The kickoff to Apple’s annual Developer Conference is less than 3 hours from now so let me go on record and post my predictions for Tim Cook’s keynote. There’s a lot to cover so let’s dive in.
What Everyone Is Expecting Streaming RadioNo surprise here since Sony leaked word last Friday about being the final major record label to sign onto their secretive music streaming service. The one thing that puts Apple ahead of Spotify, Google Music and Pandora is Apple’s massive listening library for iTunes users. Since Apple has a history of all your music purchases, importeed CDs and listens, I believe they will offer a higher quality matching service for stations where you need to really start at square one with the others. The price point here is everything. Google is offering $7.99/month through June after that it jumps to the same price as Spotify ($10/month). Anything over $10/month for Apple will have to be justified by including additional features.
Just for the record, this does not excite me. Why does everyone feel the need to offer streaming music service at $10/month when everyone is paying $80-$150/month for cable? Stop wasting time on music service and create a model that connects users with cable stations directly. It’s the same thing they did to the music industry 10 years ago. Take out the middle men (Comcast, Direct TV, Dish Network) and save consumers money by creating a relationship directly with the content creator.
iOS 7 and OS XThere has been lots of talk about this update to iOS being completely headed up by Jony Ive the design genius. Look for Jony to tighten the Apple brand by making the appearance and behaviors of all Apple apps more consistant across the board. This is not a huge problem but part of me is excited to hear what Jony has to say and what updates he has in store. The one area here people will be watching for are updates to notifications. They are way to clunky right now and difficult to manage.
New MacbooksSpec changes are expected here but nothing big like Retina coming to iPad Mini or 4K output for MacBook Pros. Look for this section to lead the keynote as it’s pretty blah.
My Sleeper Picks Updated iTunesLet’s face it, iTunes has evolved into the kitchen sink for Apple. Everything just gets thrown in there. It started as the Music hub, then they added Podcasts, TV Shows, Movie, Trailers, Apps, Software and 4 other things I’m sure I don’t know about. If there is one product that frustrates people the most, it’s the iTunes. It needs an update and one built around the users. Maybe it needs to become iStore or create a new environment for all the channels (iMusic, iTube, Apps, etc.).
TV ServiceWe all know Apple is working on a TV solution and I would love for them to tackle my rant from above. In reality, I think there is a 2% chance this will happen later today mainly because it’s been so quiet on this front. But, if they do it will change the game for TV. Again, I’m not looking for a physical TV here. I’m looking for a service that bypasses cable providers and connects me to the studios or the network to get me my content I subscribe to. At my house we watch ESPN, NFL, Food Network, USA and an occasional MTV. Even if I pay $10/month for each of those stations that would still save me $40/month and if there’s one company to take this on it’s Apple.
ReactionIn the days to come I will be posting my reaction to the Keynote. Thanks for checking this one out.
