Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is next week and as usual in both Apple fandom and the media, everyone is trying to predict what Apple is going to announce. I pay pretty close attention to Apple and have done so for the past 25 years so here are my predictions for what we’ll see at WWDC:
- New iPhone operating system, which we’ve already seen, will be given a ship date. I think we’ll also see some more new features demonstrated, including video.
- New iPhone hardware is also a given. We’ll see larger capacity models at 16GB and 32GB, video-capable camera which will also do higher resolution stills, and a compass to go with GPS (so it will know what direction you’re facing in addition to where you are). I don’t think we’ll see an FM transmitter or receiver, to cite another of the more common prediction. Form factor/design will get minor updates, nothing dramatic.
- iPhone ship date will be just before the release of the new iPhone software.
- OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, which has already been announced, will be reviewed and developers will get a close-to-final beta. I don’t think it will ship until the 4th quarter, probably September.
- The mythical iPod touch tablet, i.e. an iPod touch in a larger form like a tablet computer. Less confident about this, but if Apple does announce it, it will be just to show it so iPhone app developers can begin modifying their apps to work with the larger screen and form factor. We’d see a new version of the iPhone App development software.
- No new iMacs or Mac Pros or minis or AppleTV or iPods or Macbook Pros. We might see new aluminum Macbooks since the low-end white plastic Macbook now has better specs than the low-end aluminum Macbook at a lower price. That won’t last long.
- One More Thing: The keynote is being given by a team of Apple executives, but at the end one of them will say the now-infamous phrase “One More Thing.” Steve Jobs will walk out to thunderous applause from the audience and return to his duties at the company.
So that’s my list. How will I do? It’s anybody’s guess since Apple has a track record of doing the unexpected. But I feel like I’ve struck a middle ground between the extremes of predictions I’ve seen so far. Let me know what you think you’ll see.
Photo credit: Flickr.com user Steve - Boston,Ma. Used under a Creative Commons license.
I imagine some directional capability will be included within the iPhone’s 3.0 OS upgrade, since it’s set to include turn-by-turn directions. Of course, this would be limited to some degree, I imagine…
OSX is one heck of a platform, and it’ll be interesting to see what they have in store. Refusing to pay Apple’s inflated hardware prices, though, the closest I’ll ever get is a Hackintosh or messing around with a friend’s.
Doesn’t the current iPhone already have an FM radio? I recall seeing an app for it that allowed you to record radio on the phone. That was the one biggest draw for the iPhone over competitors IMHO.
I went with a Nokia smart phone personally, but I wouldn’t even have considered the iPhone without the recordable radio. Just like their computers, other phones have better features at a lower price in that market.
If they drop the radio, I think a lot less people would buy it. Actually, I think they should add AM; I don’t understand why everyone seems to want to provide only FM.
No it never had an FM radio. There are apps that allow you to play and record streaming radio over the Internet. I guess it’s a matter of opinion, but I think the iPhone has better features at a similar price. I can’t think of a Nokia smartphone with similar features at a lower price than $199.
Frankly, I think adding radio, AM or FM, would be a mistake. Those are dying forms of media and fewer and fewer people, especially in the younger demographics Apple is reaching, listen to them.
We shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that just because you or I prefer something is what the particularly profitable market segment wants.
By the way, no one does AM radio in these type of products because the AM frequencies would interfere with all the other radios: the cell phone radio, Wifi radio, bluetooth radio. Especially when they’re all crammed together in the small form factor.
A radio, both AM and FM, is a completely passive device. Given that the stations already exist, I don’t see how the radios could be a problem. AM is usually where the more intellectual and religious content is broadcasted. My guess is that is why AM radios aren’t very popular nowadays.
The antennae do create electromagnetic fields, which you can tell if you’ve ever heard the super-heterodyne whine from an unshielded AM radio.
AM won’t interfere with other broadband transmissions. AM is a long wavelength transmission in the KHz range. Even FM, which is closer as it is in the MHz range, is not a problem. Radio signals are all regulated, so really it should not be a problem.