Ideas from the Bench

I decided to help Apple out in the innovation area.

1. VoiceScroll: Whether in your car, jogging or in the plane it is annoying to have break out the ipod to find an album or song. In your car it is downright dangerous. So here is the solution. As the scroll wheel is moving fast a pleasant voice says A, B C, etc, when you slow down she/he begins reading the titles of your music. Imagine how good this would be for the shuffle! VoiceScroll would also be helpful while driving and trying to locate one of the contacts on your iPhone.
2. Oh ya..  And how about you make the AppleTV better.  Let me backup my Mac to it!  and while your at it, throw on a DVD player so i can get rid of an old DVD player.  wireless router too?
3. CoverFlow Contacts on my iPhone: Great wizbang feature and a way to move through your list.
4. Stock-Buyback

Here is a list of Wish-I-Haves that you probably have read elsewhere.

1. Where is the WiFipod??? Please don’t say battery issues..
2. Cut and paste on my iPhone. If you have not figured out how to handle this, look at palm. Hold down your finger for a long second and then select your copy.
3. Play nice with Exchange Server. You are a big company, why can you not buy the push technology license? Business people would make the switch to the iPhone and maybe buy a mac when they realize how perfect Apple products are.
4. Email on the tilt: Can I please look at my email when I rotate my iPhone?

Cheers,

Mike

Steve Jobs perpetual challenge is to simply innovate. Enter the wiPod

I thought that I would help him out a bit. How about a free iPod? Steve can take a page from the playbook of Verizon et al. The margins in electronics are razor thin and decrease as the technology reaches the masses. The question becomes how can Steve create a subscription service based upon the iPod?

The solution involves a technology that almost certainly is next evolution of the iPod, the wireless connection.First off, the technology is coming. PortalPlayer, who supplies Apple with chips, is investing in a chip that allows devices to connect using wifi and bluetoooth. This is foreseeable the next evolution of the Ipod. Now if you will imagine a world where your wifi connection would enable you to share music, much like Apple already does through it rendezvous technology. You will also be able to host all of your music on the subscriptionservice. Any music that you purchase though iTunes will be available at all times though the wirelessconnection. This enables even a small device to access all music in your account. You also will be able to share all of your music with people in your community. Think myspace.com meets your personal music library.

This wifi enabled iPod and subscription allows you to share your music with all people within 50 feet of you. It allows you to see active shared connections and use the current interface to search and view others music. Imagine being able to take all of your music with you at all times. Couple this with a broadband level connection that a Verizon offers and you have the ability to connect in the car or the office. This does not even take into count the ability to watch live video content, movies and podcasts. iMac already has the ability to store large amounts of data and since most content already exists on Apple servers there is really no issue with transferring the data.

This generates revenue from multiple streams. First the market penetration from a cheap subsidized iPod will increase. Plus many iPod loyalists will repurchase a new iPod to receive the benefit of the community. The wireless subscription and increase in purchase at the iTunes store will drive the service to the next level.
Now, imagine the slide from underneath keypads that exist on some advanced phones being added to the iPod. Now your device can compete directly with the Blackberry and Treo that are popular with business people. You can create and send email as well as interface the Internet and iTunes whenever you want. The next logical step is to add phone capability. All of this can be done with a slight increase in size.
The bottom line is that Steve has the ability to create a truly convergent device based upon the ease of use of readily available technology and drive the company to reach a new consumer.