New iOS devices and a new Mac OS X are expected to take center stage.
Apple is in the driver's
seat when it comes to consumer computing, but it's also a force to be reckoned
with for business IT, thanks in large part to its wildly successful combination
of iPhone and iPad. Although corporate uptake of other parts of the Apple lineup
has been less than stellar and led to the company's decision to end sales of
the company's Xserve platform on Jan. 31, it's clear that the iOS device family
has its champions among executives and other decision influencers.
This process, which for
lack of a better description is being called the "consumerization of
enterprise IT," is about what you'd expect when people are able to take
computers, and computing resources, for granted. It wouldn't exist without a
universe of cloud-based services, or without devices from companies that put
usability above everything else.
If any company is
associated with ease of use, it's Apple. There will be a great deal of
attention on the company in 2011-between the second-generation iPad, the
fifth-generation iPhone and Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion," I already have
three major story subjects emerging, and I write this with December yet to
start.
Building on Apple's
success with the iPhone, the iPad may well single-handedly kill off the netbook
computer as a platform, or at least reduce it to niche status. Analysts are
falling over each other in their eagerness to guess the number of iPads that
Apple will sell in 2011, but here's my answer to that question: Apple will sell
as many iPads as its suppliers can build. If it can get 50 million units built,
it can sell them.
The next iPhone will draw
attention because Apple's handling of the iPhone 4's debut lacked the usual
panache that I associate with the company. The mental images aren't terribly
positive ones: a police task force seizing a journalist's personal and
professional equipment after he returned a prototype device that had come into
his possession, Apple CEO Steve Jobs' rebuttal of "You're holding it
wrong" when confronted with reports of antenna issues, the manufacturing
debacle that has so far stymied production of the white iPhone 4. I have to
wonder if the company just had a bad year, or whether something more serious is
going on.
I'll be very interested to
see what Apple has planned for Mac OS X 10.7 "Lion," beyond the sneak
peek we saw in November. The Mac App Store idea is one that's probably ready
for prime time, but it represents a gamble of sorts for the company. It
believes that people have become conditioned by the iPhone model with its App
Store into accepting Apple's veto power over what's sold in its online stores. Some
of the other enhancements to the UI may take some getting used to; if Lion
winds up looking too much like iTunes 10, I doubt that I'll be impressed by its
appearance.
I am, however, very
bullish on what Lion could do to embrace touch-based interfaces, and in so
doing possibly bridging the gap between the classic keyboard-and-mouse paradigm
that we've lived with for more than a quarter-century and the touch-based
interface that's moving up from the mobile device. I could see Apple selling a
great number of MacBooks and MacBook Pros by incorporating a touch-screen
keyboard, for example.
There you have it, in a
nutshell: three products, from one company, and 12 months of 2011 to see how
their stories will unfold.
P. J. Connolly began writing for IT publications in 1997 and has a lengthy track record in both news and reviews. Since then, he's built two test labs from scratch and earned a reputation as the nicest skeptic you'll ever meet. Before taking up journalism, P. J. was an IT manager and consultant in San Francisco with a knack for networking the Apple Macintosh, and his love for technology is exceeded only by his contempt for the flavor of the month. Speaking of which, you can follow P. J. on Twitter at pjc415, or drop him an email at pjc@eweek.com.
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