Onxo: Zune Not Dead

Engadget has given us a late Friday excitement by way of a potential update to Zune.  We've always believed that Microsoft wouldn't just abandon Zune and relegate it to an app to simply sit on top of Windows Mobile 7.

Zune Touch?  Perhaps but we'll let you be the judge of that.

Well, it looks like it's time for some analysis and speculation as to what Redmond may be trying to pull here.  Please visit Onxo for updates.

Then come back to On Apple later this weekend and read up on how this may impact our believed mobile platform from Apple.

What's Next For Version 3 of the iPhone (Not the OS Iphone 3)

Well, it's been a couple of weeks and we've already received a second beta of the iPhone 3.0 OS.  There's a lot to be excited about once it's officially released this "summer".  We all know what that means.  There's been too many clues here and there about the release of the next version of iPhone.

We know about the push alert.  The changes in the gaming market.  From some of the rumor sites, we might be getting a few features that Apple did not discuss during their iPhone 3.0 preview presentation.  But what do you and I want to see in the next iPhone?

Personally, I'm not all that excited about MMS.  I don't see what's wrong with email attachments.  I suppose that easier said since most folks I deal with, family and friends, all have emails.

Now, with some of the features that aren't mentioned during the presentation will make me sound like a broken record but here they are:

• Battery Life.  I hope Apple will bring over that new 17" Macbook Pro battery tech.  Others have talked about this and I haven't seen a rumor site even dared speculate this new battery scheme is making its way over to the iPhone or iPod Touches.  Proportionally, we can see the new iPhone sport a 60% increase in battery life (the 17" Macbook Pro went from 5 hours to 8 hours of operation on a single charge).
• Video conferencing.  I don't mind if we are locked into Wi-Fi for the next couple of years until ATT builds out their G4 network.  But even on Wi-Fi, I love to see video iChat migrate over from the Mac OS.  It remains one of the mysteries as to why there is no Apple sanctioned chat app.  At first, I thought this was to give ATT a chance to rip mobile warriors with SMS revenues but as IM apps started appearing in the app store, that doesn't appear to be the case.  
• Battery Life.  Oh, I already mentioned that.  Dude, I know you all agree with me.  What's a mobile platform that requires you to charge it by 3 or 4pm?  
• iLife apps.  With multi-touch, Apple can really rock with their prosumer productive suite.  I'm sure they're working on this.  And I'm sure we'll see this eventually.  Perfection is Apple's middle name and with the online component of iWorks just introduced this year (and still in beta), we probably won't see this for a couple of years.  By then, Dataviz's app and perhaps MS Office should have been in the iTunes store.  Still, only Apple can implement productivity features in the unique way we all love.
• I know we all love to see Apple answer the netbook market but again as I've said on Onxo and On Apple, Apple's netbook won't be a netbook.  We believe there's a good chance we'll see something year, a much better chance of than when an army of Wall Street analysts had said an introduction was due in late 2008.  
• A more sophisticated implementation of multi-touch.  I can see a closer tie-in between Macs and the iPhone platform.  There are apps now that allow iPhone users to control the Mac.  Perhaps not with the iPhone OS but when Snow Leopard gets its moment in the spotlight, we might see something in this regard.  
• Batter...oh, I said it already. Oops.

Again, these are things I love to see in the next version of the iPhone hardware and unannounced OS features.  I have no knowledge that anything else might be introduced nor are these rumors.  Just our speculation.  What would you like to see in the next version of the iPhone?

Macbook Mini: Love It But Hope It's Not True

Is this Apple's netbook? I've always said On Apple will not traffic in rumors but I'm making an exception here. You'll understand why in a bit.

This image was part of a post from Gizmodo.

For weeks (months) now, tech pundits and bloggers have begged Apple to release a netbook. Wall Street have preached doom for Apple because of the opportunity Cupertino is missing in the netbook segment of the laptop market.

Steve Jobs said the iPhone and iPod Touch was Apple's answer to the netbook. More recently, Apple has stated that they've go ideas on where they want to go with their answer to the netbook but has not commited to anything.

Let me just say I hope it's not what we're seeing in the Gizmodo post. Honestly, it's beneath Apple's reputation as an innovator. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a market for Apple with a $900 laptop but not as an answer to the nebooks in the market.

I'm still of the opinion that Apple's answer to the netbook will not be a netbook.

According to the post, this laptop (that's right, it's a laptop, not a netbook) will sport an Intel Atom and NVidia 9400M. It will also have a 10" screen with generous resolutions. What this is is a Macbook Air mini. If that image and specs are real, it's likely an extension of the Macbook Air rather than Apple's answer to the netbook market. At $900, it satisfies folks who thought the 13" Macbook Air was too big to their liking.

Will folks be interested? Sure. I think there is a large market for a MBA mini. A big market. And for folks looking for a netbook answer from Apple, keep waiting. This ain't it.

This Is Why Rumors Are So Bad (But Delicious)

Apple rumors are like junk food. We all love it and it's so good when you're eating it. And so addictive. Well, that's what Apple rumors are like. While Apple rumors don't do any bodily harm, it hurts folks on other ways. Stock manipulation. Earnings.

This is why I don't traffic them but I do read them. Maybe that's the problem. We read them and some (not all) bloggers are willing to believe their "sources" just to feed us.

Now, the hottest rumor going around is by Boy Genius Report (sorry, you'll have to find the link yourself). A lot of it are simply stuff we already know based on past Apple launch schedules. June or July is when we'll see the next iPhone. We know that much. It's what else BGR spiced up their post with that has traveled around the world many times over by now.

• Slide-out keyboard - let's start with the most plausible of the two implausible rumors. It may happen as I've noted before that Apple may come out with just such a device to satisfy power users unwilling or unable to type on a screen keyboard. Such an iPhone device exists. As prototypes. As for these QWERTY iPhones actually becoming a product is highly improbable.
• $99 netbook - no freaking way. BGR states that it won't run Windows. However, it was purposely vague about it. I've long advocated and expected wireless providers to subsidize laptops or netbooks with wireless plans and this is likely another step in that direction, san an Apple netbook. We've said it before: Apple's answer to the netbook won't be just another netbook.

I wouldn't say that BGR has a bad track record. It has been right on more counts than most. It's just that it is willing to be fantastic with its posts when it should be able to sense BS when it sees it. Still, I'm an Apple rumor junkie.

Via Apple Gazette

iPhone Tether Is Coming

I don't have a network of secret Apple devotees who feed me information but I do want to put one issue to rest now. This one of the issues going around now is iPhone tethering.

According to Apple, tethering is build into iPhone 3.0 but it's up to individual wireless providers make the service available. Here in the US, there have much anticipation since the brief appearance of Netshare last year. Since then, tethering requires some jailbreaking and tinkering.

The news of tethering was not presented during the preview and it was only offered up by Apple execs during the Q and A session. So, what does it mean in the summer when the iPhone 3.0 is finally available?

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that when the new iPhones, service plans, and iPhone 3.0 are launched, tethering from ATT will be available as well. It may require a separate tethering plan. Tethering may also be available in some countries.

So you can bet that in June or July, Apple will make a big deal about it once the pricing and plans are finalized. Apple is not used to providing information half-baked so the answer they gave, essentially it's up to the providers, is the best one they can give at this time.

It would have been terrible to announce that tether will be available. There will be questions of when which will ultimately get out of control. As it is now, Apple rumors run rampant. Imagine availability of a tethering plan that goes out of whacked and leading to speculation about iPhone release dates.

So tethering is coming along with new rate plans and new iPhones. And it'll come this summer.

iPhone 3.0

Wow...a whole lot of nothing but there still was a "wow" factor. Well, first. A lot of the features we expect a modern mobile platform should have. Cut and paste. Some sort of background processes. File transfer (wireless or otherwise). Took a while for us to get them (officially, we still don't have access to them).

But that never came with the original iPhone. Nor did they come with iPhone 3G. So today's presentation of the iPhone 3.0 is really a lot of catching up.

At the same time, we were shown today of the potential of the iPhone platform because of Apple's unique perspective on mobile computing, attention to details, and design. For example, the new video player can distinguish between bandwidth connection to allow the content provider to deliver the best media for the user. It's personal touch and attention that has made iPhone and the iPod Touch so unique as a platform.

Instead of creating a mobile platform from a smartphone, Apple has created a mobile computing, and now gaming, platform from the ground up.

I'm sure a lot of what we were shown today, as far as the demos highlighted today are concerned, is only a small part of what developers will be able to bring to the market in the next few months. Summer is when iPhone 3.0 will be available. Imagine another three months after that, in six months, we will see incredible new apps and accessories that take advantage of the new features.

In fact, I am sure we'll see cool accessories when the next iPhone is launched.

The next couple of months is going to be very exciting. There will be a lot of rumors. Hopefully, we'll hear traditional iPod and iPhone accessory makers come out and make announcements on what they've got planned. I'm sure folks will be able to come up with more than just bluetooth speakers and glucose monitors.

Note: These are just random thoughts - still working through the features and possibilities. As I've said above, Apple gave us features that should have came with the original iPhone (this proves that we were all willing and paying beta testers) but they did dumped quite a bit on us today.

Preview of Apple's Preview of iPhone 3.0

We are less than 48 hours away from Apple's planned event to preview iPhone 3.0 to the media and bloggers at large. So, what are we expecting?

Honestly, there is no way to know with certainty. There are tons of rumors on the Internet and I'll let you sort those out yourselves. And anyone out there claiming to know what's going on is pulling a Jim Cramer.

What you're likely to read about iPhone 3.0, usually more than 12 hours out, are rumors and, likely, wish lists of what people to see in iPhone 3.0. Here's the problem. I want everything that I can imagine in iPhone 3.0. Everyone wants that. Every blogger, every iPhone user, and every Apple fan.

But that's not going to happen. One reason is a lot of features take time to develop, test, and deploy. Two, Apple isn't going to give us features unless it's critical to the success of the iPhone. And even with the complaints about certain lack of features (voice dialing and cut/paste quickly times to mind), the iPhone is still wildly successful.

So, let's be realistic on Tuesday (March 17) morning. I'm going to offer you a bit on how this is going to go down based on past iPhone events.

• iPhone Intro - how cool the iPhone is and generally the acceptance.
• We probably won't get iPhone sales numbers but we might get app downloads. One billion, anyone?
• Next we'll see the new features in iPhone 3.0. I can surmise what they might be but the features are no different from the wishlists from the other bloggers and tech journalists.
• We might also see different companies get shout-outs and get highlighted to come on stage to show how they've implemented the new features.
• We might get some geek talk on the underlying changes to the iPhone 3.0 and as it is related to Snow Leopard. This is something I am interested in. In particular, I would like to hear something new on battery efficiency.
• Then the new Apple CEO will come on stage and give us the new iPhone. Okay. Sorry. Scratch this one.

Now, my wish list:

• Cut And Paste
• Background app
• IM integration - folks do a lot of messaging. I really would like to see IM given an "always on" status with option to turn it off. Twitter integration would be terrific.
• Notification - stocks, weather, headlines, e-mails, mesages.
• Better use of the bar at the top of the screen. There is space for weather or stock updates.
• Additional MobileMe features.

So there you have it. The main focus I want from Apple on Tuesday is a focus on mobile life and computing beyond simple granting features and updates. Of all the products that Apple has truly come out with and improve to everyone's appreciate over the years is iLife. MobileMe was suppose to be that but we know how that has been. Let's hope Apple provides us with a mobile vision much like what Google is trying to develop.

iPhone integration with the Mac, MobileMe, and iTunes is great but Apple mobile warriors want more. Give us iMobile Life.