Apple’s September Event: My Predictions

In a few hours Apple’s annual September event will begin: read on for my last-minute predictions.

iPod touch/iPod classic:

A new iPod touch will be released.

Apple has released a new iPod touch at their annual September event every year for the past three years. I don’t see this changing anytime soon.

It will have a Retina display, front-facing camera for FaceTime calls, A4 chip, and gyroscope.

All of these are features new to the latest iPhone, the iPhone 4, announced back in June. Apple often carries features from the latest iPhone over to the iPod touch, which is always refreshed later in the year.

It won’t have a 5MP rear camera, it will either have one of lesser quality (think 3MP) or no rear camera at all.

The current iPod touch is too thin for a 5MP camera. The iPhone 4′s 5MP camera is 6.5mm thick, while the iPod touch width (at the edge, where it would most likely be placed) is only 6mm.

Some people speculate that Apple will “square off” the edges to make them thicker (they’re tapered in the current design), but even then, it may still not be thick enough. That 6mm measurement does not take into consideration the added bulk of the metal casing and the display. So in order to fit in a 5MP camera, Apple would probably also have to make it thicker.

I’m betting they won’t do this (I don’t think Apple has ever increased the thickness of an iPod, they usually make them thinner). So in order to fit in a rear facing camera, they’re going to have to pick one that’s not as thick (read: one of lesser quality). 3MP seems about right.

A new design is likely.

The iPod touch design hasn’t changed in two years. Apple likes to update the look of their products reasonably frequently: I would imagine it helps move sales. Also, its current design doesn’t really match with the design of all their other products: it has a shiny metal back, as opposed to brushed metal found on the current iPad, iPhone, iMac, MacBook Pro, etc.

If it’s going to have a rear camera, expect the edges to be more squared off – even a 3MP camera needs more space.

It will come in two storage sizes: 32GB and 64GB (same as the current iPod touch). And the iPod classic will stay for at least another year.

If Apple increases its storage capacity to 128GB, as some people believe they will, I think they would drop the iPod classic from the lineup. 160GB isn’t that much more than 128GB – not many people would go for the former option when the latter offers iOS and all the benefits that go with it.

However, I don’t think they’ll do this. I think the iPod classic will stay, at least for one more year, and the next generation iPod touch will have the same storage options as the current one (32GB & 64GB). It would actually make me jealous if there was an 128GB option – I have an iPhone 4 32GB and I find that that’s not actually enough for me.

iPod nano/iPod shuffle:

Apple will give the iPod shuffle a major overhaul, and introduce and entirely new model with a tiny 1.18″ by 1.18″ touchscreen.

Not many people like the current iPod shuffle: the player itself has no controls, and the only way to control it is by using headphones equipped with a remote. I like the fact that you can control it without actually having to unclip it from your belt (or wherever it is) but I think that there should be another way.

Enter the tiny Apple-stamped touchscreen that surfaced in Taiwan recently. It would not only fix the control problem, it would also give the user a way to actually see what song they were playing – no iPod shuffle has ever had a screen.

The iPod nano will stay, despite the fact that a lot of people think the tiny touchscreen iPod will replace it.

The current iPod nano has a 2.2″ diagonal widescreen display: which is a decent size and shape for watching videos. On the other hand, a postage-stamp sized 1.18″ square display isn’t. It’s too tiny (2.2″ is small enough) and is is the wrong aspect ratio.

I believe it will also offer more storage space – possibly 16GB and 32GB – as opposed to 4GB and 8GB (the two storage sizes I believe the touchscreen iPod shuffle will come in).

The new iPod won’t have the ability to play videos at all, and will be focused only on music, audio podcasts and audiobooks (as the current one is).

As mentioned before, a 1.18″ square display is too small to properly watch videos. In my opinion, it’s probably too small for doing anything other than playing music, audio podcasts and audiobooks: so that means no apps or games either.

iLife ’11/iWork ’11:

A new version of iLife will be introduced, called iLife ’11.

It’s been awhile since iLife has been updated: about 18 months, in fact. iLife ’09 was released at Macworld on January 27, last year. I think it’s about time Apple updated it.

iDVD will be included as part of iMovie, or offered as a separate download.

iDVD hasn’t had any new features added for over 3 years: and I doubt it ever will. It’s the forgotten iLife application. I don’t think Apple cares much for DVDs, and sees the future as an world without discs (which, in my opinion, is almost definitely what it will look like). I think Apple will still offer it as a separate download or incorporate its features into iMovie. An app for iTunes LP style content creation may be added to the suite.

iWork won’t be updated.

Apple’s September event primarily focuses on music – iWork is a productivity suite, and has absolutely nothing to do with music.

iTunes X/Cloud-Streaming iTunes:

A new version of iTunes will be introduced, called iTunes X.

They have updated iTunes at their September event for as long as I can remember, and I see no reason why they wouldn’t this time.

It won’t have cloud-streaming features, at least not just yet.

From what I hear, Apple hasn’t secured deals with their music label partners to be able to that – yet. I have no doubt it’ll be coming sometime in the (reasonably) near future. They may announce plans of cloud-streaming, but won’t release it until they have approval from the labels.

iTunes will have more advanced “social features”.

So that people will have more ways to share what music they listen to, what TV shows they watch, what movies they like, etc. I mean, why wouldn’t Apple want people doing that? It all helps drive iTunes Store sales.

iTV/Apple TV:

I’m not going to delve too much into this one, as, like most people, I’m not really sure what it will be like. I’ll just quickly go over a few points.

• How will it be controlled? I think Apple will ship it with a remote, and also offer an app for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad that will do the same job. They won’t require everyone that purchases it to own an iOS device to be be able to use it.
• The remote they will ship it with is a mystery: will it be similar to a Magic Trackpad? The Wii remote? Or something even more mysterious? Maybe they’ll go against everyone’s expectations and just ship it with the basic 7 button Apple remote. I won’t even attempt to answer that question.
• Will 3rd party developers be able to make apps for it? I’m betting they will. Everyone loves apps – they would help drive sales. I don’t really know how Apple would pull it off though, whether existing iOS apps would be able to run on the big screen, or whether developers would have to completely rework their apps. Different TV screen sizes and resolutions also pose a bit of a problem.
• I think the most popular and common type of apps made for it would be games.
• Apple will probably offer 99c TV show purchases for it, which would also help drive sales. They’ve been talking a lot lately with media companies discussing this.

And, the big question, will it even be announced at all? If not, I think they’ll release it early next year. There is a reasonably likely chance that they won’t – look above, they’ve already got enough to talk about in two hours.

Let me know bellow what you think. Am I completely wrong? Spot on? Do you have some thoughts of your own? I’d love to hear from you – and I promise I’ll reply if you leave a comment.

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