Future iProducts: Where Does Apple Go Next?

The last two years have seen a dizzying array of products from Apple. OS X Tiger. Intel Macs. iMacs. iPods with video. AppleTV. The iPhone.

What’s next? What “shock and awe” products does Apple have next? Inquiring minds want to know.

Frankly, looking back over just the past two years shows a remarkable trail of accomplishment for our favorite Mac maker. If Apple’s done something wrong, I don’t know what it is.

From the launch of Mac OS X Tiger just two years ago, Apple has revamped everything in the product line. Everything.

On the hardware side there’s been a new line of iPods, a complete transition of the Mac from PPC chips to Intel chips, the hot-selling Airport Extreme, and the highly anticipated AppleTV.

On the software side, Apple is preparing a launch of Mac OS X Leopard, a new suite of updates in iLife ‘07 and iWork ‘07, plus full updates of the pro applications.

iTunes and the iTunes Store continue to dominate online media purchases, which will only accelerate as AppleTV moves into more Mac and PC homes.

What of the iPhone? Success isn’t guaranteed, but few products in recent years garnered as much industry buzz as Apple’s entry into whatever industry the iPhone will be in—portable music and media, mobile phone, internet access device.

In other words, in two years Apple has rebuilt itself again with a series of revolutionary and evolutionary products, hardware and software. What about the next two years?

Beyond the iPhone and launch of OS X Leopard, what can we expect from Apple? Obviously, Macs will follow the high end of Intel’s CPU roadmap so it’s less difficult to predict which chips will fall where in future products.

AppleTV and other products may be filled with other Intel CPUs for varying purposes. Already, we see OS X in the iPhone and AppleTV, so the company is leveraging a cherished asset.

What new products should we expect to see in later 2007 and 2008 or beyond? Faster Macs. More capable mobile phones and portable media devices. Those are no brainer predictions.

What else? A tablet Mac, or a morphed iPod tablet-sized device? More software is a natural prediction, carrying forward the iLife and iWork suites. Apple may elect to create a more Office-like version of iWork, or add more Photoshop-like tools to iPhoto and Aperture.

Those suggestions are evolutionary, not revolutionary products. What’s your suspicion? Prediction? Suggestion? Desire?

Will Apple step back into the digital imaging arena with another digital camera? I don’t think so. How about displays? Apple has a patent on a display device which makes the whole flat panel LCD display a camera. That would be cool.

What do you think Apple is working on? What do you want to see from Apple in the next 18 months?