The iBusiness is most definitely “the business.” The German-engineered, four-seater luxury sedan is the type of car for people who have drivers, and that’s a very good thing, because there’s no chance you’ll be paying much attention to the road in one of these babies unless you’re being paid to.

Each car comes packed to the gills with outstanding multimedia capabilities, including two iPads in the rear seats with matching Bluetooth keyboards for each. The iPads are capable of controlling every aspect of the S600′s COMAND system, including the radio, navigation system and telephone, in addition to BRABUS’ own custom multimedia functions. Don’t think you’ll be limited to offline or 3G use, either, because the car boasts its own wireless internet via UMTS and HSDPA connections.

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a Mac mini in the back seat that uses a drop-down 15.2-inch TFT display, Magic Mouse and USB 2.0 ports accessible to both passengers for real computing power. Finally, because you wouldn’t want to use iTunes on the Mac mini or the iPod apps on your two iPads, there’s a 64GB iPod touch in the center console that also controls the whole shebang using a custom BRABUS iOS application.

I couldn’t find any info with regard to pricing, but you can bet it’s going to be more than most of us can afford. The good news is, if you already have a Mercedes-Benz s600, BRABUS will install its custom iBusiness package for you, at a fraction of the cost, but still well beyond the reach of most ordinary mortals. So, anyone picking one of these up?

Related GigaOM Pro Research: Car Data As The Next Platform For Innovation

My learned friend is far from unique in drawing analogies between computer platform affinities and religion. Back in 1994, Italian novelist Umberto Eco (writer of “Foucault’s Pendulum” and “The Name of The Rose”) published a now-legendary, whimsical piece in the Italian news weekly Espresso, contending that the Microsoft/Apple rivalry is “a religious war.” Eco was “firmly of the opinion” that the Macintosh is Catholic; “It is cheerful, friendly, conciliatory, it tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach — if not the kingdom of heaven — the moment in which their document is printed.” He pointed out that with a Mac you deal with simple formulae and sumptuous icons, and “everyone has a right to salvation.”

On the other hand, Eco contended, the (then mostly DOS-based) PC was Protestant, “or even Calvinistic,” demanding difficult decisions and interpretations, taking “for granted the idea that not all can reach salvation.” The PC user “is closed within the loneliness of his own inner torment.” When the Windows graphical user interface was added to previously command line-only DOS, there came a superficial resemblance to the Macintosh’s “counter-reformist tolerance.” “Sort of like Anglicanism,” said Eco, with “big ceremonies in the cathedral,” but “always the possibility of a return to DOS to change things in accordance with bizarre decisions: When it comes down to it, you can decide to ordain women and gays if you want to.”

Eco’s tongue-in-cheek theological analysis of the computer wars stands up well and is still entertaining 16 years later.

Scholarly Investigations

Recently there’s another flurry of “Apple as religion” in the blogosphere. The Huffington Post’s Skye Jethani writes of “the power of consumer brands to supplant traditional religions in people’s lives,” noting that “new research has shown that Apple has achieved the same impact on the human brain as religion.”

TheAtlantic.com.’s Alexis Madrigal posted a riff noting that scholars seriously study Apple fans as “religious devotees,” one even outlining a framework for assessing Apple’s mystical mythology, contending that the company is founded on at least quasi-religious myths.

A four-myth construct compiled by Texas A&M University media professor Heidi Campbell in her paper “How the iPhone became divine” posits:

• A creation myth highlighting the counter-cultural origin and emergence of the Mac as a transformative moment;
• A hero myth presenting the Mac and its founder Steve Jobs as saving users from the corporate domination of the PC world;
• A satanic myth presenting Bill Gates as the enemy of Mac loyalists;
• A resurrection myth of Jobs returning to save the failing company.

Madrigal observes that these narratives aren’t myths in the sense of being untrue, but are archetypal illustrations that help people make sense of their relationship with the world (or at least Apple). He suggests the only element of core Apple fans’ belief system compromised by “Antennagate” is the hero myth, since Jobs didn’t initially live up to his Teflon reputation. However, he thinks the Antennagate press conference followed by robust iPhone sales in Apple’s quarterly financial report not only restored Jobs’ hero status, but refreshed the resurrection myth, citing Campbell observing that “Apple weathered the storm because there is such brand loyalty through the religious narrative.”

“Implicit Religion”

Fox News’s John R. Quain weighs in on Apple as a “new religion,” likewise referencing Texas A&M’s Campbell, who told him “Implicit religion can happen when the use of, say, technology becomes a substitute for belief and behaviours once attached to religion and religious practice,….The religious-like behaviour and language surrounding Apple devotion/fandom is an example of ‘implicit religion’.”

Campbell has cut to the nub of the issue. As a Catholic traditionalist, I have clearly-defined concepts of what I think constitutes bona fide religion, and notwithstanding that I’m a consummate Mac fanboy, I find it impossible to take “Apple as religion” seriously, as more than parody or satire, or more darkly–cultishness.

Apple Products and Traditional Religion

Not that Apple products aren’t having peripheral impact on real, traditional religion. In June, Fr. Paolo Padrini, a consultant with the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Social Communications, launched a free expanded iPad version of his iBreviary app, a daily prayer book for iPhone. iBreviary’s iPad variant, iBreviaryPro, contains the complete Roman missal — all that is said and sung at Mass throughout the liturgical year, plus commentaries, suggestions for homilies, and musical accompaniment, allowing priests to celebrate mass without hard copy Bibles and liturgical missals.

What sets iBreviary apart from other religious apps in the App Store is that it’s the first app with approval of the Vatican. Fr. Padrini has reported some 200,000 downloads of the iPhone version, and expects priests who travel a lot to find the application most useful.

Cult of Mac’s Nicole Martinelli reports that at least one Catholic priest switched to an iPad for officiating at outdoor masses in place of heavy books, commenting to The Apple Lounge (in Italian) that device is really easy to use.

That’s the sort of technology complimenting religion that even religious traditionalists can get behind.

The product was a bluetooth Apple trackpad similar to what is built in to every Apple ntoebook, but would essentially replace the Magic Mouse that currently ships with the Mac mini, Mac Pro and iMac. Some people prefer a mouse but I prefer the trackpad and we all know that Apple makes the best trackpads in the world. If you don’t believe me, visit a Best Buy and try using similar trackpads on currently available PCs and you’ll be amazed at how bad they are.

A Bluetooth trackpad that I’ve eloquently dubbed “MagicPad” (Magic Mouse = Trackpad) would be Apple’s next step into a buttonless world that it so desperately is striving for. The Magic Mouse has fewer buttons than the Mighty Mouse and this would be one button as the entire trackpad is, exactly like we are used to on Apple’s notebooks. It’s a more portable form factor than a mouse and gestures would be standard to the ones that already exist for the today’s trackpad.

I hope this device is real and I hope it ships soon because I really would like a choice between mouse and trackpad and think this small peripheral would be a huge hit. Maybe I’m just dreaming and we’ll never see it because it was a two hour Photoshop job submitted to Engadget the evening before the keynote.

Would you buy a MagicPad? Would it replace your Magic Mouse?

True, I’ve written before about some of the missteps that Apple has taken, but even with its faults, the company never stops and keeps striving to make a difference in the minds of its customers. So what makes an Apple Store so great? It’s all about the experience.

Certainly, one can argue that the reason why people will wait in lines that are hours long for a new telephone is because the telephone must be pretty frackin’ cool. Some of you may have done this before, waiting outside of a Best Buy or Walmart for a chance to get a Nintendo Wii or Playstation 3 when they first launched. But if you did, I bet your experience was nothing like it was at the Apple Store.

First, the stores have Wi-Fi. That one may seem a little cheesy, but when you’re camped outside at 3AM, it’s nice that a company that, despite all its talk of being energy-efficient and going green, still decided to leave its wireless routers active at night so you can watch Hulu while waiting in line.

Second, the stores take care of those who are waiting in line. During both the iPad and iPhone 4 launches, the two stores I visited had partnered with a local Starbucks and California Pizza Kitchen to provide food and drinks to those who had been waiting — at no expense to customers. How many places do you know of that do that?

Third, the experience with the employees is, despite the occasional misstep, phenomenal. Employees are not on commission so there’s no pressure for them to sell you everything and the kitchen sink. They’re in the business of building a relationship. They’ll shake your hand, call you by your name and really take personal pride in being able to help you with the right solution every time. Not only that, but it’s not just about selling you on the products. Apple is one of few companies who really wants you to return to the store and learn more about how to use their products, even if you’re not buying anything else. It’s all about the experience -– with the products, with the people and with the stores.

If you’ve ever had a chance to visit the Ritz Carlton, this type of service will be familiar to you as it originally started with its gold standards. The Ritz Carlton credo is the guiding philosophy of Apple’s own credo.

“The Ritz-Carlton Hotel is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our guests is our highest mission. We pledge to provide the finest personal service and facilities for our guests who will always enjoy a warm, relaxed, yet refined ambience. The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests.”

Even its motto, “We are Ladies and Gentlemen serving Ladies and Gentlemen” speaks volumes to how Apple treats its own customers. Have you ever walked into an Apple Store and not been treated like royalty? (As an aside, I strongly suggest you do not walk into a store and demand to be treated like royalty.)

Apple calls its service “surprise and delight.” It aims to surprise its customers by seeking opportunities to deliver on its customers wishes and needs and then delight them by going above and beyond, if you give them the opportunity.

Again, look at the recent iPhone 4 launch. After waiting in line, I was then taken into the store where I had a chance to play with the iPhone while I waited for the next Specialist who could help me with my purchase. When I’d finished purchasing my phone, it was switched over on AT&T’s network (rendering my old phone inoperable) and another Mac Specialist was there ready to help me plug it into a Mac and finish the activation process.

If you give them a chance, and don’t exploit it, every team member at Apple will not stop until they’ve given you the best experience they can. Unfortunately, however, as the busy consumers we are, we like this attention and tend to expect or even demand it sometimes. There are times when a Genius Bar appointment may not be available until the next day or that hot new iPhone just isn’t in stock. Getting frustrated at this point is understandable, but take a few moments to understand how the team at Apple really wants to help you and be sure to treat them with that same level of respect. Even though the stores are busy, politely asking, “How can we find a way to help me get my Mac working as soon as possible?” is just enough to, if they haven’t offered already, allow them to look at Genius Bar appointments at neighboring stores and go ahead and schedule the appointment for you. Or, if the store traffic permits, check in your Mac for repair and diagnosis at a later time so you don’t have to wait for the appointment.

The moral of my story is this. The Apple Store is a great experience and that’s a big reason why people love to buy Apple products. For many, it does start with their first iPod or iPhone and later they return for their first Mac. So don’t forget the little things that make the experience so great (the attention, the people) and appreciate them because Apple’s formula for success is something you just won’t find at Best Buy or AT&T or really any other retail store for that matter.

There you have it. Yet another reason why many of us Apple users are called “fan boys.” Have you had your own surprise and delight experience at Apple? Tell us about it in the comments.

That decision actually inspired Ars.Technica to hold its own ADAs (Ars Design Awards) celebrating Mac OS developers and their work in the past 12 months. Developers gave their opinions on TUAW.com and this quote from Justin Williams of Second Gear Software gave his opinion:

“Whether it’s intentional or not, Apple is saying that the Mac is not an important platform compared to the iPhone and iPad. With great Mac-only software still being released by many top notch companies, I find it hard to believe that they couldn’t find it in the budget to generate a few more of those glowing ADA awards.”

Of course, this is all old news. iPhone 4 is out, iPad is still getting great new apps and Snow Leopard will only be a year old this August. Most of the developers who gave their thoughts on WWDC’s lack of Mac specific tracks stated that Leopard shipped in 2007, Snow Leopard shipped in 2009 and that’s three years of tracks dedicated to a largely unchanged operating system and it’ll just be more of the same from Apple if you do attend those sessions. Besides, iPad is new, iOS 4 is hot and Apple should do everyone a favor by devoting more resources to it. I agree.

But, there’s the argument that I still want to make. The iPhone was released in 2007 running iOS 1.0 and now, in 2010 we receive our fourth huge update to iOS where Apple’s Leopard and Snow Leopard are largely unchanged from a feature perspective and only maintain system improvements, speed enhancements and other changes. Snow Leopard was a welcome update and priced appropriately at $29 but I’m still using the same features in Dashboard, Spaces and Finder that I was in 2007, and that irks me a bit.

[inline-ad]When I sounded off on Twitter about this, the replies were all over the place. Most notably, people were saying that Apple has to compete in mobile and the competition (Google, Nokia, Palm) hasn’t stopped innovating just so Apple can update its Mac OS with new features. Apple had to be happy with its desktop OS as is, maintain it and focus on mobile in order to maintain its competitive advantage and continue innovating beyond competition and it shows. Apple is the most profitable mobile company in the world, but why did it have to do one or the other?

Steve said at the D8 conference a few weeks ago that Apple is the largest startup in the world, and we all know that Apple keeps teams small so innovation moves quickly and Apple maintains huge profitability with very low R&D costs compared to competitors. For that, shareholders must be proud and the big picture shows that Apple is doing a great job. Mac sales are still booming and Mac OS is still ahead of the competition, but that doesn’t mean Mac users don’t feel a little left out by Apple’s choice to dedicate more resources to mobile.

My second point is Apple doesn’t have to act like a startup. Keeping teams small and focusing all of the best talent (which, according to Jobs is everyone at Apple) on a single product at a time is working for them but there are thousands of qualified people in the world who could do great things for Apple and help them simultaneously change the world both in desktop and in mobile without either product suffering. Even in 2007, Apple delayed Leopard’s release because it was busy getting iPhone out the door.

My fear is that Apple will continue to spend all of its time and money on what’s hot right now. Those of us who were Mac users before the Intel switch and before the iPod know that Apple runs like a startup and thus what’s not hot will suffer while it promotes and innovates in one area. iPod was the highlight of the majority of Apple events starting in 2004 and now the iPhone and other iOS devices get Apple’s love but we have to ask, “where would Mac OS be if the iPod and iOS were never made?” Well, part of us knows that Apple wouldn’t be at the size it is today without those products but we also know that the Mac OS could be light years ahead of where it is now if Apple only focused its resources on it.

All we can do as the Mac faithful is trust that Apple will make the right choices and not let us down. We might be the most vocal bunch of Apple customers but we’re also the most loyal. We stuck with Apple through the dark years, through the OS X switch and the Intel switch and we’ll stick with Apple while it spends 90 percent of its time head first on the iPhone. I just hope this “phase” doesn’t last forever. I want a new Mac OS and more breathtaking Mac OS computers.

When Steve Jobs announced that the new iPhone 4 would have HD video capabilities, and that Apple would be releasing iMovie on in the App Store, everyone’s first impression was that the Flip was dead. What was not expected was that within the first few days of the product being available to the public, such a well put together movie short would be comprised entirely on the iPhone using the new iMovie App.

If you have not already seen this, you have to check it out for yourself. “Apple of My Eye” is a movie short shot and edited entirely on an iPhone 4. That’s right, full production on the iPhone. Watching the behind the scenes clips that follow the short, you will see that the folks over at Majek Pictures do have skills. They did have some sophisticated rigging that was used to maneuver and hold the iPhone steady, but still. In an exhausted testimonial, the editor Anna Elizabeth James admitted that it only took her fourteen hours of tedious pinching and tapping to get the whole thing done. Perhaps she should have checked out TheAppleBlog first to understand what the potential health risks were before she started. All the same, I am glad she didn’t.

On Tuesday, June 15, Apple will begin taking pre-orders for iPhone 4. The new device will begin shipping on June 24 to the U.S., France, Germany, UK and Japan. By sometime in September, Apple plans to be shipping iPhone 4 to 88 countries around the world.

Not just mimicking the current 3GS storage sizes of 16 and 32 gigabytes, the (subsidized) pricing scheme will be the same too, at $199 and $299 respectively. It appears that both models will come in either black or white colors, which incidentally, is visible on the front as well as the back of the new iPhone.

While iPhone OS 4, now dubbed iOS 4, is being released to developers today in Gold Master form, there was no official mention of the ship date for current iPhone users. However, it seems likely that the update would be available along with iPhone 4 come June 24.

In the meantime, check out the iPhone 4 design video. Seeing it in such detail, and all the behind the scenes technology is really breathtaking!

Here in San Francisco, the WWDC line started no earlier than 6:30PM last night…over 15 hours before the event starts. By 10PM last night there were over 20 people in line, and by 4AM this morning, the line started wrapping around the building.

Below are some photos from the action, and by “action” we mean “people standing around.” Enjoy.

Be sure to follow our live keynote coverage at live.theappleblog.com and @theappleblog!

But Jobs has an opportunity to open his keynote, or at least the segment where he rolls out the new iPhone hardware, with one of the best lines he could deliver.

“So, this developer walks into a bar…”

Of course, the line refers to the Apple engineer who was testing a prototype of the next-generation iPhone when he lost it or it was stolen, only to land in the hands of Brian Lam and Gizmodo. But it’s so much more than that. The line is a variant of one of the most-used first lines of a joke ever. It is instantly recognizable as such. Humor should only be used in presentations when you know you’re going to get a laugh, or when your expectations for a laugh are infinitesimally low. This line is certain to draw a good laugh.

The line is also an opportunity to be self-deprecating. Jobs was asked about the incident at the D8 conference last week, and while conversational, he took a pretty hard line, referring to Gizmodo as guilty of extortion. That’s a big, bad word, and it may or may not be true. Jobs should let his legal team handle the heavy lifting on this one, and delivering this line is an easy way to hand it off.

Delivered correctly, it could also actually help to take some heat off of the engineer in question. See, that guy is just like the thousands attending WWDC. He’s one of them. And nothing could make a stronger statement to developers than to give this guy a break in such a public way.

Lastly, this is a tech conference. Developers will be walking into bars in droves over the next few evenings. So Jobs would be speaking directly to his audience in a very personal, timely way. Oh, and I don’t think I’d follow it with anything. Deliver the line, offer up a pregnant pause, then move on to topic du jour. It is so obvious and works on so many levels that it doesn’t need to be propped up with any further comment.

Come on, Steve. Let us have it.

Follow our live coverage of the WWDC 2010 keynote, photos and all!

I stopped by after work on Friday to snap a few photos of Moscone West receiving the finishing touches of the giant three-story tall Apple logo and snap photos of banners hanging inside the conference center. Unfortunately, there were no exposed banners of any unannounced products and instead I could see promos for iAds, folders and mult-tasking which are all features Apple has announced will be a part of iPhone OS 4 that is rumored to ship at WWDC or shortly after with the new iPhone. The two banners on Moscone’s 1st level did contain previously unannounced news that Apple has sold its four billionth app on the app store and they now have over 200,000 apps available for the popular iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Check out the full set on Flickr.

The Telegraph reports that, in addition to beating out Thomas Crapper’s 1880 siphon flush device and space travel, the iPhone was voted a more important invention than washing machines or internal combustion engines. In the Tesco Mobile survey of 4,000 Britons aged between 18 and 65, the iPhone ranked eighth — ahead of the toilet, which finished ninth (toilet paper was 22nd), and also higher than the automobile, camera — even shoes. What Tesco has provided here is a somewhat alarming snapshot of where popular priorities and preoccupations lie.

At least the wheel was acknowledged the most important invention in history, with the airplane in second place and the lightbulb third, but amazingly the Internet finished fourth and computers fifth. By contrast, roofs ranked a distant 44th.

Really,folks? Would you truly prefer to go back to using chamber pots and outhouses than give up web surfing in the rain barefoot?

Of course, inconsistencies abound in popular perception here. Internal combustion engines were an indispensable enabler of airplanes and made the wheel exponentially more useful, and without cameras we’d be staring at lines of text on our computer screens at best.

The iPhone also beat central heating (13), painkillers (15), the steam engine (16) and eyeglasses (205). Astonishingly, the printing press, which this writer would contend was a vastly more significant invention than either the web or computers or most of the rest of the survey picks, didn’t even make the top 100. Bizarre.

Notable finishers were refrigerators (14), freezers (17), the vacuum cleaner (23), microwaves (26), hot water (29). shoes (30) hair-straighteners (34??!), paper (38), the (presumably electric) kettle (40), remote controls (43), cats-eye spectacles (48) power steering (50) tea bags (54), spell-checkers (86), makeup (66), push-up bras (77) and mascara (80).

This survey indicates that Britons think the iPhone is quite literally the greatest thing since sliced bread (70).

Go figure.

Images courtesy of Flickr users ricardovillela and williamhook.

The Beginning of the Digital Revolution

When Apple launched the iTunes Store in 2003, Steve Jobs made the case for why digital downloads would be the future. At the time, it was fairly easy to illegally download music through services like Napster or Kazaa. However, Jobs felt that people would pay a price, very reasonably set at 99 cents, to download music that was great quality and featured intact metadata and gorgeous album artwork. But does the same argument extend to digital books? The current offerings on the iBookstore seem to disagree.

Limitations of the ePub Format

There’s a few considerations to keep in mind, such as selection and format. When the iTunes Store first launched, its catalog only contained 200,000 titles. Seven years later, the catalog features over 11 million titles. While Apple hasn’t released a specific number, its website says the iBookstore features tens of thousands of titles with more arriving daily. Still for most, the selection feels a bit limited. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to replace your entire library with e-books soon.

Another consideration is formatting. A lot of digital content like books and documents are in PDF format. This is great as this format can maintain the exact structure, graphics, typeface and colors from the original source material. However, there are some trade offs. For example, zooming on a PDF document, especially on an iPad, will require you to scroll up and down, or even worse left and right, just to view everything on one page. This doesn’t make for a natural reading experience.

Content on the iBookstore is delivered in ePub format, which is essentially an XML-based web page. By using a standards-compliant format (and we all know how Apple loves open standards), the ePub format supports benefits like being able to resize text or switch typefaces. This works because the iBooks app can simply modify the stylesheet applied to the document. When you make these changes, it’s easy for the iPad to reflow the content onto additional pages if needed. But sometimes this can get a bit wonky (yes, that’s a technical term).

First, custom typefaces are not supported in iBooks. While Safari on the iPad itself will support font embedding, iBooks misses out on this feature.

Another issue is images which are displayed in-line with the text content. What this means is in an original book, you might have a few photos out to the side of a paragraph but on the iPad, they’ll just be displayed one right after the other, mixed in with the narrative. For some types of content, this may be a non-issue, but for others where the page structure is essential to the reading experience, this can be problematic.

Both of these are the top reasons why you don’t see periodicals available through the iBookstore. Imagine the implications this causes for technical books or textbooks. Isn’t the education market supposed to be a big market for this device?

Some Potential Solutions

There are some potential solutions to this. Publishers could simply display some pages as single images, as this would maintain formatting, but accessibility features and the ability to bookmark and change text sizes would be lost.

Another solution would be that authors could release specific apps for these titles. Some have followed this route, but managing more than a handful of these apps really begins to clutter up the device and suddenly, the simplicity of the iBooks app for managing your content is gone.

Since ePub is an open e-book standard, there is hope that future versions will be able to address these issues. Likewise, the iBooks app itself can also be updated to add additional functionality, however, once you’ve bought a book, you own it. Unlike how Apple offered users to upgrade to iTunes Plus to get higher bit-rate versions of their songs, its unlikely that Apple will go back and update older titles or offer “plus” versions of some of these books.

Instead, Apple is being more selective about which titles are showing up on the iBookstore. Obviously, there are no periodicals. You could argue that the iBookstore is intended for books only, but I really think that’s just the beginning, similar to how the iTunes Store began with music videos before adding TV shows and then movies. But could Apple release a different app to manage periodicals and newspapers? Perhaps and so there is yet another solution.

Regardless, the feasibility of converting your entire book collection to e-books is unlikely in the short-term, either because of a lack of content or simply because e-books are not worthy replacements of the books on your shelves. The ePub format itself still has a number of issues to address before printed books become a proverbial page from the past.

Have you used the iBooks app or the iBookstore? What are your thoughts on the ePub format? Is it sufficient enough to replace your library? Share your thoughts in the comments and tell us what you think.

First and foremost, be prepared to wait. Whether you show up tonight to get in line (oh yeah, if the lines haven’t formed already, they will shortly) or try your luck tomorrow morning, you’ll be there a while. Those who get in the door first are likely going to linger a while. And while the line will regenerate as fast as it dissipates, it’s likely there will be no great time to go if you must be there tomorrow.

Take a page from the boy scouts, and be prepared. Bring a canteen, day pack, bed roll, etc. Well, I’m partially kidding at least. If you’re there tonight, you’ll want to be comfortable (and dry if you’re outside and there’s weather). Have some snacks on hand, and a plan for potty breaks. A dolly with a car battery, power inverter, and a power strip will make you mighty popular with your line mates too. Just saying.

Everyone around you has a story, so take in the scene. It’s easy to show up with your iPod/iPhone or MacBook and just plug into the free Apple Wi-Fi and wait. But it’s a safe bet that there’s a guy next to you who was working on the very first Mac prototypes, or a lady who programmed part of NeXT back in the day. I’ve only been to a few events, but each time have met folks with pretty amazing Apple stories and experiences.

The Apple Store doesn’t want your money for anything but iPad tomorrow. This may not be absolute, but last summer when the iPhone 3GS came out, I already had mine, and ran to the store late in the day to pick up an accessory or something only to be turned away — they were only servicing iPhone sales for the day. So if you need some little widget, plan to head over today, or wait until Sunday, otherwise you may potentially be turned away tomorrow.

Document your experience. New product releases and store openings aren’t a very regular thing. It’s pretty neat to say you were there when… What Apple’s doing these days is special, and not many (if any) brands are replicating the experience that comes with buying a product. Take photos, blog it, and share the experience with others.

Oh, and while I won’t count it as a specific tip, be prepared to answer the question over and over again when asked, “What in the world is everyone standing in line for?!” There’s probably a lot more to know, and we’d love to hear other ideas from our great readers who’ve been there and done that. Feel free to let us know how it goes tomorrow too. Enjoy the show everyone!

At only half an inch thin, and sporting a 9.7″ screen, the iPad weighs in at only one and a half pounds. It’s powered by Apple’s very own chip – the A4 – ans “screams” at 1GHz. Available with 16, 32, or 64GB flash storage, and has 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR. Oh, and you can run it for 10 hours (a month in standby!) while watching videos. Wow! So far, no mention of any cellular carrier connectivity. UPDATE: Carrier details below!

If you’re a current iPhone user, much of the interaction with the iPad looks to be very familiar. For instance, tilting the iPad gives you portrait or landscape viewing — both orientations support a lovely full screen keyboard. It also appears that the app icons on the “home screen” change orientation too.

The software — assumed to be iPhone version 4.0, SDK available now — appears quite familiar, but has been blown-up to support the larger screen. It appears also to allow custom background wallpaper, and sports a very OS X-like dock at the bottom of the screen. And of course, it runs iPhone Apps using “pixel doubling” for full screen mode, or sports a black frame in regular sized mode. As an aside, this looks sick for viewing the likes of New York Times and other ‘print media’ type web content.

We have yet to hear the price, but watch this space and we’ll updated as soon as we know.

UPDATE: We’re now finding out that there will be a 3G-capable version of the iPad, with service from AT&T starting at $14.99 for 250MB per month, and $29.99 for unlimited monthly usage. It’s pre-paid and there is no contract to deal with. International deals are projected to be worked out by June. All 3G models are unlocked, though and will work anywhere globally with new GSM micro SIMs.

As for pricing of the device itself, it starts at $499, which is a very low cost of entry. It will get you the 16GB base model without 3G. $599 will get you the 32GB Wi-Fi only model, and $699 will bump you up to 64GB. With 3G, the prices are $629, $729 and $829 respectively for the different storage capacities.

Shipping will take place within about 90 days for the 3G models, 60 days for those with Wi-Fi only.

Related GigaOM Pro Research:

• Web Tablet Survey: Apple’s iPad Hits Right Notes
• 5 Tips for Developers Targeting the iPad
• How AT&T Will Deal with iPad Data Traffic

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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• Web Tablet Survey: Apple’s iPad Hits Right Notes
• 5 Tips for Developers Targeting the iPad

iLife X

Probability: Guaranteed
When the last version of iLife launched, it adopted the moniker “iLife ’09.” Recently however, Apple has modified most of its website to drop the date from the title. Now simply called “iLife,” I wonder if Apple will be quick to release a new “yearly” iteration at the outset of 2010.

Based on previous versions, the next iteration of iLife will require Mac OS X 10.6. By requiring Snow Leopard, this does make iLife an Intel-only release. Though some users will be left behind, significant performance gains should be recognized by taking advantage of 64-bit technology included in Snow Leopard.

Within the apps themselves, I believe we’ll continue to see significant updates. Here’s the roundup.

iPhoto

Probability: Possible
The addition of Faces and Places to iPhoto ’09 was just the beginning. The next version of iPhoto will support more accurate facial recognition and integration with Twitter. Those who enjoy the photo slideshow themes that were added to the last version will enjoy a larger selection of new themes that will be added in the new version. I also predict that the next version will bring support for bulk renaming of files (similar to how Aperture can do this upon import) and better performance when dealing with larger libraries. I also predict revised or better photo editing controls with additional effects.

iMovie

Probability: Possible
I believe the next version of iMovie will boast support for posting videos directly to more Internet services, such as Facebook and Flickr. An expanded set of new themes as well as more advanced title options will be present as well. The user experience of the application will be refined, for those who are still frustrated by the intense switch from iMovie HD to the last two versions.

iDVD

Probability: Guaranteed
iDVD will likely see one of the most significant updates that it has ever seen in quite a while. 2010 will mark the beginning of new ways of enjoying media. From the possibility of the first out-of-the-box Blu-ray drives on the Mac to iTunes Extras & LPs to the elusive Apple Tablet, the presentation of digital content remains a key focus for Apple.

The next version of iDVD will help push this agenda forward, allowing users to create Blu-ray discs or optimize their video content into formats like iTunes Extras. Such a dramatic update would likely warrant changing the name of the application, but that’s also within the realm of possibility. iDVD has definitely been late to the party for the past two years, seeing only small maintenance updates. While many speculate that Apple plans to axe DVD creation altogether (foreseeing the death of the digital disc in favor of digital distribution), I believe Apple has been working on a successor application to take advantage of new forms of distribution (a la Blu-ray or iTunes Extras-styled media).

iWeb

Probability: Possible
iWeb is one of those apps that is difficult to pack full of compelling new features every year. I predict the next version of iWeb will support more themes and a few more widgets, including a widget that provides a live feed of your Twitter stream on your website.

GarageBand

Probability: Possible
GarageBand will likely see an expanded music lesson store with more artist lessons and lessons for drums and bass. I also predict Apple will make it easier to share GarageBand creations beyond iTunes and iWeb. Similar to the other apps, I believe we will see support for exporting to other web services such as Facebook or YouTube.

iWork X

Probability: Possible
I predict the biggest improvement to the iWork suite will be a tighter integration with the iPhone and iPod touch. On the short side, I see iWork.com coming to the iPhone as an app to allow quick browsing of documents. In an ideal world, Apple will eventually build lightweight mobile versions of its iWork apps to allow users to create and edit Pages, Keynote and Numbers files on the go.

I believe we’ll see an update to the “beta” of iWork.com, including a paid plan if Apple deems the project a huge success, or inclusion with MobileMe if Apple feels the product isn’t strong enough to stand on its own footing.

All three applications will see new templates and a refined Inspector palette. It seems very un-Apple like to mandate users bring up a palette for colors, a separate one for fonts, another for media and yet another master Inspector to control everything else. Additionally, I predict the Media Browser will be updated across all apps to support Faces and Places from iPhoto.

I also predict Pages will provide support for (or perhaps work directly with) third-party applications like bibliographic software such as Endnote or Refworks for academic publications.

iTunes

Probability: Guaranteed
iTunes is an interesting application as every version seems to bring about a large number of extra features that many people don’t expect, or at first glance, really need.

I predict the next major version of iTunes, iTunes 10, will bring support for syncing with the mythical iTablet, as well as better syncing support (including over the air syncing of content if on a Wi-Fi network). Furthermore, iTunes 10 should feature better support for managing larger libraries of content and the need to split those libraries across multiple hard drives in a simple but effective manner.

Conclusion

Finally, I’d like to see iWork and iLife dropping in price back to the familiar $49 from years past. In light of economic conditions and Apple’s vocal attempts of providing quality products to more and more users, a price drop seems wise as it would also help generate better market penetration.

Again, many of these predictions are pure speculation and hopes and dreams on my part. What do you think we’ll see in these areas over the coming year?

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Not surprisingly, then, Apple’s moves towards cloud computing have been cautious. MobileMe, iWork.com and in some ways iTunes, can all be seen as cloud-based services, but none of them have offered ground-breaking solutions. It’s obvious that Apple’s cloud strategy is based mostly around complementing its computer based-solutions. It continues to feel strongly that the best place to create and/or edit files is on your computer, where you can take full advantage of today’s hardware and the power of OS X. Looking forward to 2010 I don’t expect this general philosophy to change, but I do expect Apple to move more aggressively towards tying its services even more closely to the cloud.

So, without further ado, here are my 2010 predictions for Apple and the Cloud.

iTunes will begin streaming music

Probability: Guaranteed
Not much of a risk here, Apple has thankfully tipped its hand with its acquisition of Lala.com, a music streaming service. This is the direction the industry is going, with services like Spotify, Pandora and Last.fm all growing rapidly. Adding a subscription streaming model to iTunes and/or allowing you to stream your iTunes library is a no-brainer for Apple. What will be interesting is seeing how such a potential service integrates with the iPhone and iPod lineup.

iTunes will offer streaming movies and/or television

Probability: Possible
This prediction follows logically from the one before. If Apple is going to offer streaming music, why not also offer to stream video content as well? Unfortunately, the likelihood of such a service is as constrained by the veracities of the rights-holders of Apple’s interest, as such I only deem this prediction a possibility.

MobileMe will see a significant price drop

Probability: Possible
MobileMe has always been dogged by sticker shock. Although the $8 or so a month the service costs isn’t that high, paying $100 all at once is a bit more difficult to swallow. What’s more, MobileMe offers very little that can’t be had for free in other places. I’m allowing my Mobile Me subscription to lapse this year as I’ve replaced all the services with free alternatives. Although I don’t expect Apple to make the service free, I do expect it to try and expand the universe of subscribers by offering a drop in price, and perhaps moving to a monthly subscription model instead of paying for an entire year up front.

MobileMe will add photo, music and file synchronization

Probability: Possible
MobileMe is still the best way to keep your PIM data synchronized across your Macs and your iPhone, but one glaring weakness is multimedia and file synchronization. Sure you can keep everything on your iDisk, but this lacks the elegance that is typical of Apple as it requires you to move everything that should be in your home folder to another place. It’s also extremely limited in terms of storage. It would be much more convenient if I could just tell Mobile Me to automatically synchronize my home folder across computers, just as I do with my calendars and contacts. With the speed of Internet connections only increasing, this is not only possible today, but it’s inevitable. Whether it happens next year is less certain, but it will happen eventually.

iWork.com will add document editing

Probability: Possible
As I mentioned above, Apple seems strongly opposed to moving document creation and editing to the cloud, but if it decides to start experimenting with some could-based document editing, this is likely the place where it will happen. Its competitors in this space, Google, Microsoft and Zoho, all are offering document editing to some extent. I wouldn’t expect the entire iWork suite to be ported to the cloud, but I do think the addition of basic editing is a possibility.

OS X is ported to the cloud

Probability: Absurd
It may seem like an absurdity, and I certainly don’t expect it to happen next year, but the idea of porting OS X to the cloud is one that Apple will certainly want to consider at some point in the future. The strength of Apple’s computing platform has always been the operating system and development tools that underly it. If you truly believe that in the long run computing will be a server-client model, than in order to retain its competitive advantage Apple will have to move these strengths to the cloud. Adapting OS X and Xcode to become the foundation of a cloud-based operating system and development environment is the obvious long-term strategy for Apple.

Steve Job’s consciousness will be uploaded to the cloud to ensure he rules Apple forever

Probability: Absurd
Steve Jobs’ health problems last year and his temporary absence from Apple proved once again that the tenure of Apple’s messiah is not assured to run forever. I think Apple needs to turn all of its prodigious talent towards ensuring that Jobs’ genius remains with us forever, and what better way than to upload his consciousness to the cloud? There he can ensure that we continue to pour the contents of our wallets into Apple’s coffers in perpetuity. You can bet Apple’s share-holders will be in support of this, despite that small probability that Jobs-in-the-cloud may someday turn into Skynet.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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• Report: Monetizing Digital Content
• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce