Apple WWDC Hopes
Google I/O focused the Google/Apple war on two major fronts: Android phones and Google TV. Android “Froyo” has some interesting new stuff like syncing via the cloud while Google TV tries to get around boxes by integration in televisions and other components. Both platforms were presented as open alternatives to Apple’s relatively closed environments.
Whether Google’s products succeed in the marketplace is yet to be determined, but Google did succeed in evangelizing and stealing some buzz away from Apple. But there’s a good chance this attention will be momentary, since WWDC starts June 7 — a mere weeks from now — beginning with a Steve-note.
Here’s what Apple could announce to regain the spotlight:
1) New iPhone 4G, with several features:
- Speed. This phone will contain similar custom chips to the iPad and be on par, if not faster. Using the iPad makes my iPhone feel slow, and the iPhone is sure to be pumped up to match.
- Front facing camera. This implies one big thing: video phone calls.
- Carrier. Some clarity on what the heck is going on between AT&T and Verizon. I have high hopes that Apple will keep AT&T but expand to Verizon.
- Lots of rumors regarding RFID in an iPhone, meaning using it for payment in lieu of a credit card, or interesting interaction between devices or objects (this is one area where Apple’s “closed” could be spun as a plus: security).
2) Subscription-based iTunes, music stored on the web. Clues: Apple purchase of LaLa, a large server farm, iTunes Genius. Apple could make activation really easy — if you use Genius, they already know what songs you own. Apple then makes them available via streaming over the web, starting now.
3) MobileMe: Free.
4) Apple TV. Really hope that the reason for few past updates is because Apple was working on something large. Will trot out the same ideas:
- Apple TV morphs into little more than a wireless video out dongle that routes video from an iPad or iPhone to the television.
- Apple TV opens up to the iPhone OS so you can run all your apps on the TV.
- Apple TV software is unified with Front Row, therefore runs on all Macs, and the Apple TV is folded into the Mac Mini. Apple TV is discontinued.
It’s very unlikely Apple will place its software into other company’s hardware, and the only way Apple TV would appear in a television proper would be if Apple made its own televisions, which doesn’t seem like something they’d ever do.
I’d say 1 is a no-brainer, 2 and 3 likely, and 4, less likely but probable.
“if you use Genius, they already know what songs you own”. No they don’t. At best they know which songs you have in your local iTunes library. Ownership’s a different thing entirely.
I guess I’m naively speaking for my own iTunes library, full of songs purchased from iTunes and ripped CDs, the vast majority I definitely own. Where do you get your music from?
Also, there was a service called “MediaMaster” that had people prove they had a physical copy of a CD first, and they would then get access to that music online: http://techcrunch.com/2007/04/06/mediamasters-joins-the-mp3com-2-crew/
Same as you. My point is that Apple could never use self-reported “I own this” information as the basis for a streaming service.
Alright, point taken. But even if streaming is just limited to stuff bought from iTunes, it would still be a great new service.
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