MacWorld 2008 Prediction

I haven't exactly been burning up this blog with my predictions as I have watched tech this year. However, I stand by my previous predictions regarding Apple's move into the TV/Movie market. I have been surprised that while I am seeing a lot of predictions about a new Apple TV with Blu-Ray and other features that I have not seen anyone predicting what I predict.

I predict that Apple TV will actually become a TV.

We recently got a new iMac and started experiencing the wonders of FrontRow. Within a couple of days our DVD player died from jealousy. So we spent a few days moving the iMac in front of the TV on the stand and using it to watch movies in our living room. What a joy to navigate with that wonderful little remote! Apple has revolutionized the cell phone business in the last six months because it has changed the way that people interact with their cell phone. I think they will do the same with TV. Just imagine a TV that you not only navigate with a simple remote but also that you can program like a computer. That is you can reorger your channels and organize them into favorites lists. Have user specific lists, download movie rentals and all this within the beauty of an Ives-designed piece of furniture!

While I am at it let me predict one other thing. Amazon recently introduced the ebook reader that I have been waiting for for 10 years. One big problem with it is that it looks like something designed 20 years ago. Really, I think that people want their future tech to look like the future not the past. Also, while they are trumpeting 20,000 titles, there are millions of books out in pdf and other formats that are in the public domain. I think that anything that is going to be successful needs to be able to read these things.

I predict that the subnotebook with the touchscreen that everyone is touting is going to have some special features to take on this sector of the market. It may even bring back the iBook name that was misteriously dropped several years ago when the MacBook came out.

So the countdown is on and we will see what Apple will do. One thing is sure, Uncle Steve hasn't run out of ideas yet!