I'm breaking out my crystal ball and taking the collective stirrings on the net about Apple patents, the MacBook Air, iPhone and our old pal Newton and making my prediction about Apple's next big thing. Hold onto your hats, folks - this could be revolutionary.

Recently Steve Jobs remarked in an interview with the New York Times that eBook readers like the Amazon Kindle were flawed because

It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore. Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore.

Folks who follow the methods of Steve Jobs read this as a clear indicator that Apple has an eBook reader in the works. I agree with this assessment and couple it with other tidbits of information.

Apple has had a slate of recent patent applications that serve to further my prediction for Apple's next big thing. Among them are two of greatest importance. Electronista does a good job of describing the clamshell structure of a possible new iPhone. This may come to pass, but the application of this technology is not, in my opinion, limited to an iPhone device. When you couple the dual-sided touch-screen panels with a larger input device you have what amounts to a book-sized reader with multi-touch capability. Take a look at the images Apple included in the filing of the patent:



In a nutshell the patent uses a dual-sided input such that either side of the device could be used for tactile input. When closed it could act as a tablet and when open it could function as a notebook. Keep this in mind.

The problem with eBook reader so far has been they do not mimic the reality of reading books. They are bulky at best and even when thin they lack multiple functionality and are therefore limited to what they can do.

Now take into consideration the (some say) surprising success of the MacBook Air. It lacks some of the ports and embedded devices (DVD drive for example) that laptop computers are "supposed to have" and yet users of the new laptop are gushing about the experience of using the Air. This new form factor bodes well the development of a whole new category of machine - a revolution that Apple is certain to be first to bring to market.

Lastly consider the Newton. The Newton helped to create the market for PDA's but it never shook off bad press it had gotten for the handwriting recognition software it used. Back in 2004 Steve Jobs made mention of pride in a PDA they never shipped and some believe the Cupertino company never gave up hope on a PDA. Just today it is being reported that Apple has placed an employment position for a Handwriting Recognition Engineer. If you think Apple isn't mulling a new PDA you're nuts.

So onto my prediction then ...

Apple's next big thing is a laptop/tablet/PDA/book reader. Apple's next big thing will raise the bar on what we expect from a mobile computing platform.

Consider a multi-touch clamshell device that you open like a book and flip pages with your hand as though you were really flipping pages of a book. Imagine closing that book and writing on the cover with a stylus as you make notes. Imagine a software-only keyboard brought up by a single icon along a dock. Imagine using multi-touch for manipulating files. It goes on and on.

I have seen a lot of predictions for the iPhone clamshell and a lot of predictions for the dual-screen multi-sided input device as a laptop. But I think what is missing in these predictions is that Apple will want to redefine the whole landscape of expectations.

In a smaller form factor we might see a paperback sized eBook reader/tablet/PDA with browsing similar to the iPhone and in a larger version we would see a full-blown MacBook sans hardware input.

When this form factor comes into being I will be first in line to buy one.

What do you think? Possible? Probable? Let me know!

Labels: Amazon Kindle, Apple, eBook reader, iPhone, MacBook Air, multi-touch, Newton, patent, prediction, Steve Jobs

There is an incredible energy that comes from watching these videos of multi-touch displays in action. It's a sense of the future coming very, very soon. In the case of the iPhone it's about two months away.

Labels: multi-touch

Let's face it - we're addicted to TXTing. I know I am and I know many others who are as well. It's easy, allows for some time shift control and familiar because we all type and TXT our way through the day anyway.

Managing TXTing on a phone may be an olympic sport of thumb activity, but iPhone is about to change all that. I have read the many opinions which say "this is going to be the app that kills the iPhone because busy people need to use one hand ..." BLAH BLAH BLAH! This is going to be the app that thrills the iPhone users as they manage multiple sessions of TXTing as they might with their IM clients on a computer. This is the app that once Apple introduces support for Yahoo, Google Talk, AIM, ICQ, MSN (and whatever other acronymns are out there) will be unstoppable.

Predictive texting keyboard? Yowza. This is good stuff, folks! Multi-touch, multi-session and multi-cool. The stuffed shirts with knowing thumbs can keep the plastic buttons. The rest of us will be moving on to a better, much much cooler TXTing experience.

Labels: multi-touch, Predictive Keyboard, SMS, TXT

Wow. Jeff Han provides the best look at multiple control point touch screen interface in this truly amazing video. Enjoy!

Labels: multi-touch, screen

Apple's much touted multi-touch screen technology may not be the whiz-bang new kid on the block afterall.



Though the use of this technology in the form factor of the iPhone and within the OS X environment is harnessing it for something unseen before now, I also now have to wonder if large screen applications like this have already been in place how long before Apple redefines computers once more and gives us the ultimate tablet Mac.

Labels: Mac Tablet, multi-touch, screen

There are a lot of rumors and speculation in the blogosphere about the future of the video iPod with the upcoming iPhone release. Some are saying that the iPhone, once available, will cannibalize sales of the iPod. Others believe Apple will release a beefy version of the iPhone minus phone in order to offer a widescreen video iPod. I believe something entirely different because Apple is a company that, afterall, sloganized "Think Different".

[Note: Thank you to the great philosophers Calvin and Hobbes for verbing nouns like "slogan".]

The anticipated 6G video iPod should have a beefy 80GB or more of storage in order to allow the neediest video junkie the ability to download all the feature films, video podcasts and music videos they desire into the palm of their hand and watch in the brilliant resolution of an iPhone form factor. They should be doing so under OS X for handhelds (ala iPhone) and with multi-touch user interface.

Or should it?

What if it was instead the iPhone form factor with OS X for handhelds with less storage but wireless synching to Apple TV? What if the package still had WiFi and still allowed internet connectivity and all the IM ability of the Sony Milo?

The market for the iPhone and the video iPod are not the same. Though the ballyhooed iPhone is the convergence device, the widescreen iPod contained in the device and sixth generation Video iPod are - in my opinion - two different things.

What is the target market for the next generation iPod? I think it is likely we will see a device that does not require signing a two year expensive monthly contract. I think it is likely we will a device that incorporates the sexy aspects of the iPhone, bringing the iPod line into the OS X world. I think it is likely we will see Apple push the Apple TV as the hub device and a slimmed down (not beefed up) video iPod with less focus on storage and more focus on user experience.

Labels: Apple TV, iPhone, iPod, multi-touch, OS X, widescreen

One of the big concerns I have been reading about and discussing with people since the unveiling of the iPhone is the potential for that widescreen iPod to turn into a widescreen scratch attractant. Many folks, myself included, are quite simply used to tossing our phones in pockets, backbacks, car seats or purses. And all these places are just begging to scratch the multi-touch screen surface.

So although there are likely to be as many (if not more) accessories made for the iPhone as there are for the iPod, I think the aftermarket for protecting the device from wear and tear is going to be enormous.

So here's my idea (one of them):

Remember the old jelly bands people used to put on swatches to keep the face from banging into things? Well that wouldn't exactly work on an iPhone, but the concept of wrapping something around the upper and lower parts of the device where there is no screen is sound. What if you had what amounted to a jelly band on each end of the iPhone with a tear-off (velcro even?) cloth that would act to protect the screen and could even double as a cleaning cloth much like those for eyeglasses?

The "bands" at either end could of course be something other than those no longer trendy jelly bands - they could even be a more rigid material to match the sleekness of the unit. Point being there are thousands of people out there right now thinking of devices, accessories, programs and more for this beast.

I have several of them myself. Stay tuned.

Labels: accessory, multi-touch, widescreen

Apple has a habit of changing the way we do things. Steve Jobs in his keynote address made mention of three devices that Apple Inc. has brought to the market that have changed things forever: the mouse, the click wheel and now multi-touch.

There are of course concerns about any touch screen device such as smearing, smudging and scratching, but you can bet the world class engineering Apple has become known for will deliver a screen that is beyond anything else previously built. Though the demonstration doesn't give us a chance to actually use the multi-touch it did wow the crowd at MacWorld to see images being resized with the "pinch".

When I took a look at the so-called "smartphones" currently on the market and I watched how Jobs was seemlessly going from phone to web to music in his demonstration I realized this convergence is going to tear apart the competition.

Although the UI truly is revolutionary I think it will be the convergence rather than the multi-touch that will spawn sales. The UI seems to make it possible to have this device capable of so many things (another post on speculation of what may be yet to come will be written soon) that another phone simply cannot do. As I watched the keynote I went to send a TXT message to somebody and laughed as I realized that Apple has once again "gotten it" and will be providing yet another revolution: Apple Style.

Labels: convergence, iPhone, multi-touch, UI