It’s the weekend before the 2010 Apple World Wide Developer’s Conference, and Steve Jobs will open it as usual with some announcements. Here are my predictions.
New iPhone Hardware
The new iPhone has been leaked, so we expect a modified case style and a front facing camera. I believe the phone will be available for pre-order immediately, and delivery will start in late June. The new 640×960 screen will show 320×480 iPhone apps not in a mere pixel-doubled mode, but the system parts of screens will be in full resolution, while only bitmap pictures will be pixeldoubled. Thus, text will be super sharp. I believe one thing not mentioned before is the new hardware will include near-field RF that will allow things like in-store purchases with a wave of the device at a point of sale terminal.
iPhone OS 4.0
Steve has previewed, and developers have already obtained a beta of iPhone OS 4.0. I believe we will see some new things in the software other than what has already been announced. I believe we will see iChat on the iPhone, that will interoperate with iChat on other phones, the iPad, and the Mac. Like the Mac iChat, it will interoperate with Jabber to some extent. Will it interoperate with Skype and Google Voice? That’s iffy, but I believe we will see a new Skype that supports video chat. I believe the video chat will work on both 3G and WiFi, but the 3G will limit quality, and perhaps put a time limit on chats. I believe developers will get a iPhone OS 4.0 beta 5, and the final 4.0 will become available to all on the day the new iPhone is released.
iPhone OS 4.0 beta for iPad
I believe developers will get the first beta of OS 4.0 for the iPad. I believe a new SDK will become available with it, that allows development on all the iPhone OS devices. The SDK simulator will also be able to simulate the new 640×960 iPhone screen.
MobileMe gets Free
The MobileMe service will have a free level and a full level of membership. The free level allows things like sync of mail and calendars, and Find My iPhone, while the full level has more storage. Though the free version will allow all functions, you will need many gigabytes of storage to use all features fully, and that is what you will be able to purchase. You’ll want plenty of storage to hold your new new streaming movie and music collection, do file sharing, sync all your devices over the air, and do full iWork integration. There will be an updated MobileMe iDisk app that is universal for the iPad and iPhone. The current one is iPhone only.
File Sharing
As mentioned above, File Sharing will be extended. The current version of file sharing is lame, but you will be able to share much more easily with MobileMe, for free. You Mac can already mount your MobileMe iDisk, and due to new full device sync withy MobileMe, simply dragging a file to the right folder on your iDisk will send it to all your synced devices. Finally, you can easily transfer files to your devices, sync, and share iWork documents with ease, among your desktop computer, mobile devices, and the cloud.
Apple TV
As detailed in my previous article, I believe Apple will announce a One More Thing – a new model of Apple TV, which will replace the older one. This model will have an Apple A4 CPU and beefed up graphics. It will have HDMI in and out, and is made to connect between your current set top box and an HDTV. It will pass through HD video to 1080p. It can also overlay onto this a 1024×768 or 960×640 display, and can show 1024×768, 960×640, 480p, 720p, or 1080p. It will have WiFi and possibly Ethernet and an iPod connector. It will run the iPhone OS. It will run all apps that work on the new iPhone or iPad. It will have Bluetooth that supports keyboard and mouse. It can play movies locally, stream from your desktop computer, and since it runs iPad apps, can do things like stream using the ABC and NetFlix apps. In addition to running apps, newer apps will be able to overlay their video on the passed through HDMI video, allowing apps to be widgets. Finally, you can run multiple apps in multiple windows on external video, allowing you to have multiple widgets over the video. There will be an IR blaster accessory available from Apple with a simple remote app that developers can replace with more sophisticated versions later.
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