Oops - what happened?!

As the dust has now settled on WWDC, and the new iPhone 3GS is out in the wild, it's time to reflect upon recent events in the rumorsphere, and consider what we've learned.

Firstly, I have to concede that this blog's predictions for WWDC were more than a little off the mark. This has led me to reflect upon what the purpose of this blog is, and how best to approach future keynotes.

So, to clarify things, moving forwards... There are two types of content that appear on this blog:

• Analysis: what I think it would be neat if Apple did
• Rumorsphere: what the blogosphere seems to indicate that Apple is going to do, often producing original mockups to illustrate

"Analysis" is very speculative - there's really no way of knowing if and when it will ever be announced, and just because it doesn't see the light of day at a given keynote event, doesn't mean it never will.

"Rumorsphere" is a synthesis of what the Apple fanboy hive-mind anticipates (I don't have any inside sources, and I don't claim to either). Whilst all the information is culled from 3rd party sites, the mockups are original, and are indicative of consensus prediction for an upcoming keynote. I'll do my best to help sort the signal from the noise. Whilst these rumors are often completely off the mark, they're still a lot of fun, and tend to be the most popular content on this blog.

I will take more care in future to flag which type of content each post represents. Any thoughts or ideas - please stick them in the comments thread.

iPhone video - Multi Touch clickable area at bottom of handset

On June 4th, TUAW reported that the new iPhone would be called iPhone Video. It's worth noting that this blog predicted the name iPhone video way back on April 12th.

On May 28th, iFun.de reported that the new iPhone would have a black bezel. This blog predicted a black bezel on February 21st.

On June 3rd, iSpazio reported that the new iPhone would have a front-mounted camera - something this blog predicted on April 12th.

If all these things come turn out to be true, then MacPredictions will have had a rather good WWDC. Roll on Monday. In the meantime, here's a mockup of what the new iPhone would look like if the Chinese black bezel component turns out to be real. Of note, the home button at the bottom would no longer be round - it would be a giant clickable area that take up the entire bottom area of the phone. Perhaps it could even have Multi Touch, like the clickable glass trackpad on the new Macbooks.

New Nikeplus.com to be announced at WWDC

On 29th May, a post on the Nike Running blog revealed that "this summer" they would be launching a new Running site that incorporates Nikeplus.com, and features new features for Nike+iPod users. Initially, that post featured several screengrabs of the new site.

Whilst the post is still there, the screen grabs have mysteriously gone. Could someone - let's say, a notoriously secretive company - have asked for them to be taken down? Could they, perhaps, have revealed some functionality from the new iPhone, which is thought to support Nike+?

My guess is that the new iPhone will support two way syncing, so that run-data can be downloaded from Nikeplus.com to the iPhone. Any regular Nike+ users know what a cool feature that would be... That, and fixing it so that it never crashes and loses your run data, just when you've clocked your best ever time.

New iPhone spyshots, in focus

Our forensic imaging team at the MacPredictions SVU (special visuals unit) has put together this mockup of how the new Compass app may look, based upon the spyshots currently doing the rounds. Enjoy!

Woah, Black Bezel, bam-ba-lam

Macrumors reports that the next version of the iPhone may feature a black bezel. Funny that - I seem to remember predicting just such a bezel, way back in February.

Secondomics - shameless book-plugging

I've just published a book that may be of interest to regular MacPredictions readers. It's called "Secondomics: How coming second can be a winning strategy."

The book features a mix of game theory, economics, evolutionary biology, and psychology to explore the phenomena of "second mover advantage". As a self confessed Apple fan-boy, I make a lot of references to Apple in my case studies.

You can download the first few chapters for free, and check out my new blog at www.secondomics.com. If you would like to purchase the book on Lulu.com, it's currently on special offer at $6.91.

I'd appreciate any feedback. Sorry for the blatent self-promotion - I'll get back to speculating about Apple again now :)

Affordable 12-inch Macbook

John Gruber of Daring Fireball recently speculated that Apple may be planning a minor rebrand of its portables, dubbing the entry level white model "Macbook," whilst renaming the 13-inch aluminum model a "Macbook Pro", making the entire unibody lineup "pros".

Currently, the white Macbook is all but forgotten - it's no longer mentioned on the main Apple site, and hardly featured in the Apple Store. But with recent changes in market conditions, combined with Microsoft's "Laptop Hunters" campaign putting pressure on Apple's pricing strategy, now may be a good time to review the entry-level end of Apple's portable lineup.

The current white Macbook model is really a hold-over from the previous polycarbonate Macbook line. It doesn't possess recent Apple revisions such as the glossy black bezel, black keyboard and glass trackpad. In happier times, Apple may have been planning to phase this model out altogether, but the credit crunch, combined with the popularity of netbooks may well be causing the company to review this strategy.

An alternative option would be to introduce a more competitively priced entry level model, that differentiates itself from the Macbook Pro range (including the re-named 13-inch model). To do this, the new Macbook could sport a 12-inch screen, and white polycarbonate case. But it could still inherit some nice perks, like the glass trackpad, black keyboard and glossy bezel. At a price of, say $599, this could fly off the shelves, without excessive cannibalization of the 13-inch Macbook Pro's sales.

Such a machine could still be a decent computer, without the kinds of awkward compromises inherent in a netbook. It seems a more plausible entry-level play from Apple than the rumored 10-inch tablet.