The Fourth of July and Christmas may be my favorite holidays, but next Tuesday marks my favorite day of the year. No, it’s not my birthday, but it might as well be — it’s the Steve Jobs keynote address at Macworld in San Francisco.

To anyone who’s not an Apple fanboy, there is just no way for you to possibly understand the magnitude of this event to the Mac Cult. Steve Jobs, the hero, savior, deity, CEO of Apple, will get up on stage and execute a flawless presentation where he show us, his followers, the next and greatest things in form and function for electronics.

The Macworld keynote was where the world was introduced to the iPhone (2007), the iMac (1998), the iBook (1999), the worlds best operating system in OSX (2000), among so many other great products and services.

American culture shifts everytime Steve Jobs takes the stage. iPhone and iPod anybody?

So, today, I’m writing my Apple product wishlist for this years keynote. You know, the things I want Apple to introduce. By no means is this a “prediction” list, as I have no inside knowledge, and know only what rumor sites can offer me. As for my list, I’ll try and keep it as reasonable as possible and not offer up a wish for something which the technology just isn’t available yet — we’ll save those predictions for the years ahead.

1. iPhone software update — We already know we’re getting it. I don’t want the update for the features, per say, but rather so I can turn my iPhone back into a phone. I had to restore the software on my iPhone a couple months back, and have been unable to get it working on T-Mobile since. Rumors are the new iPhone software update will allow me to hack the phone back to T-Mobile. Whoohoo!
2. New iPhone — While I don’t think it’ll be the iPhone 2.0 per say, I think we will see a new version of the iPhone. Maybe a iPhone Mini or iPhone Nano type of product. Slimed down features, but the same Apple design and function. I think this will occur, because there is demand for a lower priced version of the iPhone, and Apple stated the ambitious goal of having a 10% marketshare of cellphones by the end of 2008. To do that, they’ll need to introduce more products at reasonable prices to the market.
3. A new Apple TV — Even though I think they’re pretty cool. The current Apple TV’s have been named one of the worst tech products of 2007. That’s something Apple won’t stand for. With the rumor of Apple introducting downloadable movie rentals through the iTunes store, I think we’ll see an update to the Apple TV. But that won’t be all. A next gen disc player (Bluray) will be added. Also something else that I can’t quite put my finger on (DVR? Gaming?). But, knowing Apple, it’ll blow everyone away. The Apple TV is too good of a product to throw away, but bad enough that it needs a drastic upgrade.
4. One more thing — Steve Jobs is famous for getting to the end of his keynote and then pronouncing that there’s “one more thing.” This year, it’ll be something we’ve all been waiting years for, but it’ll be beyond everyones expectations — even our expectations for Apple. In similar fashion to the 2007 keynote when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone by saying Apple would be “introducing three revolutionary new products. The first one is a widescreen ipod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary new mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough internet communications device.” Then saying, actually, those three products are one, the iPhone. This year, it won’t be a phone, but a computer. “It’s a touchscreen portable tablet (think iPhone but laptop sized), and it’s a desktop.”
   What is it? A tablet that docks to an iMac looking shell! It’s a perfect product in every way. Somedays I wish I had a laptop more than my desktop at home. Other days, I’m glad I have the desktop — what if you could have both, but still be one computer? Now you could. The tablet screen would dock just right in the iMac shell that you used the same screen, same hard drive, same everything as when you just used it as the tablet. And the good news this isn’t a pipe-dream. Apple has filed patents for such a product. While it probably won’t be introduced this year, a guy can wish right?

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