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5 Predictions for Apple in 2007
Posted by
CowboyNeal
on Thu Dec 28, 2006 11:36 PM
from the gross-conjecture-and-speculation dept.
from the gross-conjecture-and-speculation dept.
Michael writes "2006 is coming to a close, and all anyone can think about (in regards to Apple, at least) is the upcoming Apple phone, but what happens next? What are we going to be salivating over and speculating about after Macworld? What changes are in store for Apple in 2007? No one knows for sure, but it sure is fun to take a guess."
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My prediction... (Score:5, Funny)
LK
My top 5 predictions for Apple (Score:5, Interesting)
5. Apple will break the 10% market share mark in new computer sales
4. The iPod will face it's first big competitor at Christmas 2007, from a vastly improved Zune
3. iPod will release a hard-drive free version of it's Video iPod, utilizing multiple flash memory cards to achieve 40GB+
2. Apple will release the iPhone, and it will be the must have phone of 2007
1. Apple will announce plans for a set-top box, integrating gaming, cable, and internet browsing
Re:My top 5 predictions for Apple (Score:5, Insightful)
Apple already did number 1, it was called "iTV" at WWDC. (You said "announce plans" and that's exactly what they did.)
How about this one: In the wake of an accounting scandal, Apple is found guilty corporately of fraud and is broken-up into an Computer Systems company and a media delivery company. It'd be ironic that after all these years Apple got broken for shady business practices before you-know-who.
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Re:My top 5 predictions for Apple (Score:5, Interesting)
I imagine this will eventually settle under a legal tarpulin of promises and the obligatory fine. Still, any cracks in the Apple empire are sure to be more and more exploited by a press hungry for material. This is all we are seeing; it only matters for Apple because people pretend Apple is a "good" company, unlike say, Marsh and McLennan...
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Re:My top 5 predictions for Apple (Score:4, Insightful)
I must admit to being pretty amazed to see the Apple stock option headline marked in red on the Drudge Report for three days running. As they say, no press is bad press, especially on the eve of some very highly anticipated product releases. Go Apple
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Re:My top 5 predictions for Apple (Score:4, Funny)
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Your its vs. it's confusion [fred.net] aside, they already announced this in 2006 [engadget.com].
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Wifi to plug the Zune Hole (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Wifi to plug the Zune Hole (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Can you give me anything about the iPod that's actually innovative, rather than "Same as competitor's product but looks sexier". They stole the menu system from Creative, evidenced by the $100 million license payout, and event their own patent for 'rotational user-interface' as been constantly rejected, suggesting prior art.
And no, looking sexier is not an innovation.
You're both right (Score:5, Insightful)
Heh, that's funny. There are lots of things to criticise about Apple, but they absolutely don't "just throw [latest gadget] into a product as a checkbox filler." One of the main criticism of iPods is that "they don't contain feature X found in many other mp3 players." Compared to players from Creative or even to the Zune, the iPod is underfeatured. That's because unless the feature makes some kind of sense and can be integrated into the "iPod experience" in a moderately non-confusing way, Apple won't do it.
Uhm... That's an entirely different question. Did Apple introduce anything new with the iPod? In a way, no. They took features away compared to other MP3 players, which is what grandparent was saying: Apple doesn't just throwin features left and right. What they did was make the iPod easy and efficient to use (especially compared to other players at the time).
So... you're not even contradicting what grandparent has said. You have a valid point (the iPod's features aren't that innovative), but it actually agrees with grandparent's point (Apple doesn't just add the latest fancy feature to the iPod whenever it gets the chance), as far as I can tell.
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Quick feature list (Score:3, Insightful)
1. the smaller, more expensive drives
2. touch wheel
3. click wheel
4. database frontend
5. an annoying hardware dock
6. shipping earbuds that aren't terrible
7. non-replacable batteries in an integrated form factor
8. No stop button (?)
9. No screen
10. Companion music store
11. DRM
12. Random-only play
13. Podcasting
14. Prioritizing physical size over storage space
They're like The Matrix. Revolutionary when it came out, copied to the point of being trit
Re:My top 5 predictions for Apple (Score:5, Funny)
6. Apple will reveal it has been recording phone calls made on the iPhone and that they're available for sale on iTunes for 99 cents.
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Dull (Score:3, Insightful)
7. Apple will license OS.X to generic PC manufacturers starting with Dull^W Dell.
Re:My top 5 predictions for Apple (Score:4, Funny)
That's just silly ! It wouldn't be a top 5 anymore, now would it ?
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Jail (Score:4, Funny)
Apple phone? Not me. (Score:2)
iLawyers (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:iLawyers (Score:4, Insightful)
Last time I looked, it was Dell that had an actual SEC investigation going on how their earnings were manipulated (known as "cooking the books" in the popular vernacular). Apple's options issues are a tempest in a teapot compared to those.
Or perhaps you mean the Hewlett-Packard hearings in Washington, and the possibility of jail time for their senior management due to their actions in nailing boardroom leakers.
So far as I know (and I'd be willing to bet as far as YOU know), Apple has investigated their options problems thoroughly, and is turning those results over to the SEC. To the best of my knowledge, the only indication of possible further troubles is due to a blizzard of rumors occurring, curiously enough, as Apple closes out the best calendar year in it's history, with a lot of pressure from various quarters to knock the stock down before the earnings are announced. Remember how the rumors surfaced about sales plummeting at the iTMS? Look how silly those rumors appear in the wake of the Christmas Day transaction volume problems at the iTMS.
I think that their product announcements on January 8th will easily eclipse any "stock scandals" in 2007, as will their earnings announcement the following week. And in any event, the magnitude of any impact of past options misbehavior will be shown on Friday (Dec 29), when Apple makes their restated earnings for the past several years public. All the responsible estimates of those changes indicate it will be a trivial change.
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#1 (Score:3, Funny)
a couple things I predict (Score:4, Funny)
Finalcut Pro will come out with a Windows version and Apple will lose a ton of the market share until...
Apple makes themselves compatible with AMD processors too and increases their market share until...
China demands repayment for all the invested/borrowed money we owe them and we try to pay it off by sueing thousands of Chinese companies for making inadaquite, bad quality products and they start world war 3 over it and we all nuke each other and have to live in caves and the Apple market share dips a little until they put in solar panels outside the caves for power so ppl can run their Macs again
I'll give 10:1 if that doesn't all happen! Any takers?
Windows Use Increasing Among Mac Users (Score:4, Insightful)
If gaming on the Mac has eroded to this lowly state, it can't be long until other markets are affected too. Developers of several popular multimedia/graphics/productivity tools that have maintained multiple code bases over the years may finally decide to kill off their Mac versions to cut costs, once armed with the knowledge that the average Mac user can simply be coerced into buying a copy of Windows and installing it via a Bootcamp-like utility. Before long, Apple may well have to break down and start to officially sell Macs with Windows pre-installed to remain competative in the PC market.
Eventually, being a "Mac user" could mean little more than "someone who uses the Mac OS for file management, internet activity and itunes, and uses Windows for everything else". Granted the integration may be tighter between the two OSes, but it'll still end up with Mac users paying royalties to Microsoft in the end... either for Windows, or the necessary APIs needed to ensure complete compatibility.
In a few years, Apple will be as generic a name brand as IBM, Dell or HP.
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Will the Mac game market suffer? Sure. The reason is simply: it's always been a really small market. People never bought Macs for gaming, but some Mac users wanted games. Porting games to Macs is a huge undertaking, so only few games got ported, and they always arrived late. Mac users only bought Mac games because they had no other choice (apart from a few truly great Mac games).
Obviously, being able to run Windows games on the Mac (and not having to wait for a crappy port a year later, if one is even plan
Re:Windows Use Increasing Among Mac Users (Score:4, Interesting)
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Harder and harder (Score:2, Insightful)
Parallels.... vs OSX native... (Score:2)
As a former longtime OS/2 user, I would always have preferred to run a native OS2 app than a windows app under os2. I realize parallels runs windows, however, by integrating in parallels developers could now decided t
Re:Parallels.... vs OSX native... (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple will implement the API and tie it with all the goodness of Mac OS X and none of the badness of Windows.
Linux will implement the API and tie it with all the goodness of
The term "Windows Compatable" will become much like "IBM Compatable" was in 1980s. Software will no longer be written for Microsoft Windows, but rather the new Windows API.
Microsoft will abandon Vista fairly quickly after nobody wants it. Mac and linux takes off.
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Re:Parallels.... vs OSX native... (Score:4, Insightful)
Which is precisely why there will always be obstacles to running Windows under OS X. I don't see Apple providing a Wine port, nor virtualization in Leopard. Can't have dedicated Mac Developers abandon coding under Cocoa and Carbon and let OS X die on the vine. The farthest Apple will go is to maybe provide a little "special" help to Parallels in the form of providing access to OS X engineers, but that's about it. They want -no- they NEED it to be inconvenient to run Windows on a Mac. An $80 charge before you can pirate windows onto your box is a pretty good level of inconvenience. $80 + a retail Windows license...even more convenient.
Oh wait, didn't we just have a bazillion threads about the Vista EULA forbidding users to run it under a VM. Why is that? Seriously, the answer is because it significantly simplifies any efforts to bypass the DRM technology in Vista. Just like Napster, Apple would find themselves behind contributory copyright infringement suits as soon as they provide virtualization tech and it is used to bypass DRM on HD or BluRay DVDs. So, this is reason #2 why Apple won't be selling bundled virtualization. "But that wouldn't make any sense to file a suit like that" you might say, to which I would have to reply "When has the MPAA ever been logical about filing lawsuits?".
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Where is the market for a full screen video iPod? (Score:4, Interesting)
"After years of speculation, the full screen video iPod will make it's debut just in time for the 07 holiday season sales push."
Can someone please explain to me what the market is for portable video players with builtin viewing screens, in general?
I see these at electronics stores and their appeal is completely lost on me.
When might I use such a device? Well, I suppose when I am somewhere without access to a computer or television, want to watch a video, and can devote my full attention to a little ~2.5" screen (so not when I'm driving). For me, that is never.
As far as I can tell the primary markets for these are:
1) People who spend a large amount of time on public or air transportation, but don't carry a laptop.
2) Young children of parents who are rich enough to buy them personal video viewing devices but don't already have viewing screens built into their SUVs.
Anyone? I can't even think if a reason to buy the existing video iPod, muchless a full screen model.
Video is overrated. BBC radio news, for example, is more informative than any broadcast or cable television news outlet in the U.S. Add in the daily hour long DemocracyNOW broadcast (or podcast) and you have more real, compelling news than you will find in a week of 24x7 Fox News. And you can listen those while you commute or work. Video monopolizes your brain. Not only that, but even old pre-1950 radio dramas are at least comparable in quality to the majority of sitcoms, dramas. and comedies on television today: i.e. they are crap.
Kill your television. Don't bring it with you in a little box.
"Can someone please explain..." (Score:5, Funny)
Glad to... you can't see video on a portable video player without a viewing screen. Hence the desire for a viewing screen.
Hope that helps you out, there.
Cheers,
-- Terry
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Re:Where is the market for a full screen video iPo (Score:5, Interesting)
Since I own a video iPod (80GB woot), I can state my reasons:
1) I have my entire photo collection with me at all times. No more pictures in my wallet.
2) I watch lastnight's Daily Show before work every morning.
3) Video podcasts.
4) I can share music videos with others on a drinking night.
And I haven't even mentioned my music until just now.
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5 things Apple should do in 2007 (Score:3, Interesting)
2. Acquire TiVO or offer similar service. Allow TiVO to download iTunes song and synch with iPod. Agains this will allow people to buy iTunes over broadband without using computer. Also, people can play their iTune songs on home stereo via DVR easily. This would fit in ther iTV or MacMini strategy quite well.
3. iPod remote: Make an iPod remote which looks like iPod nano. It can be synched with real iPod using a computer. Now user can truly do full control of their iPod using this remote control. My biggest problem of current generation of remotes is that I can't select a song, photo, video. I can only do play and then skip it if I don't like it. With a wheel and display, I can exactly select the song and then play. Such a remote should not cost more than 50/60 dollars.
4. External memory/battery module for iPod nano: Make an external memory/battery module for iPod which will connect to docking connector. That way, I can expand my iPod nano. How about 8 GB module for $99? Or a 48 hour battery module.
5. A camera module expansion.
"OSX and Windows, working together at last"? No. (Score:5, Insightful)
"I expect to see Parallels fully integrated into Leopard by the time the OS is released, giving us the first OS in history (to my knowledge anyway) that will allow us to seamlessly run our Windows, Mac, and even Linux programs from the same desktop."
This would be a user experience and customer support nightmare for Apple.
Not to mention it would be incredibly risky for Apple to acquire and bolt on a complex 3rd party application at this late stage in Leopard development.
The author of this article is clueless. Which isn't surprising, considering it is essentially a blog post on a mac fan site. He's just regurgitating rumours from Mac community forums in order to get page hits.
Nothing to see here. Move along.
All I want (Score:5, Interesting)
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does anyone have a clue why they supersized their whole laptop line? the only two things i can think of are 1) their market research suggested that people want bigger or 2) they need the space to squeeze in the
Ah, predictions... (Score:5, Insightful)
Eight Core Mac Pro- just so Apple can advertise the most powerful personal computer EVAR
New Cinema Displays with built in iSight, IR sensor, HDCP. 23" becomes 24", firewire hub goes away. Maybe a smaller one
New keyboard, with USB2.0 ports built into it (three years too late)
.Mac will morph into some kind of social networking thing. Myspace for Mac users. It should, but won't, be free
Windows versions of Safari and iChat A/V, which no one will use because they both kinda suck
Apple needs a mid-tower computer between the mini and the Pro. The iMac doesn't cut it. Steve's cube fetish will resurface here
A tablet Macbook would be great, as long as the voice and handwriting recognition work better than anything before
Expanding on the Mac brand (Score:4, Funny)
No "Office Killer" rumour this year? (Score:4, Interesting)
I predict Apple will go agressively after the business market, this upgrade cycle would be the perfect time to convince businesses to 'switch', especially if iWork had all 4 expected apps, robust compatibility with office documents, and the pricetag of (MacPro + Leopard + "iWorkPro") is significantly less than (Vista capable pc + Vista + Office 2007), which seems entirely possible. Throw in the expected 8-core MacPro, a bit of dual boot hype and garnish with XServes, and it's a tasty package.
As for the iPhone and widescreen video iPod, I wouldn't be at all surprised if these were actually one device not two. A 360 degree clamshell design that's a very scratch-resistant shuffle when closed, a phone when 180 degrees open and a widescreen video iPod when 360 degrees open sounds like a highly marketable device to me, especially if Apple leverage their close ties with flash memory producers to give it good video storage space without a hard drive. Nokia tried hard with the N93, but they ended up with a rubik cube designed by a committee. Apple product design head Jonathan Ive must have been looking at that thing and laughing.
Re:How about a two button mouse? (Score:5, Informative)
The touchpad works quite well overall, the two-finger scrolling is especially good IMO.
You can perform a right-click with the touchpad as well, but you have to turn on the feature first. Once it is on just have two fingers on the touchpad and click the button -- right click.
Overall the MacBook Pro is far and away the nicest notebook I have used, and I've used a lot of notebooks. My Toshiba Libretto and IBM ThinkPad are soon to be for sale.
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Re:How about a two button mouse? (Score:5, Informative)
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I was just talking to him about that. He's decided that one isn't enough - he needs at least two more. He's going to make Linux on PS3 his primary development platform.
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The fact that they don't do either of those things is the reason Apple hasn't tanked yet. Say it with me: "Apple is a hardware company."
I just don't get how everyone can hate MS so much, and look the other way at Apple's proprietary hardware and DRM.
It's a matter of degrees, really. Apple's DRM is about ten times
Re:Only thing I can predict about Apple... (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Predictions (Score:5, Insightful)
it wasn't so much the ipod replaced the walkman, but the
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