Re-posting this from the old blog, dated 25th May, 2010. It's great to see so many items on the list becoming a reality. Still waiting for iTunes.com though…
The recent Google I/O event got me thinking about features that Apple could be working on for iPhone OS and their other platforms. I thought it would be interesting compile a list of few of my most wanted features here and see what Apple comes up with. Chances are you've heard most or all of these before, but no harm adding another voice to the crowd. Hopefully, with WWDC just round the corner, a couple of these will become a reality sooner rather than later. iTunes.com This one is a bit of a no-brainer, and Apple must be working in it. The acquisition of Lala a few months back, coupled with the massive server farm they built, hints that this is most likely going to appear soon, probably this year. If not at WWDC, then possibly at the Fall iPod/iTunes event. Imagine installing the latest version of iTunes on your Mac or PC and letting it scan your library (hello, Genius). Using a track's audio signature, similar to how Shazam works, iTunes would then enable that song for streaming in your online iTunes.com account. For songs not available in the iTunes store, the tracks would be automatically uploaded & added to your account. Taking it a step further… It could be possible to stream music in your browser, on any iTunes computer that you have authorised with your iTunes account, as well as being built into the iPod application on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Smart playlists, such as Most Played or Top Rated, could be used to automatically cache music to your mobile device, for use when no internet access is available. Just pick a playlist, hit Cache, and let it Sync away. Apple TV Apple TV is another great candidate for this iTunes Anywhere type of service: Say I'm out of the office and I remember that the latest episode of my favourite TV show is available today. I should be able to access the iTunes store on my iPhone, tap the Download button, which then prompts me to download to iPhone, iTunes on my Mac, or my Apple TV at home. When I arrive home later that evening, the episode will be sitting there on my Apple TV ready to play. Likewise, if I'm watching a movie on my Apple TV and I'm interrupted and have to leave the house, it would be nice to be able to tap a Watch Later On… button, specify my iPad and automatically load the movie, including my current pause location onto the device. Over WiFi or cellular. Wireless Sync This has already been demonstrated with a jailbreak app, and it's something that Apple will definitely have investigated before. Steve Jobs hates buttons; I would imagine that he hates cables as much, if not more. While we're on the subject, I've read a lot of reports and reviews of the WiFi Sync app that Apple rejected and most of them are up in arms over said rejection. Why? The app clearly has to break out of its sandbox to copy the music, apps, photos, etc into place. Not to mention accessing the data of other apps. If it's not doing that and it's somehow triggering a sync and fooling the OS into doing so over WiFi, well… there's no public API that I know of that does that. Yes, it's a shame that such a cool idea was rejected, but Apple are being consistent here with their reviewing process and guidelines. Mobile Hotspot Mobile hotspot feature for iPhone. Google have announced that this will be built into Android from v2.2 onwards. Apple need to step up here. Let the carriers disable it if they have to, but at least give us the option of purchasing an add-on. I love my MiFi, but the less gizmos in my bag, the better. I'm well aware that this would probably hurt iPad 3G sales, so I don't expect this to become a reality anytime soon. MobileMe, iDisk, and the great big file-syncing mess MobileMe should be integrated across all Apple portable devices (as well as Macs, naturally). Let's use that iDisk storage for syncing files between all Apple products. This needs to be baked into the OS, not just given to us as an additional app, like the current iDisk app on iPhone. I want to be able to drop a PDF into iDisk on my Mac and have it available to read from within all PDF-compatible apps on my iPad and iPhone. Editing an image in Sketchbook Pro or Brushes on iPad and want to add the final touches in Acorn or Photoshop on your Mac? Just save on iPad, iDisk auto-syncs, and the image is made available in the iDisk folder on your Mac. Make your edits in Acorn, hit Save, and your changes are synced back to the iPad. Apple TV and iPhone OS Yeah, more Apple TV. Apple's poor little hobby. That grey box has so much potential; so many great features left unrealised. If memory serves me correctly, it's running a modified version of Mac OS X Tiger. The hardware itself is specced to handle the bare minimum amount of work. I don't know exactly how much of the desktop OS is running there, but it can't help matters. Now, how about Apple stick a customised version of iPhone OS on there? An OS that's designed and optimised for low power and slower hardware. Add to that the current Apple TV UI, with integrated App Store (think Hulu, ABC player, games, internet radio, etc), and you've got a killer product right there. Heck, build a new box, stick in a next generation A4 (A5?) processor, dedicated graphics, and make it scream. Might as well take on Nintendo and Microsoft in the living room too…