Think About Design

iPhone, Let the speculation continue

As the iPhone rumor mill gets into full swing it's time to take our own look into the iPhone's design possibilities. If we are to believe some pundits, the design is set and released for production and my guess is that's pretty close to true. But, we really don't know for sure what it looks like or what its feature set will be.

Back in 1984 when the first Mac was rolled out by Apple; one word appeared on the screen "hello" and though I am relatively sure that they were not thinking phones in those days it would not be a surprise at all to see that same greeting on the screen of the first iPhone. Since those days Apple has evolved a philosophy of integration so that the user experience is one of ease and delight. While not perfect it has by and large delivered on that promise.

If you are not a Mac user then this little post may not ring the same for you as does the Mac loving world. In any case when the iPhone becomes a reality take the tour and you can see for yourself what all the fuss is about.

So here's my perception of what the iPhone could be.

• It's a phone duh!
• It's a ipod too, ok
• It will integrate with other applications and components of the Mac OS Leopard.
• I am expecting integration with iCal, Address Book, iPhoto, Mail and Bluetooth to name a few.
• WiFi, perhaps. Is surfing the web getting email practical on a small device.
• Mail is probably the most viable; witness the Blackberry usage.

The real mystery for me is where does a phone morph into some new type of device or is there yet another system in the mix, such as a notebook size device. Here is where we have to look at the history of Apple products. They probably won't try to do everything on the first pass. Make sure the thing works and then over time successive iterations improve on functionality, taking into account the user feedback.

If you have a theory feel free to leave a comment...

Apple Showtime

Here's a reverse engineered thought for you. We all, well us Mac lovers anyway, love to peek through the fence to see what Apple might unveil next. I just wonder if they aren't just as enthused to see how well we guess what's up. Notwithstanding the actual leaked details about up coming products. Whats your take?

Apple - Approaching Super Tuesday Sep. 12, 2006

What will we see on Tuesday? 

The Apple speculation never really ends it just hits high points around the announcement dates. While I cannot say for certain what Apple will roll out this Tuesday what I do know is what Apple has been telling us all along. What is that you may ask? Namely, that cool software and hardware go hand in hand and that they wish to produce TED-like [Technology, Entertainment, Design] products. Read it this way; Technology is the hardware/software component, Entertainment is the market and Design is the package. Certainly there are other segments of the market that are important and useful such as business software but the markets that Apple puts the spotlight on are, Photography, Audio, Video, Movies, Internet and Music; oh and you can also balance your checkbook. If you don't believe me go the Apple's website and look at the Menu items across the top of the page. I suppose now we should also add Telephony to the mix. Why would Apple, a computer company want to make a phone, aren't there about a bazillion cell phones on the market? Could it be that maybe they would like to incorporate some of the aforementioned entertainment packages with the fact that you can also make a call.

Will the iPhone come on Tuesday? I hope so but I have doubts; looks more like an 07 keynote thing to me. The updated iMac's are already out so it can't be that. iPod's updated sounds like a sure thing, maybe with some added  movie capability. The much rumored Movie store on iTunes wouldn't be too big a surprise although it may take a while for that medium to really take off. Another entertainment product would be the MacMini home theater concept. This one I am not sure about but could be part of the overall iLife or should we say eLife system. One thing to look for is some sort of connectivity and interface between all the components as in the Front Row project. Front Row could get another module I will call it Popcorn or perhaps Matinee.

On the Photo/Video front we will have to keep our eyes on Photokina which happens on the 26th of September. If you are not familiar with Photokina, it's the biggest Photography trade show and dwarfs anything we have here in the US. It's located in Cologne Germany and happens every two years. This year is the first time Apple has attended and it would be almost a given to see a big Aperture splash as well as some other new partnering in the photo market. Absolute sleeper prediction or wild guess; Apple announces the iPhone at Photokina due to it's superior phone/cam features. Hey the worst that can happen is that I am wrong :-)