The event is in literally 2 hours as I write this.
My opinions on this and the iPad have been percolating their way through my brain this week. And its become clear tot he me that Apple have a clear competitor in the phone OS space in Windows Phone 7 series. And i don’t mean simply from a design prospective either. Clearly Microsoft Metro UI aesthetic is drop dead gorgeous.
But the Hub strategy is too. I don’t man from the point of a shared user files folder that all applications can access either. I mean from the perspective of being able to access all content from a particular place. So, all music, from pandora,spotify etc show up in the music hub right alongside my stored music library. All pictures show up in the Photos app, regardless of which app created them. All voice memos as well – I have two voice memo apps plus the default Apple one and each of them keep their apps in a separate location.
So that’s prediction number one – Media Hubs.
Prediction number two is iBooks. I firmly believe that Apple will extend its iBooks store to the iPhone and iPod Touch. This is because it makes sense. Now, if i suggested that iBooks was coming to Apple TV, this clearly would make no sense and you’d be laughing at me. But it does and you’re not.
Prediction 3 is that we will NOT see multitasking. Quite simply, this is down to the fact that we have no multitasking enabled for the iPad.
Prediction 4 is that we are going to have non-internet enabled tethering with the iPad. There can and will be things that you want to transfer and move around. I suppose one would want to tether thier iPod Touch to a 3G iPad. It may seem to be crazy talk, but then again perhaps not.
Prediction 5 is that we will have a mini One More Thing (I am going out on a limb here). I mentioned Windows Phone 7 series above because it is a serious attempt by Microsoft to stay relevant, not by strong arming phone companies, but by actually presenting a beautiful product. Microsoft are clearly capable of one-upping Apple on their home turf of intuitive UI and beautiful design. Apple want to once again try and pull ahead of Microsoft.
Indeed, not just Microsoft, but Google’s Nexus One and Android. The only way they an do that is by keeping ahead, and keeping ahead with something that you can only get at Apple while the competition recovers from shock.
Now, its certain that what we see today will not be the end of it. At WWDC in June, Steve is going to want to go even further. So we will get a taster of things to come.
Remember that last year, Apple pitched the iPhone as a gaming device. Arguably there are some great games in the iPhone App Store. But the iPad and Windows Phone 7 series have stolen that thunder. So the question is what will apple focus on this year? It will undoubtedly have to be apps related. Eric Schmitt said last year that the battle will be won or lot in the app stores and he is right.
So prediction 6: will we see Pages, Numbers and Keynote for the iPhone? Possible.
Its also going to be about what the new API offers developers.
So there will be plenty to look forward to in about an hour.
Update 9:18PDT/17:17BST: Brent Evans just asked:
Would be awesome don’t you think?
Random Musings 