WWDC approaches and I am getting antsy

WWDC is coming up soon and I’ve been keeping an eye on the iPhone rumors and cobbling together my own wish list of what the next iPhone model will have. I have seen some people question whether or not Apple will actually introduce a new iPhone model this summer. Some have even speculated that with Steve Jobs out on leave, no new iPhone models will be released until he returns. Personally, I think that’s pure and utter poppycock. Steve Jobs is an important asset at Apple, but I don’t think Apple will delay a product lunch for him – other leaders there still have a stock price to worry about and a CEO on leave doesn’t void their responsibility to stockholders. Besides, Apple has done a very good job, so far, preparing the market for the day that Steve Jobs is gone – the company has clearly survived a Macworld Expo without him, he’s been on leave now for several months and nothing has exploded at Apple HQ, and I’m sure WWDC will bring us new products and some good stuff about Snow Leopard.

Anyway, I ramble. When it comes to the next iPhone model, I think some things are no-brainers – Apple will need to add some things for the iPhone to remain competitive – while others are more dream items that would be cool to see. First, here’s what I think will definitely be included (rumor sources are linked to each):

*This is not an iPhone hardware enhancement but would be an AT&T network enhancement that would allow the iPhone to utilize existing bandwidth on their network for faster data speeds.

Of course, it will also be able to take advantage of all of the goodness that 3.0 will bring, including copy & paste, MMS, additional Bluetooth profiles and tethering, and a bunch of other features.

My personal wishlist of features that are unlikely to be added, but a girl can dream:

Automatic sound/vibrate mode profile switching based on location
iTunes synchronization via Wi-Fi
On-device podcast subscription management (within the iPod app)

What I’m most anxious for relative to the 3.0 firmware are the new apps that will come using the newly-available APIs. Come on, turn-by-turn GPS! I’ve found that I’ve stopped buying apps lately in a subconscious attempt to save my spending money for a GPS application that will probably cost around $100 or more – while this is pricey, I do expect it to be in line with GPS applications available for other mobile device platforms. And, I’m hoping that the developers will be smart enough to allow in-app purchases of updated maps rather than some sort of subscription service, which I think would be hard to bill for anyway given how the App Store operates.

I’ve also been thinking about the Palm Pre release scheduled for June 6. With the new iPhone model expected to be announced at WWDC on June 8, Palm is hard-pressed to find a good date. If they went later in the month, the new iPhone would probably still have the spotlight and Palm would be criticized for being “too late.” If they tried for the June 8 date as well, I think the iPhone would still garner most of the attention. Apparently, Palm was unable to release it any earlier, so June 6 is probably as good a date as any before the release of the next iPhone. They’ll at least get in a couple of good days of press coverage and they can boast of “beating” the new iPhone model out of the door, which may not be wise, but I’m sure some Palm exec will say that in some interview somewhere.

I’ve half-toyed with the idea of buying a Palm Pre just to review it and then returning it within Sprint’s return window. Aside from being tied to AT&T, I’m definitely not going for a CDMA device anytime soon. I will get more interested when an unlocked GSM version is available, though this will most likely come from an overseas source. I’ve got my eye on Expansys.com already.

Some exciting times are coming up soon! Woo hoo!

Social

Categories

My favorite sites

WWDC approaches and I am getting antsy

Share this:

Leave a Reply Cancel reply