iPhone predictions and Flash in the pan ….

IPhone … old news?


I had penned the following predictions just as the current iPhone-gate broke. I will stand behind my predictions – as some may be shown as correct, others not so much, but it would not be accurate to change them before the official release. My disclaimer still stands, while I work for AT&T, I have no special access to Apple’s plans or AT&T’s relationship with Apple. The following statements are my opinion only, with no input or validation from my employer.

I do not believe that the iPhone will offer an expandable memory option. Apple has yet to offer it on any other iPod or the newly released iPad, so I do not expect them to offer it on the iPhone. I expect the memory will expand to 64GB and a 128GB model may be available as well.

The screen size could grow a little to support a 4 inch diagonal screen with 720p resolution. I am not sure if that is going to change the overall iPhone’s dimensions (slightly), although by narrowing the bands at the top and bottom of the current model a 4 inch (diagonal) screen might fit. This would allow Apple to match the competition’s capabilities. I expect it to use the same backlit IPS display technology of the recently announced iPad, although with some type of outside screen overlay.

If the dimensions change, the iPhone may also get a little thicker or wider to support longer battery life. This would help with video recording, playback and recording. A pico projector would be definite game changer although not expected.
The camera will increase to either 6 or 8 megapixels and it will have a front facing camera with a video conferencing capability as a later update.

Data speed may be able to exceed current HSPA 7.2, in preparation for LTE (4G) deployment, and may be enforced through a software limitation.

I would expect Apple to use its own processor chip, as it did in the iPad, although it may not be exactly the same chip. Finally, in keeping with recent Apple product releases, no removable battery and it will only be available on AT&T’s network (re-read disclaimer above).

Flash in the pan …

And a final closing thought on the Apple – Adobe skirmish. I believe that Steve Jobs got tired of answering the “when will Flash be enabled on the” insert your Apple platform here. So he wrote a note telling everyone his thinking as to why it Flash will not be allowed, suddenly everyone was up in arms.

Apple has always put the “user experience” first in everything that they do. So when evaluating if Flash should be deployed on Apple’s portable devices, Apple may have run some tests and determined that it would impact the user experience in a negative manner. One of the reasonable questions would be what, if any, exchanges between Apple and Adobe have taken place discussing these performance concerns.

Flash will be allowed on the Android platform and it may be shown if Apple’s objections to Flash are reasonable.