minimalmac:

The iPhone, iCloud, iPad, iTunes, OS X Lion, iOS, Apple TV, the MacBook Air, and the iMac are all Apple products. But they are more than that. In aggregate they are one single product. Apple’s product lineup is, in and of itself, a single product.

Shawn nails it with this one.

I love Amazon. I think the Kindle is very cool. I really think Amazon is the only company capable of leveraging something that could successfully compete with the iPad.

MG Siegler just revealed that he has seen and touched and used a device intended for that purpose – a color Kindle touchscreen device with a 7 inch screen running an Amazon-developed fork of Android. It won’t support the existing Android marketplace – it is rather designed to be primarily a reading/media/web device, leveraging Amazon’s book, music and video sales engines.

…and they plan to sell it for $250, starting in November.

This fits right into my idea of what might be a credible iPad competitor. (Not an “iPad Killer”. Unless someone can compete with the mighty iOS software library, there can be no such thing. Period.) They could do what everyone else has failed to do – create a real tablet market as opposed to an iPad market.

And yet…

I almost hate myself for thinking of this, but…

Do y’all remember back before the iPad was released and rumors floated around about a 7 inch screen device in the works at Apple? Even after the iPad came out, there were persistent stories about prototypes with a smaller form factor. I even vaguely recall some half-believable stories about Apple lining up a supply of such screens. Nothing ever surfaced, however.

But we know Apple can build such a device. That’s pretty much a lead-pipe cinch. I’d give good odds that a prototype exists of a 7 inch iPad. Of course, they have no reason to release such a device as long as they can already sell every iPad they can make. Unless a viable alternative appears at the lower end. Like, say, now.

Suppose… suppose they built it. In fact, suppose they are ready to build it now.

What price point could Apple hit with a device equivalent to an iPad 1 (equivalent processor, no camera, no GPS, wi-fi only, 16 GB flash memory) sporting a 7 inch screen? Could they hit a $250 price to match the new Amazon Color Kindle? Almost certainly.

In truth, they wouldn’t have to hit a $250 price point at all. The added value of a full-fledged iOS device that would run all existing iOS software (possible on a 7 inch device if the screen resolution matched the iPad 1 in a smaller form factor) would make the iPad Mini a no-brainer purchase over a Kindle Color even at $300.

The question is not “Could they do it?” – the question is “Would they do it?”. It might even be “Have they already done it and just not pulled the trigger?”.

Yews, I know it is positively paranoid of me to think of such a thing – Machiavellian McLimore, I am. But still…

Could they…? Would they…? Will they…? HAVE they…?

Isn’t there an Apple event coming up real soon…?

On the occasion of the DC Comics announcement today that they will be going to day-and-date releases of all their DC Universe comic titles starting in September, I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at my “wish list” for digital comics written in March 2010.

The original piece was written prior to Comixology coming out with digital sales apps first for Marvel and later for DC and other lines, which have set the standard for how digital issues will be distributed. I’m pleased to say that some of the features I most hoped for (most notably one-click purchasing, perpetual cloud storage for one’s digital purchases, readability across a variety of platforms, and consistent format from publisher to publisher) came to pass with the Comixology-developed system used by almost all the major companies at present. 

I was a little surprised that Comixology pulled this off on their own, sewing up deals with both Marvel & DC that essentially made them the Kings of Digital Comics. I wasn’t surprised, however, when the Comixology apps made the iPad into the digital comics reader of choice. For my money, there is no better way to buy and read digital issues. Without Comixology and the iPad, I doubt DC would have moved to all-titles day-and-date digital releases so quickly.

I still believe, however, that there is much that can be done to make the digital comics experience more compelling, expanding the comics market multifold. The excerpt below from my original article on the subject (edited and expanded just a bit here) is what I still hope for, and soon, from DC and all the majors.

Many choices building one fanbase: multiple purchasing models

Comixology’s apps for Marvel and DC have set a de facto standard for issue-by-issue purchasing, but I still maintain that the ways digital comic books are purchased could benefit from more variety. Many complimentary models are needed to support both the casual browser, the dedicated enthusiast, and everyone in between. I propose an expansion into a three-level marketing method for digital comic books, selling them as singles, subscriptions and compilations.

SINGLES would remain as they are now, but — as DC is pioneering — they would go on sale as digital releases the same day they come out as printed comics. I firmly believe they should sell for less than the cover price of a printed comic. Day-and-date releases through the DC/Comixology app are currently $2.99, older comics are normally $1.99, and frequent sales bring some collections down to 99 cents per issue for a limited time. Ho early, I think this is too expensive to maintain. I’d like to see day-and-date releases at no more than $1.99 and I think the increase in sales volume at such a price would more than make up for the lower per-copy price. Special-value issues (Annuals, Giant-Size issues, etc.) would be available at higher prices.

The Comixology apps offer some singles as freebies or loss leaders to launch new titles, support flagging sales of older titles, or hook fans of one title into trying another that is related or has similar appeal, and this should be expanded The availability of singles makes it easy for casual consumers and enthusiasts alike to try out new things without major commitments — something which is essential if the digital comics market is to be anything more than a side issue for the existing market base.

SUBSCRIPTIONS should be available for those who want to buy a longer-term run of a title. Buying a subscription should be a substantial savings over paying the single-issue price for the same set of comics — consumers should be rewarded for commitment. (Top end on a 12-issue commitment should be about 99 cents per issue.) Annuals and other specials might be included in a subscription or available only as singles.

A subscription could be a simple prepayment for the next X number of issues in advance, but a more flexible system would allow you to start with issues already available. A latecomer to a hot series could try out issue #1 of a series (that is now at issue #7) as a single purchase, then decide to “subscribe” for 12 issues, downloading #2 through #7 immediately and getting #8 through #12 as they are published. He already purchased #1 as a single, so he is automatically credited with the subscription cost of the issue he already has, which goes back into his account as a credit, to be used for future purchases. (Or the subscription cost of that one issue might just be discounted off the purchase price of the subscription — but the credit-back method would be a marketing tool to encourage more purchases without being unduly unfair to the consumer.) Also, nothing says that a “subscription” commitment has to be to only a single title. A Batman Family subscription might include all the Bat-titles at one special annual price. (Also, see the section on “Intermarketing” below…)

COMPILATIONS are, essentially, the digital equivalent of the trade paperback. Once a run of a title becomes available in this form, that run would perhaps no longer be available as a subscription item. It would still be available as individual issues at the higher price, because you still want an easy introductory entry point for newbies, and you also want those who hear about a classic story and want just that issue to be able to purchase it. (“Oh, man, you really have to read Muskrat Man #47! That’s the one where President Obama is entrusted with the Rodent of Righteousness’ secret identity!”) If you own the entire run of a comic as it appears in a compilation (having subscribed or bought it as individual issues), you could even be offered bonus materials included with the released compilation free as a loyalty bonus. If you have holes in your collection, you can still buy the missing issues as singles. Original graphic novels that are not compilations of single issues come out this way to begin with, of course.

SPECIAL PRODUCTS in digital format have the potential to offer things that have always been unwieldy in print formats. Imagine a subscription to the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe or Who’s Who in the DC Universe, with these being living, growing, constantly updating databases with art and info of interest to dedicated continuity fans. As long as you keep updating your subscription once a year, you keep getting new and frequent updates.

A spinoff of this idea that’s close to my own heart would be a digitally-sold set of role playing game rules tied to an optional subscription that would get you game stats for new characters, new game maps, and new scenarios even as the matching storylines and characters are being introduced in the comics themselves. My VISA card is practically jumping out of my wallet to order that and I don’t even have time to play pen-and-paper RPGs all that often these days. (Dear @comixology — please tweet Chris @Pramas at Green Ronin Publishing, publishers of the DC Universe role playing game. I gotta get you folks together, somehow…)

Intermarketing: Selling the Blackest Secret Crisis Apocalypse War

The opportunities to gradually, indetectably and painlessly turn the casual fan into the deeply committed spendthrift fanatic are nothing short of legen — wait for it — dary. The easier it is to buy, and to find more things to buy, the more the consumer will spend. (No? How many MP3 music tracks have you bought from iTunes or Amazon? Have an iPhone? How many apps have you bought? How much have you spent, overall? Have you bothered to keep track? Now that you think about it, do you really want to know?

First of all, there is a lot of room for improvement in how I can keep track of my digital purchases. It should be ridiculously easy for me to see what series and issues I own and what holes there are in my collection. I should be able to set up a quick background download of any “playlist” I want and have them moved from the cloud database to any of my digital devices so that I can carry them around and read when convenient. Comixology’s storage-space management tools are good, but if my whole library is going to be digital, it needs to be more flexible.

Buy a single issue and there should be a link inside to take you to a purchase page for a subscription. Other links may take you to pages offering to sell you other titles featuring the same characters or that are part of the same overarching storyline. The very existence of easy-purchase interlinking like this will massively increase sales overall. If it is easy enough, people will buy more.

Furthermore, since you are storing each customer’s personal purchase record in the cloud, you can always push new things to him that you think he will like. Did he buy Muskrat Man last year? Offer him Power Platypus #1 from the same artist at a small discount next time he opens his comic reader app and you may hook him on an impulse buy. (If the discount is only available by acting right away, so much the better.)

The social side: making your fan your salesman

Social interaction at the comics store is great, but your untapped market is the folks who don’t have time to hang out on Wednesday — but still like to talk comics with friends and fellow enthusiasts. The smart digital comics distribution group will build digital social interaction right into the same software that organizes and displays the digital comics. When you finish reading an issue, one click will take you to that titles digital forums where you can share your views on the issue — or to your personal homepage where you can share reading lists, recommendations, ratings and reviews.

Your personal profile will share as much or as little as you choose to make public about your reading habits, likes and dislikes. It will also let you brag a little about your collection by awarding you badges for completing runs, commenting frequently, and participating in ongoing trivia quizzes, games and contests. (For real fun, steal an idea from GetGlue and offer real stickers or other physical trophies for completing collections or reading milestone issues. Maybe there’s a partnership worth looking at, actually. Linking GetGlue to the Comixology comics apps could be just the social link that is needed.)

Sharing is caring and it is also a great way to sell more comics. The system should encourage sharing. I envision a way to send a sharing link to a friend, allowing them to view perhaps the first four pages of a comic you want to recommend, along with an immediate purchase link for the full issue or a subscription. If your friend subscribes based on your link, you might get a small credit toward your own future purchases.  This sort of “instant affiliate program” can spread good comics virally, tapping the immense power of the fanbase in a way that benefits both the publisher and the fans. And, of course, don’t forget the marketing power of offering easy gigging of individual issues and subscriptions to your digital comics enthusiast friends! 

You need not leave out your print fans in all of this. They should be able to use the apps to participate in the social fun even if they never buy a single digital issue, posting reviews and ratings for the print version of every title and every issue right alongside those for the digital release. Now that DC has revived their letters pages, these should also be linked to the digital distribution apps, allowing fans to send comments instantly from within the app as soon as they finish reading it.

Here is a chance for the publishers to help out the loyal local comics shops, too, giving them easy access to the digital fanbase. The social interaction pages can be easily set up to display ads for comics shops only to those who are in the appropriate locality. When I log in, I’ll see ads reminding me to visit Comic Quest in Evansville, IN, while Andy Ihnatko will get ads for The Outer Limits in Waltham, MA. Smart local retailers will use these ads to link to special sales and offers for things that can’t be bought digitally, such as spinoff merchandise like t-shirts, figurines, and other collectibles. Make these ads cheap or even free to the local stores on a simple rotational basis for their local customers. Everyone will benefit.

The Comixology apps have already brought me back from the nearly dead as a fan, and day-and-date releases at reasonable prices is likely to pull me call the way back in again in no time at all. You are already seeing older fans reborn and new fans created, and teaming the digital model further will only accelerate the process. It is raining soup, publishers — grab a bucket! But you have to do it right and reach out for the dollars from the customer who you don’t already have in your pocket (or don’t have any longer) instead of just trying to squeeze more dollars out of the shrinking fanbase you still possess.

Come on, DC & Marvel — take my money. Please.

This chart just delights me!

The Macalope was as amazed as the CouchGuy at the metric buttload of stupidity created by Katherine Noyes of PCWorld this week. Don’t miss his deconstruction of the Noyes Machine!

Well, if my iPad wasn’t already earning it’s keep, it certainly is now. I’ve been laid up since Friday night with an injured left foot. It appears I have torn the tendon that goes under the arch to the heel. I’ll know more once my doctor sees me and they do some imaging this week.

Menwhile, I can’t put full weight on the left foot. (This is an improvement from Friday night when I could put no weight on it at all.) I can now make short treks (to the bathroom, thank goodness) with a walker and determination, and I otherwise live in a lift chair temporarily. But I can’t easily make the U-turn necessary to get behind my desk.

This leaves me using my iPad as my primary connection to the world. I spent a good deal of the weekend sleeping off my pain pills, but with the iPad I have an endless supply of books, articles, video, news, music, and instant communication.

Thank you, Apple. Thank you, Twitter and Tumblr. Thank you, Flipbook and Zite. Thank you, Netflix and Air Video. Thank you, Angry Birds and Plamts vs Zombies. Thank you, Google Reader and Amazon Kindle Store. Thank you, NPR and TWiT.tv.

Doggone that Walt Mossberg! His recent piece on drawbacks of the iPad was supposed to put to rest his supposed reputation for bias toward Apple products by pointing out the places where the device has been left vulnerable to honest criticism. Unfortunately, he seems to have missed a number of things that make the iPad 2 a less-than-ideal device.

Your CouchGuy, however, is not afraid to speak truth to power. Here are just a few of the many ways the iPad 2 falls short of perfection.

Disappointing Movie Performance

The iPad was much lauded as a personal entertainment device that many claimed was the best movie experience on a portable device. You’d think the iPad 2 would better this experience by a good deal, but in fact it fails to deliver improvements that would have assured it market dominance.

First of all, it doesn’t even come with any movies! Not even one little Hollywood blockbuster! Pop open your new iPad and there’s nothing to watch! Oh, sure, you can download a huge variety of films wirelessly from the iTunes Store, or download the free Netflix app, open a Netflix account, and watch hundreds of movies for one low monthly fee. But the original iPad can do all of that! What makes this new thing better?

Old-timers like me remember when you bought a Mac with a Superdrive, you used to get a free Pixar movie on DVD! Well, Apple has taken a giant step backward, here. If you want movies, you’ll have to pay for them. Even if you already own DVDs, you can forget about playing them here — there’s no optical drive at all. “Best movie experience on a portable device?” Ha!

And you can forget about the new iMovie app for the new iPad 2 as well. The name would make you think you’ve finally found something that does something that the original iPad can’t — but no! I downloaded and ran the iMovie app for hours, and it never made a single movie for me. How am I supposed to stay entertained with this thing?

Weak battery systems

Mossberg did tweak Apple’s nose about the iPad 2’s battery life only being slightly better than advertised and as good as that of the original iPad. But he didn’t go far enough. What do you have to do when the battery (eventually) runs down? You have to plug in a cord to charge it! Isn’t the whole point of the iPad to be a wireless device? Well, this one requires a wire or it will stop working altogether — sooner or later! Apple’s had almost a whole year to work on this since the iPad came out, but the iPad 2 is no closer to fixing this glaring error in design.

Inconvenient touchscreen

The iPad design was hailed as making interaction with a computing device more effortless than ever before. I have to admit that’s true, but we expected the iPad 2 to make a quantum leap forward in ease of use. Rather than a leap, we got a letdown. The iPad screen still requires you to touch it to make it work.

It is not just a matter of failing to eliminate those messy finger marks that appear on the iPad screen. The iPad 2 still puts wear and tear on your fingertips from all those touches. Plus, it is just not as efficient as a true thought wave interface would be. Apple had their shot to keep the curve moving upward in this regard, but instead they seem to have reached an innovation plateau here. Sad, really.

Speaking of that screen, the iPad 2 also does not squeeze down to fit in your shirt pocket, then stretch out to the size of a wall the way Phineas J. Whoopee’s Three Dimensional Blackboard did back in the mid-1960s on TV. I know!

Fragile design

The original iPad had a nice hefty feel to it. The iPad 2 is much thinner and lighter, so I checked to see if it was any more useful as a protective shield than its predecessor. I am sorry to report that the iPad 2 is no more bulletproof than the original. That’s a real shame in this case. Were the iPad pocket-size, no one would really care. But the iPad and iPad 2 have the perfect dimensions to slip into the front of your shirt as emergency body armor. If you had such plans for your iPad 2, best give them up now. It may feel good against your skin, but the iPad 2 won’t stop a .38 slug any more than the iPad 1 did. According to our professional teardown, there’s not a speck of vibranium, adamantium, uru, nth metal, supermanium, scrith, or magnetically-reinforced collapsium in the whole construction. Can you really afford such a security risk?

Unstable flight characteristics

The first iPad had a rounded back that made it a passable airfoil. Here, again, is a place where the iPad 2 takes a giant leap backwards. The iPad 2’s flat back means you can forget about “flat flip flies straight” when you sail it across the high school cafeteria or in the stands at a concert venue or ball game. The guys at Wham-O are just sick about it.

Not an outstanding value

Here’s the unkindest cut of all. The iPad 2 costs money! Yes, if you want it, you’ll have to buy one. (Well, not Mossberg, probably. Maybe that’s why he was so easy on it.) Apple has billions in the bank in cash, more buying power than any other consumer electronics firm, and the heart of every component manufacturer in the world stored in jars in Steve Jobs’ closet — and they still couldn’t manage to bring the price to zero. Heck. Android is free — shouldn’t Apple be trying to beat that by paying us to take home the iPad 2? We’re going to have to buy all our apps from them, anyway!

Conclusions

Looking at all these failures to improve on the iPad 1, I suppose we will have to conclude that it is better for us to wait for all of the many iPad competitors to arrive. As these devices are still mostly imaginary, we can still hope that they will succeed where Apple has failed and deliver on all our dreams of the perfect tablet. It is certainly clear that the perfect device in this category (you know, the category that Apple created out of thin air with the iPad) has yet to be shipped. You should all wait for it. It might be just around the corner. Why settle for less when the tablet of your dreams can be yours — when tomorrow comes. Remember, the best device in any category is the one that hasn’t shipped or even been announced yet. Don’t settle for something real. Buy nothing except the one that isn’t available. That one will never disappoint you.

I suppose I may as well chime in on my thoughts on what Apple is likely to drop on us on Wednesday as the iPad 2. (Will it even be called that? I think it more likely they’ll just call it the new iPad, and leave it to us to figure out the model upgrade nomenclature, as they have with the iPod and iMac…) As upgrades go, I am expecting something that a lot of people will initally think of as modest, but will turn out to be just right to kick off another big run on the device. Here’s what I think we will get (perhaps accompanied by a few notes on what I hope we will get).

Front and Rear Cameras

I can’t imagine a new iPad without these, with all the emphasis on FaceTime right now. I don’t think the iPad is really suited for a lot of picture-taking, so I expect the camera facing away from the user will be pretty modest. It needs to be enough for “augmented reality” uses, scanning barcodes, etc. (These are the uses I’ve really missed on the iPad.) I don;t expect the camera functions to be nearly as good as those on the iPhone 4 because I just can’t see the iPad as being a commonly-used tool for picture-taking. The FaceTime camera, on the other hand, will get most of Apple’s attention and promotion. I could wish it would have the ability to tilt so that how you hold or set up the iPad would not be so critical for using FaceTime, but I don’t really expect to see that.

Lighter and Flatter

The distinctive iPad bulge is likely to be gone, and I suspect it will be significantly lighter than the existing iPad. The carbon-fiber rumors ring true to me, and I would not be surprised to find this sort of construction replace the aluminum on the new model. (If not now, almost certainly the iPad 3 will have this change.)

More Powerful Processor

I certainly expect Apple to beef up the processor power on this model. In the long run, this may end up being the most significant change, though it is getting the least attention. It all depends on what Apple does with the additional processing capability in iOS 5.

More RAM

The iOS 4 architecture with multiprocessing cries out for additional RAM, and if Apple can leverage their buying power to do that while keeping the price reasonable, I think they will do so. 1 GB? Maybe.

More On-Board Storage

I’m really thinking Apple will go to 32/64/128 GB internal storage for the new models, though they may hold out for iPad 3 (later this year) for that change. I bought the mid-range system and I really do with I’d held out for more. Apps drive the popularity of iOS devices, and they demand more and more space.

Thunderbolt Port

I think this is going to be the rabbit-out-of-the-hat on this upgrade. The new iPad needs a surprising feature and I expect this to be it. I never bought the idea that Apple would take a step backward and add an SD card port to this thing, no matter how many photographers crave one. SD is yesterday, and Apple is totally unsentimental about yesterday. With the new Macbook Pro featuring a Thunderbolt port (and the next iMacs bound to get one), putting one on the iPad makes perfect sense. The iPad really needs a faster wired connection to iTunes, and the video out capability of the port means it can do double duty — just the way Apple likes.

iOS Minor Update

I’d love to see an ultra-new iOS 5 come out alongside the new iPad, but I don’t think we’ll see that. I do think there will be a fractional update for iOS 4, and that it might have a few surprising features. I’m truly hoping for wireless syncing, as it is something the iPad desperately needs.

MobileMe

I anticipate a very big MobileMe announcement alongside iPad 2 — something bigger than making the current services free. Apple needs to centralize a truly up-to-date and broad-spectrum cloud service for iOS devices with backup, file sharing, media streaming and more. Such a thing would make the iOS platform a quantum leap ahead of any potential rivals. I think it is coming. I hope it is coming Wednesday.

The CouchGuy has been doing a lot of thinking about the September 1 Apple Event. As has become traditional, the invitation for the event seems to indicate a focus on music, and it is certainly time for the annual iPod/iTunes refresh. That may indeed be most of what will happen on September 1, but I suspect that there is a broader media strategy that is going to come out of this. Some may be drizzled out over the next few weeks and only hinted at in the festivities coming a week from Wednesday as I write this. Here is my predictions, however, for the scope of what the early Fall rollouts will bring from Apple.

HARDWARE

iPod Nano

The evidence seems to be irrefutable that we are going to see a major change (again) in the form factor of the iPod Nano. The new Nano will ditch the venerable click wheel for a square-shaped mini-touch screen, not a lot bigger than the current Nano screen is now.

The new Nano will keep the video camera (with perhaps some enhancements) and a standard dock connector, but all navigation will be done on the touch screen. This thing is small enough that it might even make a groovy-looking watch, though I suspect that it would be left to the third-party licensees to make a watchband case unit for it.

It is not inconceivable that we could see some limited rollout of apps for such a device, were it to have wi-fi — but I think that’s a stretch. Maybe next iteration…

iPod Touch

It is definitely time to bring the iPod Touch up to snuff with the iPhone 4, and again the evidence seems pretty clear that a new retina display, A4 processor, and front and rear cameras will be part of the iPod Touch’s new design. With cameras in place, FaceTime is a virtual certainly on the device, running iOS4.

It may or may not be a bit early for Apple to take this unit to a maximum capacity of 128GB, but I predict they will either roll it out that way or release an upgraded version as soon as they can secure the flash memory to handle it. Less likely (but possible) is a 3G data option similar to that for the iPad. After all, why should Apple (and AT&T) leave all that iPod Touch owner money on the table that is now going to devices like the Mi-Fi portable wireless hotspot.

Devices You Will Not See

Say goodbye to the iPod Classic, right away if the iPod Touch upgrades to 128GB capacity at the top end, or right after Christmas if it does not. I’ve loved the various classic iPods I’ve owned, but that design’s days are really over.

There will be no new iPod Shuffle, but I expect to see the current model (in my mind, still inferior to the clip-style unit that Mrs. CouchGuy clings to) stay in the line, perhaps for as much as another year. It is still useful for Apple to have a true low-end iPod.

If you are hoping for a 7” iPad, I think you are likely to be disappointed at this time. There is no incentive at all for Apple to introduce a smaller iPad right now when they are still selling the big one as fast as they can make it — especially with a heavy-duty refresh of the iPod Touch. I think it would really upset iPad buyers if Apple released a smaller iPad with features (like a camera) that the full size iPad lacked — and you are not going to see any more iOS4 devices released without a camera from here on in. Next year, they will certainly refresh the iPad with a camera-equipped model and maybe introduce a baby brother for it, but not until late 2011 at least.

Apple TV

It is quite possible that Steve Jobs will not unveil a new Apple TV at the September 1 event, but if not it will certainly not be more than a few weeks behind. It might be best to do it now, as it certainly would nail down the whole iOS4/iTunes ecosystem I suspect is behind the Apple media strategy at this time.

The rumored specs for the new Apple TV are probably pretty close to correct, but I just can’t quite bring myself to embrace the name iTV yet. No matter what it is called, however, expect an iOS4-powered device with a better processor (Apple A4?), improved graphics (though perhaps not 1080p yet), and relying on wi-fi streaming instead of internal storage. (Enabling external storage via USB is a possibility.) Apple will want to keep this unit lean and mean to keep the price down, so it will probably not support anything but HDMI video output, though they will keep both optical and RCA audio output from the original model.

The new Apple TV will provide all the same big-screen access to iTunes-based media files as the original, and be even easier to navigate and use.The big draw for the new model, however will be — of course — apps, enabled by the switch to the iOS4 operating system. Apple TV apps will be added to the App Store, and there There are hints around that some providers have already prepared apps, and there will probably be a way to run at least some iPad apps on the device from Day 1.

Wireless control of the device will be (preferably) through iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch apps, or through the new Magic Touchpad. App focus will include games (perhaps using the accelerometers and gyroscopes of the various iOS4 touchscreen devices for Wii-like action), infolinks for news/weather and entertainment, and — of course — access to internet-based entertainment media content via Pandora, Netflix, Hulu Plus, and many other vendors. This will simply blow the wheels out from under Google TV before it even gets started.

I can’t understand why, if Apple goes this far, they wouldn’t go all the way and enable FaceTime for this device as well, probably by way of a camera/microphone accessory device rather than building it in to the main unit. The base unit will sell for about $99, making it an easy must-buy purchase for almost anyone who already has other Apple media devices and iTunes-based content.

iOS 4.1

The new devices here are likely to run iOS4.1, and rollout of a software update for some (but not all) older devices is likely at the same time. I think it likely that the iPad version of iOS4 is still a few weeks away at this time, but it will be coming very soon and a firm date will probably be announced September 1.

I believe that one of the big additions to iOS4.1 will be wireless sync and updating across the whole iOS family — iPhone 4, new iPod Touch and new Apple TV are likely to have it at rollout, and iPad will get it as soon as iOS4 for iPad ships. It is possible (but I don;t consider it real likely) that the new Nano will have wi-fi and get this as well.) The capability will make devices a lot more independent (but not totally so) of desktop systems.

iTunes ecosystem

Wireless sync and update make it possible to change the focus of iTunes a bit, and it is about time. First of all, that name has to go, as familiar as it is. Something like iMedia is far more appropriate.

The iTunes software is far overdue for some real revision, and what Apple may do here is anyone’s guess. If it we my call, I’d move toward a new and much leaner iTunes (pardon… “iMedia”) client to ship with the new devices and be immediately available for download for all existing devices. This would handle a more basic level of media management and device support for all iOS4 devices, and be the minimum default hub for them. The current iTunes client is pretty bloated and getting prety slow and clunky because of it.

I would like to see the iTunes store functions spun off entirely into a web-based format for when you are not buying direct from a device. Apple has been beefing up the web presence of the iTunes store already, so it is reasonable to think they might go this route. More social media functionality could and should be added to the base iMedia experience through the basic Mac/Windows clients and the device-based clients.

What the iTunes (iMedia? Please?) ecosystem really needs is a hardcore and versatile Server version. The few problems I personally had with Apple TV streaming were mostly attributable to an overburdened iTunes install. A robust server would make an all-streaming new Apple TV design much more useful.

An iMedia server edition would be a chance to really provide enhanced file handling, sorting and streaming capability for those of us who make heavy use of iTunes-based media. the software should support remote administration via web or an iOS4 app, making it perfect for running on a headless Mac Mini dedicated to the purpose.

When iTunes was first designed, it was intended for a “rip and play” paradigm where a relatively modest number of music tracks were taken from CDs and moved to a single iPod device. These days, most families and a lot of individuals have multiple devices to be supported. The current iTunes client is essentially the same as the original client in many respects. It runs on an iMac that is my primary desktop installation. Getting it to support files stored on multiple drives requires a lot of workarounds and is not really supported well. Keeping up with multiple devices (my iPad and iPod Touch, Mrs. CouchGuy’s iPod Shuffle, our Apple TV, a Windows XP desktop computer running Media Server, and two iBook laptops) is a balancing act that works poorly.

A new iMedia server edition would be designed from the ground up to support both audio and video of all kinds with robust multidrive, network & cloud storage and backup options. Enhanced media sharing options should allow you to buy or rip media once, and use it across all devices. Individual accounts for family members should be easier to manage, and so should adding additional storage for more media files.

If Apple were to offer this kind of an iTunes upgrade, it should ship with all new Macs, but I would expect Apple to charge a modest amount for it ($49 to $99, tops) for Windows & existing Macs. Apple might even forgo a Windows version entirely. I don’t really expect to see all this rolled out September 1, but if Apple is serious about retaining iTunes (iMedia!) as the hub of your digital media world, it needs to make this sort of change, and soon.

Oh, yes… If Apple TV gets a refresh and we get a more robust version of iTunes/iMedia, expect DVR-type software like elgato’s EyeTV to get upgraded to take advantage of it VERY quickly.

“One more thing…”

The event wrap-up is where I’d expect a wild card, and what better wild card than the TV show rental program that’s been talked about for so very long. the CouchGuy is not convinced that a 99 cent per episode TV show rental program is enough to make the kind of game-changing move that Apple needs.

As much as it surprises me, I’d be more likely to buy into the sort of 99 cent monthly “subscription” program predicted by Leander Kahney recently in Cult of Mac. (See http://bit.ly/cj3A56 for more details.) If 99 cents bought a month’s access to a whole TV series, that might be both attractive to the viewer and acceptable to enough content providers to work out. Would this happen at the September 1 event? Maybe, or maybe soon thereafter. But it would be a great note for Steve Jobs to go out on if Kahney turns out to be right.

We’ll know soon, but it is fun to speculate. I expect the September 1 event is going to be the most interesting in quite awhile.

For me (and many others), the combination of mobile computing technology with the resource of Wikipedia has proven to be irresistible. Those of us who love to debate trivia and find interesting factoids about people, places, things and ideas have developed what I call the “Wikipedia Twitch” — the impulse to grab for the nearest laptop, smartphone, or tablet to instantly indulge a desire to answer any question that occurs to us.

Who is the voice of the Martian Manhunter in the Justice League animated TV series? What is the Mandelbrot Set? Why is the phrase “Kenneth, what is the frequency?” significant? Who was The Purple Gang? Who won the Quisp vs. Quake cereal battle? If it is a fact that is interesting to someone, somewhere, it can probably be found in the crowd-sourced so-called “Free Encyclopedia”.

It is perhaps for this reason that so many iPhone and iPad apps have cropped up to call upon and reformat Wikipedia data for smaller scenes and faster searches. Wikipedia’s very basic text-gray web layout is really tough to navigate on the small screen of an iPhone or iPod Touch, and even on the iPad the search entry form is not ideal. Most iPhone and iPad users have a dedicated Wikipedia app installed.

But there is another form of obsessive Wikipedia behavior — that of the true Wikipedia addict who likes to just surf Wikipedia for pleasure reading. The loveliest (some would say “most insidiously time-wasting”) thing about the web is hyperlinking, allowing us to drift from one topic to another as our curiosity takes us. True nerds “surfed” the encyclopedia for fun well before the advent of the personal computer, and Wikipedia is perfect for this purpose because almost nothing in the world is really too nerdy, insignificant, or specialized to rate a Wikipedia entry.

Presenting things for reading and surfing for the pure pleasure of it is one of the things that the iPad does very, very well. Reading on the iPad is a very personal and immersive experience that most people have to experience to understand. It is much different than reading on a laptop or a desktop computer. It feels like there is nothing between you and the words and pictures at all. It is this pleasurable reading experience that is driving so much interest in bringing magazines and newspapers to the iPad, and in reformatting existing web-based material, on the fly, to something that is pleasing to the eye for recreational iPad perusal.

One of the most successful efforts in this regard so far is Flipboard, a free app and service which turns your personal Facebook and Twitter feeds, and your favorite Twitter lists, into a nicely formatted “personal magazine” for pleasure reading on the iPad. The response to the debut of Flipboard (as Twitter-touted by Robert Scoble) exceeded the wildest dreams of the creators, who had to quickly implement a slow rollout plan to deal with the overwhelming demand on their server

Now a new iPad app has appeared that is designed to reformat Wikipedia searches into a magazine format for pleasure reading on the iPad. Discover was created by Cooliris, a developer that first attracted attention with a plugin that overlays a slick 3D media browser interface on the desktop version of Safari.

When launched, Discover produces a magazine-like cover featuring (by default) Wikipedia’s Featured Article of the Day. Tap the picture or text on the cover to read the article, reformatted into one of several slick magazine-style multiple-page layouts. Sweep forward and back to go page-to-page in the article. Sweep down from any page to reveal a search box which will find articles matching your search words. Sweep up and see a history of the articles you have most recently viewed. Sweeping back from the first page of an article reveals one or more pages of the material found in the article’s Facts and Statistics section.

Turning the iPad to landscape view usually expands your options. For example, landscape mode from an article page reveals related articles, while from the history screen it converts from a picture-gallery of recently viewed material to a complete and scrollable text-based history list. Turn the cover page to landscape and most layouts will provide a couple of randomly-selected articles from specialized Wikipedia topic areas and/or a couple of links to current news item

There appear to be at least three different and attractive cover formats with many variations of color choices within some of them. Likewise there are a selection of different standard article layouts. The layouts seem to be at least somewhat context-selected. For example, a biographical article on John Wayne came up in a rustic, weathered-page format, while an article on a mathematical theorem came up with a slick, modern look.

With the default settings, you will be presented with a different cover article each day when the application is opened. If you want even more variety, you can go into the application’s pane of the iPad’s Settings menu and choose to have the application select a new article at random every time it is opened. This mode is Nirvana for the true Wikipedia random-walk enthusiast. It is like having a new magazine to read every time you want one. If you don’t like the current offering, quit and launch the app again for a new random cover and topic, or use the search page to select any topic you choos

The Discover articles may not present all the bells and whistles attached to the Wikipedia articles. (For example, Reference footnotes and lists of outside reading material are not present.) If you need more, you can tap and hold on any article page to close Discover and open the original Wikipedia entry in the Safari browser.

A full-page ad appears several pages into each article. Right now, it is an attractive animated ad for the Cooliris Safari plug-in, but I assume that space will be sold to others as the revenue base for this free app and service. If kept to a single page ad, it shouldn’t be horribly intrusive.

Discover doesn’t cache anything, so if you don’t have an active Internet connection, it is useless to you until you are back in contact. The ability to cache articles for later offline reading would be at the top of my wish list for this app, since I have a wifi-only iPad. I could also wish for more cover and article formats (and more customizability of those that are available). Perhaps Cooliris could come up with an in-app link to a web-based cover and article template creator and sharing library. Links to social commuting sharing venues like Twitter and Facebook from within the app would be interesting as well, allowing you to share article links that open for others inside Discover.

Reading Discover is like reading a magazine which just happens to be about anything you might be interested in at the time — or about some randomly-selected topic which you might (or might not) find fascinating. It would not be my first choice for deep and directed Wikipedia research. (Currently, I use iWiki HD for that on the iPad.) For light entertainment, though, Discover is very worthwhile and just earned itself a place on my iPad’s main page next to Flipboard. Between these and the host of book and comic reading apps I have, I should never lack for something to distract, entertain and enlighten me.