Everyone else is doing their 2009 and 2010 lists, so I figured I’d jump on the bandwagon. Here is my list of Apple predictions for 2010.
- Apple Tablet – This is pretty much a given, and hopefully we will hear something about it near the end of January. Will it be running the iPhone OS or OS X? I’m hoping for the latter, but all reports right now suggest it’ll still be the iPhone OS.
- Apple TV – The Apple TV as it is will die. Sure, it has a nice interface, but it is still a turd. Right now the Mac Mini is a better Apple TV than the Apple TV. I’m hoping we see something re-emerge from the ash that contains a DVD drive at a minimum and preferably a Blu-ray Disk player with increased storage with the possibility of RAID. With more people buying Macs and iPhones there is a need for a true media center device, Apple could take the ATV and turn it into exactly that.
- 4th Generation iPhone and iPhone OS 4.0 – This is another given that we’ll see in June. More storage, better camera, 802.11n, 1080p output and maybe even HD radio. Aside from that, we’ll probably see the iPhone hit T-Mobile US and Cellular One. Only if the new iPhone includes a revised chip could we see it on Sprint and Verizon. The 4.0 iPhone OS will accompany and will include at least one app that no one will use.
- MobileMe – The service is nice, but Apple could do a lot more with it, especially for the $99/year that it costs. If Apple doesn’t purchase a company or two this year to roll into the MobileMe services I’d be surprised.
- Virus – The first major virus will hit OS X. Sure, there have been viruses for OS X, but none of them have been anything major.
- Gaming – I’d expect to see more games coming out for the Mac platforms. Heck, we could even see Apple spends those billions to buy EA or Blizzard Activision.
- Market Share – Fueled by the iPhone, the Mac market share will continue to increase.
- 32″ iMac – Apple keeps going bigger, and the iMac will see a new size towards the end of the year. Hopefully without the issues seen with the current 27″ iMac.
I’m looking forward to seeing what 2010 holds for Apple. Hopefully at least some of my predictions will come true.