On the cusps of the "one more thing" keynote from Stevie, I thought I would make my predictions once again. Last time I was pretty much dead on, well minus one. I guess it pays off to wait until the week before I make my predictions. It allows me to decipher what rumors still may have merit, and which ones are completely off. However, don’t be surprised to hear something that none of us expected.

WWDC rumor roundup: what is the Gospel truth, and what is false.

I think this WWDC is going to be a big one. This is the first time that WWDC has completely sold out. Our little fruit company is doing better than ever. They are increasing market share and actually now sell the more computers over $1,000 than any other computer manufacture. The iPhone is doing very well for the company, and I think the Apple is ready to take some risks like the iPhone to shake up the market.

3G iPhone

Of course the 3G iPhone will be announced. It’s a given, and hopefully it will also launch the same day as the announcement. If they don’t release the new phone at all, I think there would be an outpouring of angry villagers with fire and pitchforks. I’ve got my pitchfork standing by.

There are a lot of rumors about what exactly will be in the new 3G iPhone, one fairly credible rumor has been the new look of the Jesus-phone. Like it, or leave it? Another rumor is that perhaps the leaked shots are actually the rumored $200 iPhone that will be released. Personally I think its looks a little "playschool". However, the new design might work just perfectly for the average person. The new case could also allow for the phone to come it more colors (which I personally hate). However, if this is actually the replacement for the current iPhone I think there is a problem. First off it looks cheap. The aluminum and black made the phone look sleek and professional. Furthermore, sleek and professional should be what Apple is going for if they are hoping to land their phones in the hands of business users. I personally would want to buy a case immediately, to cover over that ugly white thing up. Hopefully the back one is the one they go with. We will have to wait and see, but I give merit to the new design. The new skew however, is up in the air.

New features for the iPhone? We all know that the iPhone 2.0 firmware should be released. With the new 2.0 software includes better VPN and Email support for business users. I will be able to look at work email (I can’t decide if that’s a curse or blessing). The new app store will be released as well as a barrage of new applications to download. I’m also sure that Steve will highlight some of the partnered applications. What I am looking forward to more than anything is good gaming on the iPhone. Super Monkey Ball FTW!

Those are some of the software features, but what about hardware upgrades. The rumors have mentioned 2 built in cameras for video iChat support. I personally thing this is not practical, and Apple would not be able to keep their price point by adding a second camera. I also imagine that AT&T would not be pleased at the added bandwidth the video streaming would add to their network. I think this rumor is not going to happen. Plus it sounds like a feature I would use once and say, wow that was really cool and forget about it forever.

Another rumored feature is that the new iPhone will include GPS. I think this rumor has legs. Apple has seen how popular the semi-GPS is for the current iPhone. Everybody loves it, but it still is not true GPS. With true GPS begin bundled into the Blackberry, and other smart phones, I think the pressure is on for Apple to do the same.

Apple Software

The latest rumor is that Apple will demo Mac 0S X 10.6. I say bogus on this one. Leopard is so new. Why would Apple demo something that could make the current version look stale? Also, there are still many people that haven’t upgraded to Leopard yet. I mean let’s face it, Tiger was a great OS and I still have it running fine on a couple of my older Macs.

So have you heard about MobileMe? No, I’m not talking about a Microsoft product; I’m talking about the new revision to .Mac. Horrible name huh? I really hope this is not the final name of this service. Well neither here nor there, .Mac is rumored to get huge upgrades, including the possibility of adding different tiers of service. The first tier of .Mac would be free. Now that’s music to my ears. The free service would allow for a limited amount of storage and the use of most of the features of .Mac. The premium service would allow for much more storage and more features. I think this would be great, and I might actually use .Mac. However, where does the mobile part come into play? Well it is rumored that MobileMe will tie heavily into the iPhone allowing you to store, and backup data from the iPhone. The details are still sketchy right now, but look for this to be announced at WWDC ‘08.

Apple Hardware

Well it is WWDC ‘08 isn’t it. Let’s see some hardware upgrades. Will the iPod classic finally disappear? I mean we all knew the classic was a limited run just to appease those who wanted more storage. The iPod nano is due for an update as well. Can anyone say more storage? The big one for me is the Mac mini. What is Apple going to do about this product? Will they make updates, discontinue it, or come of with a new product all together? Bottom line is something needs to be done with the Mac mini. What I think that Apple should do is make a media center PC once and for all. Give Microsoft a run against Windows Media Center. If you could take the OS from AppleTV and put it into the Mini along with new features I think you would have a brilliant product.

Here is a rumor that I will repeat until it comes true. Yes, the true ultra portable Mac will be announced. I know the Macbook Air is cool, but I think Apple is ready to unveil a fully touchscreen tablet with similar gesture abilities of iPhone. The new product would run a mobile version of OS X with way more features than the iPhone. I would love to see something that looked like an iPhone but much bigger. It would be all touchscreen, but when you’re not on the go you could dock it and even add a keyboard and mouse. Hello Nurse!

Roundup

With WWDC just a couple of days away we really don’t have to wait long. What I really hope is that something is announced that is not on my list. I really want to be surprised, and blown away by this year’s WWDC. Happy WWDC everybody! Check back after the keynote to see if I was even remotely correct.