2012. A year most of us expected to have Jetson-like technology but we are obviously far from it. Now that CES has come and gone consumers wait for Ice Cream Sandwich to arrive on select Android devices and to see what Apple has in store. But unlike previous years, there are certain aspects of this year in Apple makes things slightly different. Aspects like the company may have peaked as they have a new CEO at the helm with the passing of the co-founder Steve Jobs. Expectations of the new redesigned iPhone 5 we were expecting last year. The rumor mill running rampant with several new iPads on the way. Being a new iPhone owner, I am personally excited for all of the new products & services from Apple. Allow me to further elaborate.
We as consumers have a lot to thank Apple for in regards to providing the best App & music ecosystem, (until recently) the best resolution on a smartphone, and the best selling tablet in the market. The company has recently been penetrating more into the enterprise market with Mac computers, iPads, & iPhones as well. We already reported how this year Apple may redesign several products this year which will all be welcome addition for consumers.
At this point in the game, expectations for any Apple products will be pretty high. So when they unveiled the iPhone 4S instead of the iPhone 5, people were disappointed but that didn’t last too long as the sold out of pre-orders and were the highest selling device for all three carriers offering it over the holidays. But for 2012 with the help of the newer LTE chipsets coming to have less drain on your battery, we should see the iPhone 5 we were anticipating for 2011. A 4inch display w/ higher resolution, a quad-core processor, a Qualcomm processor that supports all network frequencies w/ 3G, HSPA+, & LTE radios, an even slimmer design build, NFC, a capacitive touch Home button, and a higher resolution camera to combat the other platforms with more updated specs. If the i5 offers any of these rumored specs, I think iOS users will be thoroughly pleased along with an updated OS.
Next up on Apple’s consumer wishlist: the iPad 3. The next in line of iOS devices is the best-selling tablet in the market is the newest iPad. Due out sometime in March as mass production has already begun with the factories running 24 hours straight in China. Rumors put the new iTablet slated to have a quad-core processor, a higher resolution (2048 x 1536 maybe) HD display, higher resolution cameras, and LTE support for AT&T and Verizon (soon-to-be Sprint). Most of the new changes so far sound internal, little is known about the actual physical hardware changes that may come about if any at all. Consumers who are finally looking to pick up their first tablet are valiantly waiting to see what the third iPad will offer.
And lastly on the Apple anticipation list is the rumored iTV. Several reports suggest that Apple is definitely working on an iOS-power HDTV slated to launch sometime this year theoretically replacing the current Apple TV streaming box. The new iTV is rumored to offer seamless integration w/other iOS devices, access to iTunes, iCloud, & App Store ecosystems, a camera for FaceTime, and Siri built within for a different kind of Smart TV. This concept maybe more of a gamble than previous products as you can imagine, the price point for an iTV may start around $1,999. Obviously more specs/features may have to be added for this to become a big seller unless it is sold at a more reasonable selling point.
Rumors also suggest the MacBook Air and iMac will get redesigned and beefed up as well. I think mass consumer focus will be around the i5, iPad 3, & the iTV. Siri will be a feature equipped on all three of these devices as we hope Apple takes it out of beta and adds more features to the virtual assistant. Hopes of new look for iOS 6 are out there but since they added several new features to iOS 5, that may not happen this time around.
The recently-appointed CEO Tim Cook is obviously no Steve Jobs in regards to presence (proven at the press event for the i4S). Although he has worked with Steve Jobs as the company’s COO for the last four years and previously handed the company’s daily day-to-day operations while Jobs was on medical leave. If that bit of news still doesn’t put you at ease for the company’s future, I am quite sure Jobs left Cook and the other heads a blueprint of sorts along with whatever Jobs already had in the works before his resignation & death. So you guys can relax…for now.
Expectations can be a good thing but can mostly be bad things at times as sometimes they can be unreasonably high which will lead to never being satisfied. The company has been on quite a winning streak but don’t expect everything the company releases to be golden. No one is perfect. No matter what an Apple fanboy tells you. But whatever you expectations are: high or low, everyone from consumers, bloggers, to analysts all have their eyes on Apple to see what their next big thing will be.
