Wednesday, April 7, 2010

iPhone 4.0: My speculation

Speculations are abound for the iPhone 4.0 Software Preview session tomorrow. Every tech enthusiast is out with his/her own wishlist and speculation.

And here's mine (in the order of importance)

1. MultiTasking: If I were to play poker, I am willing to go all-in on this one. My bet is that the next version of the OS will have complete/partial multi-tasking capabilities. Besides the fact that it's high time for Apple to get this sorted, here's my rationale.
a) More than the iPhone, the iPad needs multitasking. I can't imagine having a tablet where I can't chat and read an ebook at the same time. It just spoils the experience.
b) All along, Apple has walked away from MultiTasking on the grounds of reducing the overall performance and draining the battery life. Take a look at the iPad - the battery life is astounding. In-fact, the battery life is more than what Apple claims (10 hours). And typically Apple never underclaims. So my guess is that the iPad is designed to inherently support multitasking and the resulting battery life wouldn't be too far less than their claim.

2. Folders: This is basic. I need to save files (music/doc/pdf) on my device and be able to access it offline. Also finally the iPhone will now double-up as a USB device!

3. Integrated and Improved Mailbox: El Jobso himself replied to a fan email than an improved and integrated mailbox is coming soon.

4. Better facebook integration

5. Tethering: Well, this was promised way back and no word yet. And hopefully, they have an on-the-go no contract tethering plan.

In the past, on many occasions, the announcements have fallen short of expectations. However, with Android and WM7 catching up, it's time for Apple to extend the lead again. Honestly, if you look at the wishlist, Apple could have long done them. Their gameplan is simple: once the radical innovation is ready, innovate only as far as the competition pushes you. Pretty smart, huh!

And if all goes well, we'll also see a new Advertising Platform - iAd - being released morrow.


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