and bad. In the early days, the name McIntosh was associated with a respected line of audio amplifiers. Apple Computers licensed the name for use on their new Macintosh computer, though one wonders – beyond both being “electronic” – the different name and target markets may have made such a name license not needed legally. But it certain was good for karma, and perhaps due to the legal action that happened years earlier when the Beatle’s Apple Record company filed suit for using the name “Apple.”

So here we are, decades later, with the occasional lawsuit from Apple for things that sound like “iPod” or look like an iMac and weird things happen. Apple Records is no more, at least not as we knew it. Recently, an agreement was made so Apple (formerly Apple Computer) now owns use of the company name Apple, and Apple Records is licensing use back from Apple.

Think about that. Between 1977 and 2007, “Apple” went from a name the computer company was getting sued for using (or, misusing based on earlier agreements), to being the name those who sued had to license to use.

It is, indeed, a very different time with very different realities than when the first Apple I rolled out of the garage assembly line. And because of this, the future is unpredictable based on past observations.

iPods pre-loaded with music? The Beatle’s in the iTunes Music Store? More music-related devices bearing the name “Apple” without fear of retribution from John, Paul, George and Ringo (or at least those who represent them)?

Indeed. 2007 should prove quite the interesting year when it comes to Apple and Music.