Some better ideas
I'll give you some ideas based on my version of some problems that need to be fixed:
1) I understand that people don't think that Apple should get into the telephony business BUT my experience with new cell phones is that their user interface just plain SUCKS. Teensy weensy buttons, endless menus, tedious methods to get images out of the thing and tedious methods to put data into the thing. No guarantee of interoperability with other devices in terms of moving data back and forth etc. Sure you CAN do this stuff but frankly I've got more to do than futz with some arcane menu system with a physical interface optimized for Japanese schoolgirls. And they are expensive to boot. During extended use you wonder if they even HAD a thermal control engineer on staff to do the analysis required to assure that people's ears aren't accidentally fused to the phone. Apple should partner in a serious way with some telecom company and engineer a state of the art phone with an iPod like interface. It should use iSync and .mac services to maintain seamless updating of contacts etc. If it can interface with or substitute for my ipod so much the better.
2) Apple should use the head of steam they have to rework the digital rights for DVD's such that a legal and clear path is laid for you to duplicate these disks' contents and place them on selected devices which have the best practical piracy protection. They have the horsepower and technical/legal know-how to accomplish the equivalent of ITMS for video/movies. No one else out there has a track record in this regard. The interface for itunes/iphoto should be the guide for cataloging and selecting these videos. I have an increasing number of DVDs and would dearly like to be able to take them ALL with me when we go on travel without having to pick through them. Of course this is not going to happen overnight but in a few years compression method efficiencies and mass storage devices capacities will have grown to the point where this is trivial to accomplish. There is no way I would watch them on some puny screen but I WOULD plug my ipod video into a laptop and watch them that way. I suspect that many folks do just what I do when it comes to what is on my laptop as opposed to my ipod. Ipod contains temporary files and can be maxed out without consequence. Laptop should be clear of most junk and must have plenty of available storage for real work etc. You say "who wants to schlep a laptop all over the place?" Yes this is a burden but on a recent multiweek trip we noticed that a large percentage of people now bring their laptops not only for work but for vacation- to allow playing with their digital cameras, video etc. And not surprisingly- to watch videos on!
3) IRemote. The ipod interface should be adapted for ultimate control over your TV and especially satellite TV receivers. The interface for our Dish receiver is pathetic and tedious in the extreme to search through. It would be great if the index for the next 10 hours of shows were synced with my ipod which I could then scroll wheel though in about two seconds and push play. I could then easily assign various genre's ( as in itunes) to various channels and take control of the 500 channels of "sh*t on the TV to choose from". Clearly this could be directly extended to Tivo and other related archive systems. No one has made a concrete step towards eliminating wasteful and redundant remotes at reasonable cost.
Other areas that need technical investment/ could use some help:
Projector systems that are compact, light, QUIET, bright and instantly compatible with whatever is driving them.
Small home/home office networks which extend beyond Airport complexity but which do not require a specialty degree to set up and operate.
Wireless integration/control of boring devices such as temperature sensors, humidity sensors, furnaces, airconditioning, lighting, air handling, solar electric/ solar thermal collectors/storage systems which will become increasingly complex as energy prices rise. Systems we have now are pathetic and proprietary.
In general Apple should apply themselves to maintaining their core businesses but should consider forays into areas where there is a clear lack of technical competence or highly restricted thinking is obvious as evidenced by widespread incompatibility, restricted capabilities, high cost etc. It is the belief that if they make it "it will work" that is a foundation for their success. They are one of the few corporations that can fuse the technical with the legal and logistical to come up with effective, integrated solutions. Most other players are one-dimensional, lack any sort of real vision and are starved by low margins on commodity products. These sort of companies will not be true innovators- Apple is pretty much alone in this regard. They should leverage this capability to the max.
