This week, a bunch of rumors have been circulating that Apple is preparing to offer an Unlimited subscription to iTunes on a yearly basis with hardware purchase.

Will we be clicking Subscribe anytime soon?

This past Tuesday, a report from Financial Times cited internal sources from within Apple claiming that the company is considering the option of subscription with a purchase of new hardware for the future. Similar to Nokia’s recent “Comes with Music”, a bundling of a one year subscription to their music store rolled into either hardware or service charges, thus appearing to the consumer as free. Theoretically, new iPod Touch or iPhone users could opt for this service for a premium charge- more likely free to iPhone purchasers and a fee for those who buy the iPod Touch. The idea would not only entice customers to use Apple’s iTunes but keep them with the Fair-Play DRM.

Now, this could be possible, but considering Jobs’ stance on subscription, it is probably unlikely. In April 2003, Apple introduced the iTunes Music Store, offering a pay-as-you go model- even allowing you to buy single tracks off an album. Steve Jobs has always been adamant against the subscription model. In the December 2003 issue of Rolling Stone, Jobs said:

While Jobs sometimes goes back on statements similar to these, besides the movie rentals, he has remained fairly consistent with the pay-as-you-go model in the 5 years since the introduction of the iTunes Store. With over 4 billion songs sold to date, the iTunes Store accounts for more than 70% of all digital music sales worldwide.

Even beyond the large success of the iTunes Store, while the Unlimited iTunes Music model might not be a bad idea both for Apple and iTunes, it will not happen- at least not in the near future. Until we see a successful subscription model come out, or even the success of the Nokia “Comes with Music” promotion, we can rest assured that Jobs and Co will remain selling tracks to own for years to come. Scratch this one off your rumor list.

With tomorrow’s iPhone SDK Road Map announcement, we should expect to have most of our questions about the next stage in developing for the iPhone answered. Prior to the announcement, I would like to make a few last minute predictions about things we might see and hopes for things I would like to see.

The iPhone SDK Roadmap Event Invitation

In October of last year, October 17th to be exact, Apple quietly released that they were developing an iPhone SDK. This came to the relief of the community as the current “Web 2.0” iPhone SDK wasn’t quite doing the trick.

As we all know, late February came and went without any iPhone SDK announcement, however last week we got of word of the iPhone road map event. What I find particularly interesting about the announcement is the lack of definitive answers or explanations. On the invitation, pictured above, “iPhone Road Map” indicates this isn’t going to just be about an SDK. This should be our hint that this event is about the iPhone, not the SDK. Get the difference?

I think we will see applications singed by Apple and distributed through iTunes. I feel that the developers will have the option to set a price, but I hope that it isn’t required. As for the limitations imposed by Apple and the SDK, I also hope that developers aren’t severely limited by restrictions imposed by Apple. I’m sure Apple understands the potential of the iPhone SDK and won’t compromise features without good reasoning.

I sincerely wish that Apple is going to mention something about games on the iPhone and the iPod Touch! On Tuesday, Jobs said “[the] impending SDK release for the iPhone and iPod Touch [will] open the market for new opportunities for gaming”. Multi-touch is a highly innovative interface that has great potential for gaming. We will see games either coming from the iPhone SDK or only through Apple or selected developers (as the iPod Games currently are). Again, preferably free- because everyone loves free things and there are plenty of developers willing to develop games for donation only (or free).

On the invitation is a sign that says “Enterprise”. This probably means that the iPhone will become more Enterprise friendly via the SDK or a slight Software Update. Something as small as an update to allow Microsoft Exchange support to something larger- which can finally attract big business customers. Only Apple knows for sure.

If we see all of this happen tomorrow, I would be very happy. Honestly I feel that Apple is going to throw us a curve ball that may for be for the good, but also for the worse. Apple has been very protective of the iPhones security- which is a good thing. We can always wish, so while not quite as plausible, Apple does currently hold patents for mobile distribution which they may use. If you could browse and download the applications through iTunes, on the go- that would be awesome! Whatever comes from tomorrow, it will be for the better.

Right now, the iPhone is one of the best phones on the market. Apple wants to sell more than 10 million of them by the end of the year- but can the SDK bring these numbers?

With the announcement of this Thursdays iPhone SDK event in Cupertino, February has left us without any details being publicly available. No one quite knows why it is being delivered late- Jobs did announce it in October! But at this point, no one is counting the days- they just want the SDK!

Since that day in October, we have heard very little about the SDK, except for small rumblings and speculation about it’s distribution within iTunes. The iPhone SDK could mean big things for the iPhone- as the closed platform is the largest complaint with the iPhone, besides EDGE speeds. While Apple’s included applications are great, the iPhone lacks user customizability.

At WWDC 2007, Jobs revealed that iPhone applications could be developed through Safari- in “Web 2.0 Applications”. This was met with much disappointment from developers and consumers who wanted to take advantage of the full potential in the iPhone. Native Applications could be seal the deal for the iPhone. Lets not forget about the original Macintosh, introduced in January 1984. While far ahead of its time, the major flaw and ultimate result for poor sales was due to the lack of developers!

While the current situation with the iPhone is slightly different, developers are begging to develop for the iPhone and so far, Apple has kept the platform closed. By opening it up we might see a surge in iPhone sales as developers put the hardware to all kinds of creative uses. I hope to be pleasantly surprised with Thursdays announcement and sincerely hope that Apple has learned their lesson from the past. The iPhone has an unbelievable potential!

It has been a rough month for us- February has come and gone with no iPhone SDK. Last week, we saw an update to the aging Apple laptop line- with multi-touch! The SDK missed its late February target, announced by Jobs in October, but will be detailed this Thursday, March 6th in Cupertino. We should expect to see the applications approved by Apple and distributed through iTunes. As for theiLife, we have been slowly coming back to life after our two week absence. I have to apologize, but with one person writing the majority of content, it becomes hard to do daily when I have to do lots of other things. We will definitely see more content this week, again, sorry for the empty site.

What does all the recent breaks in Apple announcements, from Macworld to the model numbers to new laptops indicate about Apple in 2008?

Apple used to pride itself on its secrecy. To this date, they are one of the best examples of companies with excellent control over itself- however over the past year I have noticed more and more breaks in secrecy and more accurate predictions from the rumor mills. Could this be an indicator of the company beginning to get too large?

This leads me to question, what has happened to Apple’s extreme secrecy regarding new products? As Apple is gaining market share and growing as a company, it must be becoming harder to maintain the extremely tight security and structure within the company it once retained. As more rumor sites appear, it only adds fuel to the existing hype always surrounding Apple.

Looking back upon 2007, we saw countless photos of unreleased products that turned out to be the real thing. In context, for Apple, this is almost unheard of! A typical Apple ‘slip-up’ used to be something like an empty reference on their website or a change from within the Apple Store itself (like shipping times). I cannot honestly recall from years past, the last time I witnessed a product spy shot of an Apple product that turned out to be the real thing!

It could just be my memory failing me but the fact is 2007 saw more breaks in Apple secrecy than ever before. To me, this screams that something has changed within Apple. Maybe because it is getting bigger, maybe because the attention surrounding the company is at an all time high but- either way I don’t think it is a good sign. Apple is slipping on something that it used to have a tight grip on.

If it is true, it is clearly demonstrating that something within Apple has changed, and evidently Apple is having a hard time coping with it- because they must notice! This could be very early indications that Apple is growing into an uber large, Microsoft type company. While Apple’s growth is great for Apple users, investors and, the technology world- if Apple’s growth exceeds control, it could end up hurting the company in other more serious ways. Will we see new MacBooks today? Will the iPhone SDK be delayed until March?

As you might recall, I wrote a series of articles on major Macworld rumors in the week leading up to Macworld. You can review them here: MacBook, iTunes and iPhone.

You’ve heard the story of our Macworld experience. You’ve heard about the new products. Our Macworld 2008 coverage is sadly coming to an end- its time to see how I scored with the rumors.

I organized each rumor by a Verdict (brief explanation), What To Expect (actual prediction) and What is Possible (things that could happen). Now with the Keynote over, I’ll go back and grade myself. All new commentary in bold.
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For the coming days leading up to Macworld, I will be releasing a series of articles focused on specific rumors slated for Macworld 2008.

Todays article is about the rumored iPhone updates and enhancements.

On January 9th, 2007, Steve Jobs finally broke the rumors and announced the iPhone. Today, one day short of it’s first birthday, the world is wondering what the next iPhone has in store for us. There are many rumors regarding the iPhone at Macworld 2008- some predicting just a firmware update while others believe the introduction of the iPhone 2 is eminent. Somewhere in between the broad line of speculation lies the truth- we are definitely going to hear something about the iPhone next week.

The cell phone industry is extremely hard to keep on top of. From the four major carriers in the US all releasing products through a myriad of hardware companies, all running different firmware- some even Operating Systems. The iPhone has broken many of the molds of the cell phone industry but the competitors aren’t sleeping on it (like with the iPod). LG is offering arguably the closest competition to the iPhone, the LG Voyager, which is offered by Verizon Wireless.

All of this keeps extra pressure on Apple, who is already busy leading the market with the iPod and keeping the Macintosh (and it’s OS) shiny for those three percent of the world. The iPhone, while revolutionary- is now a year old, which is about mid-aged for a cellphone, and basically outdated for an iPod. While they can’t re-re invent the wheel, Apple can keep it’s consumers (and critics) happy by adding small refinements and refreshes. This can come in the form of firmware updates or hardware refreshes.

The upcoming February iPhone SDK will certainly please all, and we can begin to see the true power of the iPhone unfold as they progress. The upcoming 1.1.3 update looks promising (if the pictures are actually real). However, hardware wise- the iPhone could use 3G and a storage bump- to name a few. We should definitely see something pertaining to the iPhone at Macworld.

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For the coming days leading up to Macworld, I will be releasing a series of articles focused on specific rumors slated for Macworld 2008.

Todays article is about the rumored iTunes movie rental service.

Arguably the second biggest rumor lined up for Macworld this year, the iTunes Movie Rental service has been rumored to appear since full featured movies on iTunes became official. Presently, you can purchase approximately 1000 full length movies at prices ranging from $9.99~$14.99, including DRM. While this is great, the quality is nothing to write home about- nor is the price especially, versus a DVD. The DRM certainly doesn’t make the deal either.

Movies and TV Shows aren’t really comparable to music, in terms of their use. While Jobs advocates for the users owning their digital music, videos are different from music. You may watch a TV show once maybe, twice. You might watch a movie a few times more- or you might not. On the other hand, music you listen to time and time again. Currently, iTunes only allows for the outright purchase of media. I think for the future Apple is considering rentals as an option, certainly for video content.

It makes far more sense to be able to rent videos. Not only is it cheaper but, it is already a successful industry! However, the digital rental market is far from crowded. With its large content selection and huge user base, the iTunes Movie Rental Store already has potential. Rentals could allow Apple to solve the problems to a number of existing iTunes issues. First being the high prices of iTunes Movies and TV Shows! Secondly, it could allow users to get better quality movies, depending upon the technologies they use such as streaming. Finally, Apple could put a real use to the HD-ready AppleTV- watch and rent movies from your couch or even from your iPhone or iPod Touch!!

But, who knows specifically how Apple will handle it. They could have you download a the video, and have it expire (through DRM) within 24 hours (or set period of time) after its first play. Or they could stream it to you, but how would they judge the 24 hours? There is also speculation that the rentals could be for a 30 day time period. Whatever length, transferring large, potentially HD movies is tricky because everyone is on a different speed internet connection and, naturally some are faster than others. The major questions remains- which studios would first join? Many are speculating FOX, and of course, Disney. Lots of questions with little backing or answers. Macworld will tell.
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For the coming days leading up to Macworld, I will be releasing a series of articles focused on specific rumors slated for Macworld 2008.

Todays article is about the rumored ‘ultra-portable’ laptop.

Probably the biggest rumor going for Macworld this year has to be the ‘ultra-portable’ MacBook. The rumor has been floating around for years, resurfacing many times over the years! In 2003, ‘The Year of the Notebook’, Apple introduced a 12″ and 17″ PowerBook to diversify the lineup. Going way back, the PowerBook 2400 was considered a true ‘ultra-portable’ and included an external Floppy drive. Now more than ever, the rumor seems realistic except- Steve Jobs doesn’t like having of external optical drives.

I came this realization recently, which added to the skepticism I have surrounding the ‘ultra-portable’ without an optical drive. Jobs can be heard while introducing the iBook G3 comparing the new laptop to other competitors at the time. At minute 9:41, Steve says:

“Some people leave optical drives out of notebooks. We think people need optical drives in their notebooks, so we build them in.”

But, this doesn’t mean that the rumor is out- just because Jobs doesn’t like something does not mean that it won’t happen! Also, this was a couple of years ago now!

I think that in Macworld we will definitely see new laptops of some kind. Whether they are ‘ultra-portable’, I can’t say for sure. It is true, that if you look at (or open up) a MacBook Pro, you can see that almost a quarter of the surface area is taken up with the optical drive- and lets face it: physical media is on its way out! Just like Jobs cut ADB for USB or Floppy disks, we can be certain that in the future (maybe the near one) we will no longer have optical drives. However, at this point in time, I think an optional external optical drive isn’t ideal- and I think Apple agrees at this point in time, unless this new laptop is dirt cheap. ($599? $699? $799)?

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