Where next for Apple?

As the Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) comes around where will Apple lurch next? Where will the next huge step for MacKind take them?
Why is WWDC so important?
Well, simple answer is at here we get the keynote speeches that tell us the future of the, to be honest, excellent Apple product line.
Some hints already out, like this picture found on Twitter.

The conference also, sometimes, hints at any change of direction for a product line.
Where Apple lead often the world follows, this is a company larger (in stock value at least) than Intel and Microsoft combined.
So we have three main points

• iOS 5
• OS X Lion
• iCloud

OS X Lion and iCloud I will cover after I know more – or even if there is anything to say.
iOS 5
The benchmark for mobile OS, regardless of the advances made by Google Android in the last year, is the Apple iOS. The iPad, iPod touch and iPhone Operating System was the first of it’s kind and such a leap forward that it took years for the competition to catch up. During those years Apple have not stood still though, and that benchmark is still moving forward.
Google Android is catching faster than iOS is moving forward but they have very different strengths. Where Nokia and Microsoft Windows Phone 7 fit in is still to be clearly defined. They had an opportunity to garner the Corporate Market but that may have passed. Individuals within an organisation are being given much wider, richer choices of appliance.
Back to iOS 5, the rumours abound but perhaps the most likely is a switch to a less flat interface. By this I mean that perhaps they will consider Windows 7 style (also in Android and WP7) on screen apps- extensions to the OS itself. Or at least seemingly so. Essentially this would be Desktop Gadgets.
That would possibly limit the functionality to the newest refreshes to the hardware (iPhone 4 and iPad 2).
A long standing rumour is that all iPhones have had an FM radio built-in that was never activated. This was even rumoured for the iPod Touch 2. This little feature though has missed it’s Market now as FM is replaced more and more with digital services, such as DAB. Also the advent and proliferation of Bluetooth headsets/headphones would simply render the usage of such a radio useless – the cable from headphones is used as the aerial in most personal radios.
Perhaps Adobe Flash will make a late appearance? Google added Flash to Android a while back even though they actually don’t see a future in the technology. HTML5 will replace Flash but as the working party has pushed back the standard to 2014; Flash will be with us a while yet.

I personally would like to see Gadgets and Flash. What will inevitably happen, though, is another schism in the hardware. Expect an announcement that some older iOS devices will not be able to run iOS 5.

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