Apple has reached a point where they are now the defacto name of cool in the technical space. Apple has a cachet which Microsoft never had and it looks like Apple is now trying to capitalize on that. The simple truth is that cool doesn’t carry, and Apple will have to fundamentally modify its strategy to continue to grow. Its become clear that Steve may have figured out that no matter how many moves of the chess pieces he orchestrates, there is no longer anything new Apple can do that will have the Zing Factor of the iPhone.

They’ve captured the laptop market, the mobile media player market, the music market, the mobile phone market, and enough of the desktop market to make them very happy, and they’re watching that marketshare grow consistently. Anything they do now will be a derivation of something they’ve already done and people will necessarily be disappointed. This, I believe, is why Apple has been migrating away from the event-driven announcements over the past few years. Apple also had to have noticed that shares of Apple stock drop after every keynote.

I’m pretty sure that Steve knows that Apple rises and falls on his perceived failings and fortunes, and that’s not good to the ongoing fortunes of a huge multinational. Apple needs to become a brand again and right now its Apple is Steve Jobs. Mr. Jobs own mortality had to play a role in his views on how Apple should appear to the world. Apple is now distancing itself from its fanbase and will, in the next year or so, become something akin to Microsoft.

This will actually help Apple to grow as the lifestyle brand it has been forging itself into, something Microsoft has never been able to get a handle on. The people who purchase Apple goods now don’t do so out of brand loyalty or because they are phanboiz. They buy because it is popular and it works. This was the image Steve Jobs has been crafting over the last decade. He started with the iMac then the new PowerBooks then Mac OS X then the iPod and so on.

If Apple is going to move forward, gain more marketshare, and be a powerhouse from this point on it needs to behave differently. Will this piss off the phanboiz? Sure. Will it upset the loyalists? Some. Will it cement Apple’s role in the future of lifestyle computing? Without a single doubt. Apple has created a brand image for itself which works on all levels of a persons needs from the technological standpoint. They have made themselves as necessary as shoes, and unlike Microsoft’s lumpy pennyloafers these shoes are nice and comfortable.

That brand image doesn’t have a picture of Steve Jobs in it. Think back and try to find any piece of advertising material aimed at the general consumer in the last decade which has included Steve Jobs in it. My bet is you won’t find any. I’m also going to bet that Apple will return to MacWorld soon, maybe even next year, but they won’t do the keynote.

• iBclean – a complete set of toiletries including the iFoof, iBrush, iPit, iPick, and iWipe systems. All devices feature a specialized version of Mac OS X and have accelerometers for position and action detection functions.
• AppleVHS – a special version of the AppleTV deck which supports playback and upcoding of VHS video cassettes.
• iPlunge – This bathroom tool sports an ergonomic handle, a 4200 mAh LiIon battery pack, and the optional iScrub toilet brush. The iPlunge can root out 150 gallons a minute and store 4,000 songs.
• iChair – There is little known about this product as Apple refuses to comment on unannounced products, but from what The Dojo iTeam can tell, it emits a Jobs Field which causes people within range to have absolute faith in Apple products. It also has adjustable height and lumbar support.
• iGuy/iGal – These complementary products offer companionship, download support, Apple’s new iHug technology, storage for 25,000 to 100,000 songs, and can operate for 12 hours before requiring a charge. You can add the optional iPerambulate system which was developed in conjunction with iRobot and adds Roomba functionality.
• iGuess – This Apple-shaped device predicts the future. Just pick it up, give it a shake to activate the accelerometer driven start function, and ask it a question. Turn it over for the answer and be in the know at any time.

That should do it. If any of these products are actually announced, I can easily say I didn’t have any insider information. I just used my iGuess. <WINK>

After all, what is the point of one-upping Apple when your efforts fall flat on their face anyway? I beg your pardon if I’m hammering at this point, but what purpose did it serve Sprint to pre-announce the Instinct as an iPhone killer? They must really feel like asses now, or at least they will come Monday when Jobs whips out yet another “One More Thing”. His Steveness, after all, has created a PR system which doesn’t talk, doesn’t proselytize, doesn’t dole out freebies to anyone who asks, and isn’t warm and fuzzy. Apple PR is cold, efficient, quiet, and very, very effective.

One of the largest and most captivating aspects of this Soviet Bloc-style PR defense is the huge amount of speculation and hoaxing which seems to swell enormously in advance of any Steve Jobs keynote address. This is yet another one of Apple’s greatest PR tricks. Each and every time a MacWorld Expo or WWDC rolls around, Apple is fed a huge number of ideas and concepts from some of the brightest minds in design; Apple’s rabid phanboiz. Do you honestly think it was chance that Apple was developing the iPhone for a few years, especially considering the ongoing interest in the Apple Newton line of PDAs?

It should have been made even more clear when Apple finally revealed that they had been developing the Intel version of Mac OS X alongside the PowerPC version the entire time. If that doesn’t clarify that Steve Jobs, his executive team, and the board don’t have their pulse on the future, I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t think it indicates an otherworldly precognition, but it does indicate a genius and aptitude for technology which none other appears to have. How, after all, do you explain the iPod phenomenon, Apple’s ridiculously rapid rise to sales parity with HP and Dell in the laptop market, their newfound dominance in the high-end workstation market, the iPhone taking a huge share of the smartphone market in less than a year, and their seeming ability to hit every single market they’ve targeted with a bullseye.

Okay. There’s one market they can’t seem to get right, no matter what they do (or don’t do, which may be more apropos); the enterprise server market. Right now, Apple is flailing around like Microsoft in the early days of Windows CE, trying deperately to find a way to seat itself in the market. Their current strategy is to make everyone believe that Mac servers are only for newbie dorks with SMBs who are seeking to improve the ease of use of their network. Fiddlesticks. That them thar is Unix, maties. Its been the single most powerful OS on the planet for over 30 years. Its no n00b toy, even if Apple has made it that way.

If I had my way, Apple would create a new division called Apple Enterprise and they would go head to head with the likes of HP and Dell, forging relationships with Cisco, Citrix, VMware, Foundry, EMC and a range of others to heave itself from the depths of the doldrums. They’re doing that with the iPhone ala 2.0 of the software, but that’s just for users. Apple really needs to offer a real end-to-end offering if they are to win back the world. I predict, at their current rate of halo adoption they will have 40% of the overall world market in 12-15 years. If they slam a homerun with a complete enterprise-grade backend, they could do that in half the time… as long as they honor Windows users with real security.

So, in reality, Apple appears to be playing a waiting game, or at the very least they are holding something big back in the server space that we can’t even imagine Apple doing. That, however, is just like the rest of their PR. We have no idea if they have something cooking back there, and I could simply be ignorant about thier plans for enterprise deployments. We’ll just have to wait and see, just like everything else. If Apple keeps this kind of PR going, it will end up being very, very unlikely that any other major player will be able to predict what Apple is doing. With that logic, its also extremely unlikely that others will catch up with or surpass Apple at any level.

Keep your eyes peeled for the kickass announcements at the WWDC. If you want to know what’s going on now, MacRumorsLive.com has the best feed. Load it and let it roll, Web 2.0 stylie, dawg. No need to reload the page.

What could it possibly mean? We can easily speculate that Apple will officially release iPhone 2.0 at the show, which is held at Moscone Center June 9th through the 13th, since they’ve already told everyone it will come out in June. There’s also a buzz around the idea that Apple will introduce the second generation iPhone hardware which could add 3G capabilities. We also know that Mssr. Jobs can’t surprise us with the iPhone SDK, the Apps Store, Exchange integration via real Microsoft ActiveSync, or even the iFund program. What draws the attention is the image above which shows two Golden Gate bridges and the statement “A landmark event. In more ways than one.” The question becomes two what? It could be a cryptic way of stating that iPhone 2.0 will be released, in which case most people will be disappointed, since we already know its coming out.

Since its an image which has clearly been Photoshopped, it could portend a future where Apple gets back into digital imaging. Back in the mid and late 90′s when Apple was hawking its seminal Newton MessagePad line of PDAs, they were also vending some of the most accessible digital cameras of the time, the QuickTake. Like many other projects at Apple at the time, the returning iCEO, Steve Jobs, axed the QuickTake line. The only other imaging products Apple has released have been the iSight which was discontinued after the technology was integrated into MacBook, MacBook Pro, and iMac products. You can also find cameras in the iPhone and iPod Touch, but this is no different than other PDAs and mobile handsets.

Lets walk through some of the other possibilities. It can’t be the MacBook or MacBook pro since these form factors are well loved and well entrenched and we’re well past a second generation with these systems. Its unlikely to be the MacBook Air since it just came out and is being well received. We’re already working on the second generation of Apple TV. The Mac Pro and iMac has been upgraded several times since its release. The iPod and the Mac Mini have been through several iterations each. Apple doesn’t get all excited about software, monitors, or general accessories and we’re already on the sixth major version of Mac OS X. Apple also doesn’t shout from the mountaintops about its Xserve line and other behind-the-scenes systems, which have also been through many versions.

That leaves the iPhone and iPod Touch which are both in their first version. This leads me back to the thought that I find it hard to believe Apple would try to generate so much hype to simply re-announce something everyone already knows is coming out, Apple’s iPhone 2.0. This leads me back to the feeling that Apple will be releasing the second generation of the iPhone and iPod Touch hardware. That would mean the obvious, 3G network access, possibly an EVDO or HSDPA capable version. That, however, is unlikely since Apple still has 4 years left on its exclusivity contract with AT&T. They could be expanding storage to 64GBs or adding an expansion slot. They could also be rolling out a new, less costly, smaller version of the iPhone like the oft rumored iPhone Nano, possibly with another carrier.

Well, whatever Apple is planning, you can bet that there will be a “One more thing” in the offing.

I guess now that Apple is starting to get its rightful due in the general computer and gadget markets I’m a little miffed that MacWorld isn’t shaping up to be something more than just Apple. There are a lot of companies who support Apple with accessories, software, and systems and devices which support the Mac. It just seems like Apple could make a greater effort to recognize them. After all, there likely wouldn’t be an “iPod Economy” if there weren’t so many freaking iPod accessories.

I’m pretty sure that Apple still sees Apple as a singular entity and that it doesn’t rely on anyone or anything else for its success. I’ve recently come across a posting somewhere that asked what would happen to Apple if Steve Jobs were to just vanish. I’m sure that there are some people who even think that Mr. Jobs might not even die. That, of course, is ridiculous, but he may choose to retire, get sick, or, God forbid, actually expire.

Let’s face it, Apple didn’t come back to life until Steve Jobs returned and failed CEO Gil Amelio left, making Jobs the iCEO. The 90′s were not kind to Apple, mostly because of Amelio’s missteps and the colossal failure of Apple’s ludicrous 3rd party hardware program. Job’s, on the other hand, stepped in, got Mr. Ives fired up, and Apple released its seminal and company-saving iMac in 1998. The entire line of “i” products likely wouldn’t have even existed if Steveorino hadn’t axed all of the projects which were bloating the budget at that time, even my beloved Newton MessagePad, which had recently been spun off into its own subsidiary.

In the time Jobs wasn’t at Apple, after having been fired in 1985 by the Board of Directors and then CEO, John Sculley, until 1997, when CEO Amelio was ousted by unhappy boardmembers, he learned a lot. He even said so at a Stanford University address in 2005:

I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

In that period he created NeXT Computers Inc. and became the owner of The Graphics Group, better known today as Pixar, for US$10 million from George Lucas. Jobs ended up selling NeXT to Apple in 1996, where the NeXTstep operating system would become the basis for Mac OS X. Jobs is now the single largest stockholder in Disney, which now owns Pixar, and the CEO of Apple Inc, the maker of the iPod. Hmm. He seems to be pretty smart about things, yes?

Of course, he would have been unable to be who he is and where he is without the aid of some very, very talented people. While some may believe so, Steve Jobs is not the sole source of all inspiration and technology at Apple. Jonathan Ives is one savvy mofo when it comes to industrial design, aesthetics, and  user-oriented functionality. The iMac and pretty much all other “i” products would have potentially been unrealistic without his skills. So, maybe the question could be what would Apple do if Steve Jobs, Jonathan Ives, Phil Shiller, and the rest of the current Apple command crew disappeared?

We may have a glimpse at a possible iteration of this in, of all unlikely places, Microsoft. Bill Gates, the decidedly un-enigmatic co-founder and most visible persona in Redmond, is leaving this year to devote all of his time, considerable intelligence, and even more astounding wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a place where I believe he does the most, real good. Microsoft will then be in the hands of madman Steve Ballmer, an individual whose sanity I have questioned many times in the past. In the next few years we will get to see if Microsoft can turn it around of will collapse in on its own weight.

Apple should take some lessons from Microsoft and others and do three things. One, it should revamp its entire structure to allow for a Google-like 20% personal project time for all employees. It should make a number of these projects public, both in licensing and visibility. At least with this they can start to identify the next generation of talented designers, programmers, engineers, and administrative staffers before it becomes too late.

Two,  it needs to really focus some of the fame its been garnering for its products onto its loyal partners and vendor supporters. There are some companies which have been out there and stood up for Apple, even in its darkest days, which Apple needs to recognize. Ambrosia Software anyone? What about MacAlly? Hell, even Microsoft has been with Apple since before Windows! The MacWorld show should be a real showcase for all of Apple and its constituent halo providers.

Three, Apple really, REALLY needs to beef up its enterprise division. Apple has some fantastic products in its enterprise products, but when Jobs mentioned all of the cool things Apple had announced in just two week of 2008 in his keynote, he made no mention of the new Xserve 8-core server. Apple needs to bear down and make its enterprise division a nitty-gritty, down in the dirt, ugly as sin division, because enterprise buyers don’t care about pretty. They want power and services, and Apple is only providing the power.

Apple has some really strong friends and has a great set of products and some really good people behind making new ones. It now needs to focus on all of the assets it has to really take off, not just itself.

“In contrast, Apple’s iPhone has currently taken a reverse model approach where third-party on-device applications are not allowed, preventing the vast majority of malicious code for the average user—those that haven’t unlocked their phone.”

Wow! That makes sense. Of course, I generally don’t go to the company whose entire business is invested in selling security products to get my security news. Apparently Arbor Networks does, though. I can’t help but think that someone, somewhere read something the wrong way. Personally, I tend to take things as they come and not freak out because someone told me to… or in this case, someone told someone else something, reversed it, mixed up the attribution, and then didn’t give proper attribution.

Hmmm…

I used to be an unabashed Palm lover, and in some ways I still am. I hate Windows Mobile since it hasn’t changed significantly since the days of Windows CE 1.0 and it still crashes with regularity. Symbian is nice, but too complicated, and nobody has come up with a decent, marketable Linux-based mobile OS yet, including Palm. Palm used to be the rock. Why can’t they get their act together?