Apple’s WWDC on 9 June 2008

Here’s my view on what I assume to hear about during Steve’s keynote speech on Monday:

• of course the 3G iPhone with GPS, probably in 2 options, either 8GB & 16GB or even 16GB & 32GB; the iPhone will be available for the old price tags but the carriers will be able to offer subsidised end-user prices. However, I doubt that they will be in store before 2-6 weeks after 9 June.
• announcement of .Me as the .Mac successor service with everything that is currently missing from the iPhone, like OTA (over-the-air) synching of calendars, contacts, and more. About time imho!
• and last but not least something purely speculative and more of a wish than an assumption: announcement of a Tablet Mac or touch-screen Mac getting closer to my Mac vision of a notebook/laptop computer with two to three touch screens. Imagine a MacBook, instead of the keyboard you have a touch-screen that either functions as an actual display with on-screen keyboard and touchpad or goes into navigation mode with full keyboard and multi-touch navigation, the current regular display part is a multi-touch screen and the top side (where the illuminated Apple logo is) is another multitouch screen that activates when the computer is closed. The alternative would be to only have the first two and for the top to remain a case with Apple logo for the protection of the computer and instead having a twisty hinge that allows you to turn the top element and transform the computer into a tablet Mac.

The basis for the first two bullet points is observance of happenings in the chip industries (processors as well as radios for 3G and GPS, NAND storage, etc.), Apple’s usual attitude regardsing products and pricing, knowledge of mobile telecoms industry from working in it for a decade, patent applications, etc.