What will Apple do after the iTablet?

[Kaido]

I was pondering this question with a buddy today. So Apple release the iTablet. Color magazines, textbooks with touch-flip functionality & zoom, giant movies, fun games, totally revolutionizes schools and learning, blah blah blah.

Then what?

Apple has a fabulous array of technology available:

1. Desktops (Mini, iMac, Mac Pro)
2. Laptops (Macbook, Macbook Pro, Air)
3. iPods (Shuffle, Nano, Classic, Touch)
4. Cell Phone (iPhone)
5. "Netbook" (iTablet)
6. Networking (Airport Extreme, Airport Express, Time Capsule)

So, uh - what next? I've got a computer at home, a laptop for on the go, a tablet for when I don't want my laptop on the go, an iPhone for when I don't want my tablet on the go, an iPod for when I want music for jogging but don't want to take my iPhone on the go...where does Apple go next?

I have a vague idea of a Home Server, something like a tricked-out Time Capsule with more drives to centrally hold your movies, sync your photos and music, and so on and so forth, but that seems like it'd be more of an extension of the Time Capsule and then merged with the MobileMe service.

Of course, they'll always keep upgrading their existing hardware - 4G iPhones with 8 megapixel cameras, 128gb iPod Touches with built-in LED micro-projectors, quad-core Mac Minis with 16 gigs of RAM, yada yada yada.

But where's my "WOW!"? Where's my spiffy new Apple product, my new, exciting release? What's down the pipe for Apple? I'm kinda drawing a blank here...Apple has done such a good job nailing down all of the entertainment & informational aspects of my life, that I can't really think of anything else they'd feasibly release after an iTablet. Between them and Google, my life has become pretty dang easy, technologically-speaking.

What do you think? ...what's next?

 

[mugs]

They could make the Apple TV an awesome device... but they probably won't.

 

[secretanchitman]

they should ditch the apple tv. make that interface only available on the mac mini. its PERFECT, because its an all in one machine that can do basically anything you want with it.

gosh, as for the next big thing...who knows. i'd love to see them innovate in something we've never even seen before!

 

[TangoJuliet]

Seriously, if they converted the apple tv into a fully functional DVR and offered a tivo like service for a fraction of the cost they would have a winner.

I would no longer need a DVD player hooked up to my TV and I wouldn't need to buy a BD player as they sell HD movies on itunes. I could also get rid of that oversized POS HD DVR from cablevision and just have that tiny apple tv hooked up to my soon to be 55" HD 1080p TV.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: TangoJuliet
Seriously, if they converted the apple tv into a fully functional DVR and offered a tivo like service for a fraction of the cost they would have a winner.

I would no longer need a DVD player hooked up to my TV and I wouldn't need to buy a BD player as they sell HD movies on itunes. I could also get rid of that oversized POS HD DVR from cablevision and just have that tiny apple tv hooked up to my soon to be 55" HD 1080p TV.

Never gonna happen - they SELL movies & TV shows, so letting you record them free would totally destory that business Plus, Apple likes "shiny" - if you have a crappy TV connection, record it on your AppleTV, and then transfer it to your iPod and get a fuzzy video, that's not quite as nice as a downconverted HD copy from the iTunes store, you know?

Apple will be Apple

 

[HardcoreRobot]

yep, no more new products, ever :/

 

[TangoJuliet]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: TangoJuliet
Seriously, if they converted the apple tv into a fully functional DVR and offered a tivo like service for a fraction of the cost they would have a winner.

I would no longer need a DVD player hooked up to my TV and I wouldn't need to buy a BD player as they sell HD movies on itunes. I could also get rid of that oversized POS HD DVR from cablevision and just have that tiny apple tv hooked up to my soon to be 55" HD 1080p TV.

Never gonna happen - they SELL movies & TV shows, so letting you record them free would totally destory that business Plus, Apple likes "shiny" - if you have a crappy TV connection, record it on your AppleTV, and then transfer it to your iPod and get a fuzzy video, that's not quite as nice as a downconverted HD copy from the iTunes store, you know?

Apple will be Apple

Honestly how many people do you know that rent/buy movies or tv shows off of itunes? I think I've downloaded 2 shows and that was because they were free. If they charged for the DVR service it would offset the $0.99 they are charging for a tv show.

Maybe for those that have a crappy TV connection they can subscribe to a "DVR+ service" where for say another $5 a month they can download x amount of shows per month or subscribe to 3 full seasons or whatnot.

As for the movies....by the time a new movie gets to showtime or HBO its way past being a new release. Apple would have no reason to worry about those rentals. I'd have to see how many old rentals they are selling to see if that would even be considered a factor.

 

[mmntech]

There's a rumour that Apple is going to get into HDTV business with units that are basically giant iPod Touches.
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2.../21/apple_branded_tvs/

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: TangoJuliet

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: TangoJuliet
Seriously, if they converted the apple tv into a fully functional DVR and offered a tivo like service for a fraction of the cost they would have a winner.

I would no longer need a DVD player hooked up to my TV and I wouldn't need to buy a BD player as they sell HD movies on itunes. I could also get rid of that oversized POS HD DVR from cablevision and just have that tiny apple tv hooked up to my soon to be 55" HD 1080p TV.

Never gonna happen - they SELL movies & TV shows, so letting you record them free would totally destory that business Plus, Apple likes "shiny" - if you have a crappy TV connection, record it on your AppleTV, and then transfer it to your iPod and get a fuzzy video, that's not quite as nice as a downconverted HD copy from the iTunes store, you know?

Apple will be Apple

Honestly how many people do you know that rent/buy movies or tv shows off of itunes? I think I've downloaded 2 shows and that was because they were free. If they charged for the DVR service it would offset the $0.99 they are charging for a tv show.

Maybe for those that have a crappy TV connection they can subscribe to a "DVR+ service" where for say another $5 a month they can download x amount of shows per month or subscribe to 3 full seasons or whatnot.

As for the movies....by the time a new movie gets to showtime or HBO its way past being a new release. Apple would have no reason to worry about those rentals. I'd have to see how many old rentals they are selling to see if that would even be considered a factor.

Don't get my wrong - I'm ALL for it - I just don't think Apple would endanger their income stream. Honestly the only people I know who buy movies/TV shows are older people (40+ usually). The younger crowd tends to understand alternative download methods

I love Tivo. I love Apple. I'd love to buy an Apple Tivo

 

[Pliablemoose]

An Apple branded TV & Tivo like device makes sense, HD standards are finally fairly stable, seems like a logical move for Apple.

I've always felt that TV's really lacked a well known manufacturer/reseller, Apple could grab a chunk of the market and do fairly well, high profit margins, instant brand recognition, they have content & a delivery system.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
An Apple branded TV & Tivo like device makes sense, HD standards are finally fairly stable, seems like a logical move for Apple.

I've always felt that TV's really lacked a well known manufacturer/reseller, Apple could grab a chunk of the market and do fairly well, high profit margins, instant brand recognition, they have content & a delivery system.

Not only that, but they could nuke the file playback too - instead of having a separate computer video player PLUS a DVR, or a combo unit with an...interesting GUI like Windows Media Center, they could do it all-in-one, with simplicity.

Yes, please!

 

[Chadder007]

Originally posted by: secretanchitman
they should ditch the apple tv. make that interface only available on the mac mini. its PERFECT, because its an all in one machine that can do basically anything you want with it.

gosh, as for the next big thing...who knows. i'd love to see them innovate in something we've never even seen before!

They should have given it HDMI also...

 

[nitromullet]

There are rumors that Apple might be moving into cloud computing. Nothing more specific than that:

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/...us-on-cloud-computing/

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
There are rumors that Apple might be moving into cloud computing. Nothing more specific than that:

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/...us-on-cloud-computing/

I hope so! I wrote a big, long post a few years ago (somewhere here on AT) on what I wanted to have happen in the future - basically an inter-connected living environment where you could access all of your data instantly & easily. Between Spotlight & 3G, I think it's starting to happen. Basically you needed:

+ Cloud Computing (MobileMe & Google Apps are in the beginning stages)
+ Pocket Device (iPhone)
+ Tablet or Ultra-portable Laptop (iTablet, Netbooks, Macbook Air)
+ Powerful home system (multi-core, multi-gigabyte workstation)
+ Central home server (movie streaming, music server, backups, etc.)

The iPhone is by far the closest thing so far to what I've pictured in my mind - location-specific information & help, Internet-anywhere with 3G, etc. It just needs to get FASTER! And tie into the house, Smart House-style - lights, A/C, locks, cameras, etc. Easy access to everything you own. I'll take that!

Of course, the whole thing falls apart if you lose power

 

[James Bond]

One market that I think Apple could do well in is auto entertainment.

I feel like we have these kickass cars, but almost NO cool technology in them. We've got GPS and Nav's... but come on. I want full media. I want to hop in my car, turn it on, have it recognize who I am and automatically put the temperature and radio to the right settings. My seat should automatically adjust. If I want to see the weather forecast, I just tap the weather button on the screen to get an up to date forecast, weather patterns, everything. I want a built in fucking browser in my car. I want statistics and diagnostics automatically uploaded to a site online that I can access from anywhere.

This brings me to my next point. We are beginning to develop all of this great personal/handheld technology, but there is still such a huge disconnect between devices. My home computer, phone, car, tablet, should all be synced all the time. This goes from basic profiles and usability stuff to media etc.

I could see Apple getting into the auto market and developing some sort of touch screen solution. I could also see them being one of the big names in cloud.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: nitromullet
There are rumors that Apple might be moving into cloud computing. Nothing more specific than that:

http://www.macrumors.com/2009/...us-on-cloud-computing/

I hope so! I wrote a big, long post a few years ago (somewhere here on AT) on what I wanted to have happen in the future - basically an inter-connected living environment where you could access all of your data instantly & easily. Between Spotlight & 3G, I think it's starting to happen. Basically you needed:

+ Cloud Computing (MobileMe & Google Apps are in the beginning stages)

They told us in 1995 that Java would do this for us, but we laughed and called them fools! Look who's laughing now - it took 15 years, and it generally doesn't involve Java, but the "future" is upon us! :laugh:

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: James Bond
One market that I think Apple could do well in is auto entertainment.

I feel like we have these kickass cars, but almost NO cool technology in them. We've got GPS and Nav's... but come on. I want full media. I want to hop in my car, turn it on, have it recognize who I am and automatically put the temperature and radio to the right settings. My seat should automatically adjust. If I want to see the weather forecast, I just tap the weather button on the screen to get an up to date forecast, weather patterns, everything. I want a built in fucking browser in my car. I want statistics and diagnostics automatically uploaded to a site online that I can access from anywhere.

This brings me to my next point. We are beginning to develop all of this great personal/handheld technology, but there is still such a huge disconnect between devices. My home computer, phone, car, tablet, should all be synced all the time. This goes from basic profiles and usability stuff to media etc.

I could see Apple getting into the auto market and developing some sort of touch screen solution. I could also see them being one of the big names in cloud.

YES!! That disconnect is quickly becoming the biggest problem - we have $300 netbooks, $99 iPhones, $299 desktop computers, but no easy way to connect them all. Apple has made the most progress in this area, imo - MobileMe, Wifi iTunes downloads, auto-iPhone sync, and so on.

What we really need are cheap methods of getting 3G/etc. everywhere. Like for your car, your phone, your boat, wherever - Internet access everywhere, but FASTER, so that you can stream all of your movies/music/documents/whatever to wherever you area, on whatever device you have.

I, for one, welcome our cloud-based overloads

 

[James Bond]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: James Bond
One market that I think Apple could do well in is auto entertainment.

I feel like we have these kickass cars, but almost NO cool technology in them. We've got GPS and Nav's... but come on. I want full media. I want to hop in my car, turn it on, have it recognize who I am and automatically put the temperature and radio to the right settings. My seat should automatically adjust. If I want to see the weather forecast, I just tap the weather button on the screen to get an up to date forecast, weather patterns, everything. I want a built in fucking browser in my car. I want statistics and diagnostics automatically uploaded to a site online that I can access from anywhere.

This brings me to my next point. We are beginning to develop all of this great personal/handheld technology, but there is still such a huge disconnect between devices. My home computer, phone, car, tablet, should all be synced all the time. This goes from basic profiles and usability stuff to media etc.

I could see Apple getting into the auto market and developing some sort of touch screen solution. I could also see them being one of the big names in cloud.

YES!! That disconnect is quickly becoming the biggest problem - we have $300 netbooks, $99 iPhones, $299 desktop computers, but no easy way to connect them all. Apple has made the most progress in this area, imo - MobileMe, Wifi iTunes downloads, auto-iPhone sync, and so on.

What we really need are cheap methods of getting 3G/etc. everywhere. Like for your car, your phone, your boat, wherever - Internet access everywhere, but FASTER, so that you can stream all of your movies/music/documents/whatever to wherever you area, on whatever device you have.

I, for one, welcome our cloud-based overloads

Yeah, I completely agree that the holdback right now is cheap, mobile broadband.

3G WWAN cards are a step in the right direction.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Text

I still think they are going to introduce a tivo like apple tv.....or even a tv with its own software/wifi that someone mentioned above.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: James Bond
One market that I think Apple could do well in is auto entertainment.

I feel like we have these kickass cars, but almost NO cool technology in them. We've got GPS and Nav's... but come on. I want full media. I want to hop in my car, turn it on, have it recognize who I am and automatically put the temperature and radio to the right settings. My seat should automatically adjust. If I want to see the weather forecast, I just tap the weather button on the screen to get an up to date forecast, weather patterns, everything. I want a built in fucking browser in my car. I want statistics and diagnostics automatically uploaded to a site online that I can access from anywhere.

This brings me to my next point. We are beginning to develop all of this great personal/handheld technology, but there is still such a huge disconnect between devices. My home computer, phone, car, tablet, should all be synced all the time. This goes from basic profiles and usability stuff to media etc.

I could see Apple getting into the auto market and developing some sort of touch screen solution. I could also see them being one of the big names in cloud.

I want to see more done with Bluetooth, I remember when it first came out, there was all this talk of the incredible things you could do with it, like getting into your car and all your settings taking over, or even having the car lock/unlock and all that when it detected your phone (some cars have that with your keyfob, but if I could carry one less thing with me...), you drive up to McDs to order some food and your payment info is stored on your cell phone and it 'talks' to McDonald's to automate the payment. You get home and a bluetooth transceiver in your mailbox detects your presence and turns on lights, TVs, stereos, all that.

I had something like that for a while on my macbook, a simple location script that would detect my cell phone and if it left proximity to my laptop, the screen would blacken and it would password lock. And then log me in automatically when I returned.

There are so many times that I say to myself, 'We are living in the future, right now' especially with the medical stuff (giving sight to the blind using stem cells, robotic arms that are fully articulated and sensitive, etc.) but then I look at the state of computers and think... really? I need a dual core system at 2GHz or higher to play back FLASH!?!?! Or how we are ultimately still using the same paradigms as we did 20, 30 years ago.

 

[MikeMike]

Originally posted by: mmntech
There's a rumour that Apple is going to get into HDTV business with units that are basically giant iPod Touches.
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2.../21/apple_branded_tvs/

This is honestly where i see apple in about 3 years... It has to happen, there is no way our TV's are going to stay as dumb as they are... accessing the internet on half the screen, tv on the other, music available, etc... and touchscreen interface if need be for smaller tv's, this will interface with your iTablet enabling you to download movies to the tablet, and stream direct to the TV, you will be able to set your TV from your iphone no problem, typing will be done with the iTablet.

IMO