Think outside of the box... Before iDVD, why did average consumers need a DVD authoring application for??
Apple sets trends. It makes sense. This nonsense of an iPhone App creator or personal financial apps, have nothing to do with makes iLife, iLife.
As an example, but the ability to easily and simply put your photos on stick people and them export them to the iWeb, iMovie, or YouTube seems fun... Set your own music tracks to them, and its something new. Something that hasn't been tried before... An animation app would have simple painting/drawing capabilities as well...
If there is a new app, it will be in the spirit of user content generation.
But that is just my two cents...
I agree that a new app may be in the realm of user content generation, but I just don't see most people wanting to use an animation app, even with Apple Marketing and the RDF. But I could be wrong.
Before iDVD I would've been able to understand the appeal of that idea. Somehow I do not see the same appeal in an animation application - for some reason I can't really define right now - I just don't feel it. I know I wouldn't have any interest in using it, but I know that me not being interested in it does not mean others would not be. That said, I still don't think most people would be.
I don't believe think an iApp creator or anything in the realm of personal finance are it either. Nor do I think they would be good ideas.
I still think a fitness/nutrition app would work with the overall iLife concept, alhtough I can see how it is different in that it's not so much a creative content generating app as it would be a logging/managing app. It is however, something that's a part of everyones life and the possibilities of iPhone/iPad/other hardware integration, as well as social networking integration are rich.
It would make no sense for this to be an application that would drive revenue (i.e. book sales). If you want to sell books on-line, make the reader freely available and not part of a paid upgrade to a suite that is OSX-only. If they add book reading, they'll build it into iTunes because it's free and cross-platform.
Facetime is an interesting idea, but iChat integration should just come as a maintenance release. Why a whole new app? Again, Apple wants to increase the penetration of Facetime, so that's not something you do by putting it into a paid upgrade.
iPaint: Really good idea, but not very iLife-ey. iLife covers hobbies / personal interests. Most image editing is done on photos, which iPhoto already has. Beef up the iPhoto editor, add Aperture plug-in support, etc.
Personal Finance: Brilliant. If this isn't it, it should be. This would sell Macs.
So, my thoughts on the new app in descending order of likelihood.
1) iBooks - A new desktop application that will allow you to read and buy books from the iBookstore, or even your own imported epub books. This will be especially geared toward students, with options such as highlighting, notes, bookmarks, multiple books open simultaneously, and integrated dictionary and thesaurus. You might even be able to write your own ebook within the app, and publish it right to the iBookstore.
2) iPaint - The paint and drawing app you've always wanted for the Mac. etc. etc. etc.
3) FaceTime - A long-shot because iChat is already integrated in the OS, not iLife; but including this in iLife will allow them to update/add it without having to wait for an OS revision.
I don't see #1 being a stand alone app. I thought one could already view ePub docs on their computer. Is this not so? This would be an excellent thing to add to Pages in iWork, but not for shopping and reading books. It would be great if this allowed one to upload Pages documents to the iBooks store to sell.
I would welcome #2. Especially if it allowed one to produce animation which you could then share with iMove or GarageBand for the purpose of adding a soundtrack. If it were simple to use AND produced good enough results, I could see consumers using it to be creative.
I see #3 as a feature that could be added to iChat either in the next new major OS release or in a point release any time prior to the next major release.
As for what's on my iLife wish list:
Import iPhone movies to iMovie NOT to iPhoto. (Duh!)
Upload photos to FaceBook with caption coming from the iPhoto Description field NOT the Title field.
You get a discount when you buy it with a Mac. I'd like that discount. I'm not in a hurry to get a Mac so I'll wait till the end of the year or longer.
Waiting six+ months to save $30 on a $1,000+ computer seems a bit silly to me. Would $30 really make that big a difference in the bank account? But to each their own. Like you said, you're in no rush to buy a new Mac.
Although, iHypercard is a little awkward to pronounce.
Oh, that would be great, I still use it as the last app to need OS9. A great database app that comes with iLife is needed instead of using Bento which looks glamourous but many times is not user friendly. It needs scripts to really be a database that can be adjusted as needed for each user.
My stacks are ready to go for the OS X upgrade! It would be so versatile!
Waiting six+ months to save $30 on a $1,000+ computer seems a bit silly to me. Would $30 really make that big a difference in the bank account? But to each their own. Like you said, you're in no rush to buy a new Mac.
That's what I was thinking. Further, if $30 WOULD make that big a difference (so big as to effect one's purchasing decision), perhaps the party in question isn't in a position to buy a new computer in the first place.
But it's really none of my business, so nevermind, I guess.
iBooks - I like this idea. It's not content creation (or is it?), but it does give more people access to the iBookstore. The nail in it's coffin is that the app would be Mac specific. If iBook are coming to computer screens, then it will be a cross platform app.
Maybe the "Mystery App" is somehow tied to the North Carolina data farm Apple is making.
iPaint - I think it would have very limited appeal and not create much buzz.
iApp - The idea has merit, but wouldn't it open up Apple to more complaints that it's too tightly controlling the app store? It also seems like we'd be getting a ton a really cruddy apps from Ma and Pa Peoria. The App Store needs more top drawer apps not just quantity.
Busting out iDVD as a download only is sad, but it makes sense. Less and less people are bothering to create their own DVDs and instead relying on the web to share their creations.
SUPER EXCITED for the iWeb update. As it is, it's very simple and quite customizable, but there is lots of room for improvement/bug fixes. Crossing my fingers a new iWeb really delivers.
A really think that Apple bought out Midnight App's Cha-Ching. Cha-Ching had one of the most promising interfaces for a financial app but then one day they just stopped development and the developers completely stopped communicating with anyone. I really have to wonder if they were bought out and they are just keeping quiet because of how Apple likes to keep things secret. Cha-Ching would be a very logical addition to iWork.
Facetime - the mystery App. That will spur even more iPhone 4 sales thru the holidays.
Brilliant.
I don't think you know what that word means. Could you explain how/why a Facetime for mac app would "spur even more iPhone 4 sales thru the holidays"? Moreso than the ichat functionality that we've had for years?
Or what a facetime app would have to do with the iLife suite? Like... why wouldn't they just make it a part of the OS/iChat?
They don't want people to have to buy Facetime, they want people to adopt it. If/when it does happen it will be free... like iBooks.
So, my thoughts on the new app in descending order of likelihood.
1) iBooks
2) iPaint
3) FaceTime
iBooks : "Read, browse, share, write a novel"?? Its plausible but its more of a content consumer than a creator.
iPaint: "Your simple to use drawing application. Integrate your artwork to iMovie. Exports vector animations to HTML5 for all to see on iDevices. " <- This sounds like an iLife app...But whats so "Life" about it? (I guess it can work as artists to musicians)
FaceTime: *MacMini and MacPro not supported unless you purchase webcam. $79 with 1 app not working =
Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyweston
MY THEORY: The new iMac's due out shortly will have built in tuner cards and so the new iLife app will be an equivalent of Elgato's eyeTV. This will integrate seamlessly with iMovie and iTunes. (...maybe)
iTV: "You can now watch your favourite movies, shows, podcasts on any Mac! Broadcast your iMovie project using iTV Cast live to any Mac and iDevices!" <-It sound plausible. Although the app is mainly for consuming, but the ability to manage, archive even in the "cloud" is something. Is TV part of life? I think it can be. Could this be the go to market/device that Steve was talking about? Will the new MacMini with HDMI make more sense? Is there going to be cheap AppleTV module(think airport express)?
Overall the app has to be something you can share and manage your creations.
I'm sure Apple has plenty of secret apps they are brewing in Cupertino that they could choose to insert as a mystery app. And I certainly can't even guess what these are, much less presume which of the many might make the cut.
However, I can say what I would like Apple to do, and they should have done this some time ago. It's time for MobileMe to complete the circle from it's beginnins as iTools and become a free service for all Mac/iPhone. There have been rumors about MobileMe becoming free in the last few months, and I think this would be a great move. I am fine with giving users only a small amount of iDisk space with this, and then charging to increase it. But the core services should be free (me.com email address, calendar syncing, etc.). It would draw in new users to the brand seeing seeing the ease of use and seemless integration of all these great services, and would solidify the brand. If google can give it away for free, then I think Apple should also. It also makes sense to do this in light of the big move to cloud computing. And in the process, they can one up Google with the find my iPhone and remote wipe services for all users. Having this as a benefit for all those with Macs/iPhones would sweeten the deal even more than it already is.
An integrated artificial intelligence agent that can carry out many simple repetitive tasks, basically anything that can be managed online, over the phone, or on your computer and integrated across all platforms.
This would be integration of the Siri acquisition into all products.
Example: You decide you need to tell the kids you'll pick them up 10 minutes later because you have to pick up a pizza first, on your way home. So you call up your iGuide™ and simply tell it what needs to be done. It calls the kids (until it gets ahold of each one) and relays the message, and in the meantime it calls your pizza place with your order and gets an estimated time for pickup, with confirmation number. At the same time, iGuide™ knows you'll be home soon based on your geo-location data, so it turns on the front porch light and cues up your favorite TV show on your AppleTV. iGuide™ also knows you'll be out of town next month with the family and it has been scouring the web for low plane fare and interesting things to do in your destination city, with specials and coupons served up straight to your iPhone.
iTV: "You can now watch your favourite movies, shows, podcasts on any Mac! Broadcast your iMovie project using iTV Cast live to any Mac and iDevices!" <-It sound plausible. Although the app is mainly for consuming, but the ability to manage, archive even in the "cloud" is something. Is TV part of life? I think it can be. Could this be the go to market/device that Steve was talking about? Will the new MacMini with HDMI make more sense? Is there going to be cheap AppleTV module(think airport express)?
Overall the app has to be something you can share and manage your creations.
I think Apple needs to get into TV, but I'm not sure I'm sold that they WILL. The iTunes "own your content" strategy seems to be at odds with the DVR idea. Doesn't Apple want you to buy your content from them? I think they're still trying to work a deal with content providers for a cable-tv like monthly subscription via something like appletv/itunes. That would have a DVR functionality, of course. I think the content providers would be hesitant to do it however. I don't think the built-in tv tuner idea is very Apple like.
No matter what, I don't think anything in th realm of TV should be included in an iLife app. And if it is, I think it's a pretty sad commentary. Is TV really that big a part of your life?
I'm gonna say it again, because I want to hear why people might think it a bad idea: Fitness/nutrition app. Again, I admit it's not content generation so much (well, other than exercise/diet logs, etc) but then again neither would a TV/DVR type app.
I think the TV strategy should remain in the AppleTV/iTunes category, and seperate from iLife. And rather than a "TV" app, I'd like to see it be more of a splitting of audio from video content. iTunes video content gets it's own, free, cross-platform iTunes-like app. iTunes goes back to being about... tunes. iBooks for iBooks. Perhaps finding a better way to sync apps than through iTunes as well. There needs to be a lot of work in their iTunes ecosystem strategy. It never made sense to me for iTunes to be be the syncing app for all this stuff, and as time goes on it makes even less sense. With iPhone and 3rd party apps, it's not an iPod and iTUNES anymore, it's so much other crap.
Seperate apps:
iTunes - audio manager
iVideo - type-name - TV/Movies/Video manager
iBooks - iBooks manager
iPhoto - photo management
maybe tie them together with an app just for syncing, bring back iSync except make it not suck. It could access the other applications libraries, like how some apps (iWork apps) can access your iPhoto and iTunes library. Make them selectable for syncing, etc. But the main content management would be handled in it's respective application. It would also make sense to have a standalone syncing application for the other non tunes, non videos, non books that we all sync on our iPhones nowadays - calendars, contacts, photos. These things have their own applications and it makes sense. Why is everything synced through iTunes?
Anyway, I've gotten way off topic. The point I was trying to make is that I think anything TV/Video like should be in the iTunes realm and not the iLife realm.
I also think that iLife apps seem to be more about personally enriching activities. Photos, Music, Movies etc. Of which I think fitness is a better fit. Again, not necessarily content creation like the others, but on a broader conceptual level, I think it's the positive life component that is more iLife like.
Maybe they could make iPhoto more transparent. You know, maybe where you could see your pictures in a folder in finder under the name you save them as rather than some mystical number.
iPhoto was originally designed to use the file system to store content, but too many end users were going into the folders and moving/renaming/deleting/etc. stuff and screwing up their iPhoto libraries. So Apple went with the cryptic, everything in a single package, route to stop people from screwing up their libraries and then calling Apple for help.
iTunes is even worse. The music is in one location that can be centralized and shared, but the album artwork is exclusive to a single user. Each user can have multiple indices in multiple locations too.
It makes me wonder what Apple has against proper multi-user structured databases.
Comments
Think outside of the box... Before iDVD, why did average consumers need a DVD authoring application for??
Apple sets trends. It makes sense. This nonsense of an iPhone App creator or personal financial apps, have nothing to do with makes iLife, iLife.
As an example, but the ability to easily and simply put your photos on stick people and them export them to the iWeb, iMovie, or YouTube seems fun... Set your own music tracks to them, and its something new. Something that hasn't been tried before... An animation app would have simple painting/drawing capabilities as well...
If there is a new app, it will be in the spirit of user content generation.
But that is just my two cents...
I agree that a new app may be in the realm of user content generation, but I just don't see most people wanting to use an animation app, even with Apple Marketing and the RDF. But I could be wrong.
Before iDVD I would've been able to understand the appeal of that idea. Somehow I do not see the same appeal in an animation application - for some reason I can't really define right now - I just don't feel it. I know I wouldn't have any interest in using it, but I know that me not being interested in it does not mean others would not be. That said, I still don't think most people would be.
I don't believe think an iApp creator or anything in the realm of personal finance are it either. Nor do I think they would be good ideas.
I still think a fitness/nutrition app would work with the overall iLife concept, alhtough I can see how it is different in that it's not so much a creative content generating app as it would be a logging/managing app. It is however, something that's a part of everyones life and the possibilities of iPhone/iPad/other hardware integration, as well as social networking integration are rich.
iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,iExtra, iExtra, iExtra,
you know iTunes Extra for the movie? DVD menu without the DVD for home movie.
That's what I think is the new mystery iLife App.
exportable to iPad, iPhone and Apple TV.
And Support of the full HD for our personnal HD movie made from iMovie.
And what would they call this new app?
And what would they call this new app?
Ho sorry I did'nt mention : iExtra
Facetime is an interesting idea, but iChat integration should just come as a maintenance release. Why a whole new app? Again, Apple wants to increase the penetration of Facetime, so that's not something you do by putting it into a paid upgrade.
iPaint: Really good idea, but not very iLife-ey. iLife covers hobbies / personal interests. Most image editing is done on photos, which iPhoto already has. Beef up the iPhoto editor, add Aperture plug-in support, etc.
Personal Finance: Brilliant. If this isn't it, it should be. This would sell Macs.
So, my thoughts on the new app in descending order of likelihood.
1) iBooks - A new desktop application that will allow you to read and buy books from the iBookstore, or even your own imported epub books. This will be especially geared toward students, with options such as highlighting, notes, bookmarks, multiple books open simultaneously, and integrated dictionary and thesaurus. You might even be able to write your own ebook within the app, and publish it right to the iBookstore.
2) iPaint - The paint and drawing app you've always wanted for the Mac. etc. etc. etc.
3) FaceTime - A long-shot because iChat is already integrated in the OS, not iLife; but including this in iLife will allow them to update/add it without having to wait for an OS revision.
I don't see #1 being a stand alone app. I thought one could already view ePub docs on their computer. Is this not so? This would be an excellent thing to add to Pages in iWork, but not for shopping and reading books. It would be great if this allowed one to upload Pages documents to the iBooks store to sell.
I would welcome #2. Especially if it allowed one to produce animation which you could then share with iMove or GarageBand for the purpose of adding a soundtrack. If it were simple to use AND produced good enough results, I could see consumers using it to be creative.
I see #3 as a feature that could be added to iChat either in the next new major OS release or in a point release any time prior to the next major release.
As for what's on my iLife wish list:
Import iPhone movies to iMovie NOT to iPhoto. (Duh!)
Upload photos to FaceBook with caption coming from the iPhoto Description field NOT the Title field.
Hypercard 4.0?
Although, iHypercard is a little awkward to pronounce.
>english accent
'Tis iPercard mate!
>/english accent
You get a discount when you buy it with a Mac. I'd like that discount. I'm not in a hurry to get a Mac so I'll wait till the end of the year or longer.
Waiting six+ months to save $30 on a $1,000+ computer seems a bit silly to me. Would $30 really make that big a difference in the bank account? But to each their own. Like you said, you're in no rush to buy a new Mac.
Brilliant.
Hypercard 4.0?
Although, iHypercard is a little awkward to pronounce.
Oh, that would be great, I still use it as the last app to need OS9. A great database app that comes with iLife is needed instead of using Bento which looks glamourous but many times is not user friendly. It needs scripts to really be a database that can be adjusted as needed for each user.
My stacks are ready to go for the OS X upgrade! It would be so versatile!
Waiting six+ months to save $30 on a $1,000+ computer seems a bit silly to me. Would $30 really make that big a difference in the bank account? But to each their own. Like you said, you're in no rush to buy a new Mac.
That's what I was thinking. Further, if $30 WOULD make that big a difference (so big as to effect one's purchasing decision), perhaps the party in question isn't in a position to buy a new computer in the first place.
But it's really none of my business, so nevermind, I guess.
Maybe the "Mystery App" is somehow tied to the North Carolina data farm Apple is making.
iPaint - I think it would have very limited appeal and not create much buzz.
iApp - The idea has merit, but wouldn't it open up Apple to more complaints that it's too tightly controlling the app store? It also seems like we'd be getting a ton a really cruddy apps from Ma and Pa Peoria. The App Store needs more top drawer apps not just quantity.
Busting out iDVD as a download only is sad, but it makes sense. Less and less people are bothering to create their own DVDs and instead relying on the web to share their creations.
SUPER EXCITED for the iWeb update. As it is, it's very simple and quite customizable, but there is lots of room for improvement/bug fixes. Crossing my fingers a new iWeb really delivers.
Perhaps...
A Finance App..
Best
A really think that Apple bought out Midnight App's Cha-Ching. Cha-Ching had one of the most promising interfaces for a financial app but then one day they just stopped development and the developers completely stopped communicating with anyone. I really have to wonder if they were bought out and they are just keeping quiet because of how Apple likes to keep things secret. Cha-Ching would be a very logical addition to iWork.
Facetime - the mystery App. That will spur even more iPhone 4 sales thru the holidays.
Brilliant.
I don't think you know what that word means. Could you explain how/why a Facetime for mac app would "spur even more iPhone 4 sales thru the holidays"? Moreso than the ichat functionality that we've had for years?
Or what a facetime app would have to do with the iLife suite? Like... why wouldn't they just make it a part of the OS/iChat?
They don't want people to have to buy Facetime, they want people to adopt it. If/when it does happen it will be free... like iBooks.
So, my thoughts on the new app in descending order of likelihood.
1) iBooks
2) iPaint
3) FaceTime
iBooks : "Read, browse, share, write a novel"?? Its plausible but its more of a content consumer than a creator.
iPaint: "Your simple to use drawing application. Integrate your artwork to iMovie. Exports vector animations to HTML5 for all to see on iDevices. " <- This sounds like an iLife app...But whats so "Life" about it? (I guess it can work as artists to musicians)
FaceTime: *MacMini and MacPro not supported unless you purchase webcam. $79 with 1 app not working =
MY THEORY: The new iMac's due out shortly will have built in tuner cards and so the new iLife app will be an equivalent of Elgato's eyeTV. This will integrate seamlessly with iMovie and iTunes. (...maybe)
iTV: "You can now watch your favourite movies, shows, podcasts on any Mac! Broadcast your iMovie project using iTV Cast live to any Mac and iDevices!" <-It sound plausible. Although the app is mainly for consuming, but the ability to manage, archive even in the "cloud" is something. Is TV part of life? I think it can be. Could this be the go to market/device that Steve was talking about? Will the new MacMini with HDMI make more sense? Is there going to be cheap AppleTV module(think airport express)?
Overall the app has to be something you can share and manage your creations.
However, I can say what I would like Apple to do, and they should have done this some time ago. It's time for MobileMe to complete the circle from it's beginnins as iTools and become a free service for all Mac/iPhone. There have been rumors about MobileMe becoming free in the last few months, and I think this would be a great move. I am fine with giving users only a small amount of iDisk space with this, and then charging to increase it. But the core services should be free (me.com email address, calendar syncing, etc.). It would draw in new users to the brand seeing seeing the ease of use and seemless integration of all these great services, and would solidify the brand. If google can give it away for free, then I think Apple should also. It also makes sense to do this in light of the big move to cloud computing. And in the process, they can one up Google with the find my iPhone and remote wipe services for all users. Having this as a benefit for all those with Macs/iPhones would sweeten the deal even more than it already is.
I would really like that. Home budgeting, something like that...
iLife is supposed to be a more recreational/creative bundle of programs. You're talking about home business/small business.
An integrated artificial intelligence agent that can carry out many simple repetitive tasks, basically anything that can be managed online, over the phone, or on your computer and integrated across all platforms.
This would be integration of the Siri acquisition into all products.
Example: You decide you need to tell the kids you'll pick them up 10 minutes later because you have to pick up a pizza first, on your way home. So you call up your iGuide™ and simply tell it what needs to be done. It calls the kids (until it gets ahold of each one) and relays the message, and in the meantime it calls your pizza place with your order and gets an estimated time for pickup, with confirmation number. At the same time, iGuide™ knows you'll be home soon based on your geo-location data, so it turns on the front porch light and cues up your favorite TV show on your AppleTV. iGuide™ also knows you'll be out of town next month with the family and it has been scouring the web for low plane fare and interesting things to do in your destination city, with specials and coupons served up straight to your iPhone.
Apple iGuide™
Managing your digital life.
iTV: "You can now watch your favourite movies, shows, podcasts on any Mac! Broadcast your iMovie project using iTV Cast live to any Mac and iDevices!" <-It sound plausible. Although the app is mainly for consuming, but the ability to manage, archive even in the "cloud" is something. Is TV part of life? I think it can be. Could this be the go to market/device that Steve was talking about? Will the new MacMini with HDMI make more sense? Is there going to be cheap AppleTV module(think airport express)?
Overall the app has to be something you can share and manage your creations.
I think Apple needs to get into TV, but I'm not sure I'm sold that they WILL. The iTunes "own your content" strategy seems to be at odds with the DVR idea. Doesn't Apple want you to buy your content from them? I think they're still trying to work a deal with content providers for a cable-tv like monthly subscription via something like appletv/itunes. That would have a DVR functionality, of course. I think the content providers would be hesitant to do it however. I don't think the built-in tv tuner idea is very Apple like.
No matter what, I don't think anything in th realm of TV should be included in an iLife app. And if it is, I think it's a pretty sad commentary. Is TV really that big a part of your life?
I'm gonna say it again, because I want to hear why people might think it a bad idea: Fitness/nutrition app. Again, I admit it's not content generation so much (well, other than exercise/diet logs, etc) but then again neither would a TV/DVR type app.
I think the TV strategy should remain in the AppleTV/iTunes category, and seperate from iLife. And rather than a "TV" app, I'd like to see it be more of a splitting of audio from video content. iTunes video content gets it's own, free, cross-platform iTunes-like app. iTunes goes back to being about... tunes. iBooks for iBooks. Perhaps finding a better way to sync apps than through iTunes as well. There needs to be a lot of work in their iTunes ecosystem strategy. It never made sense to me for iTunes to be be the syncing app for all this stuff, and as time goes on it makes even less sense. With iPhone and 3rd party apps, it's not an iPod and iTUNES anymore, it's so much other crap.
Seperate apps:
iTunes - audio manager
iVideo - type-name - TV/Movies/Video manager
iBooks - iBooks manager
iPhoto - photo management
maybe tie them together with an app just for syncing, bring back iSync except make it not suck. It could access the other applications libraries, like how some apps (iWork apps) can access your iPhoto and iTunes library. Make them selectable for syncing, etc. But the main content management would be handled in it's respective application. It would also make sense to have a standalone syncing application for the other non tunes, non videos, non books that we all sync on our iPhones nowadays - calendars, contacts, photos. These things have their own applications and it makes sense. Why is everything synced through iTunes?
Anyway, I've gotten way off topic. The point I was trying to make is that I think anything TV/Video like should be in the iTunes realm and not the iLife realm.
I also think that iLife apps seem to be more about personally enriching activities. Photos, Music, Movies etc. Of which I think fitness is a better fit. Again, not necessarily content creation like the others, but on a broader conceptual level, I think it's the positive life component that is more iLife like.
Maybe they could make iPhoto more transparent. You know, maybe where you could see your pictures in a folder in finder under the name you save them as rather than some mystical number.
iPhoto was originally designed to use the file system to store content, but too many end users were going into the folders and moving/renaming/deleting/etc. stuff and screwing up their iPhoto libraries. So Apple went with the cryptic, everything in a single package, route to stop people from screwing up their libraries and then calling Apple for help.
iTunes is even worse. The music is in one location that can be centralized and shared, but the album artwork is exclusive to a single user. Each user can have multiple indices in multiple locations too.
It makes me wonder what Apple has against proper multi-user structured databases.