10 Burning Questions Steve Jobs Needs to Answer About Apples Future

by Don Reisinger

When Gizmodo came across what it contends is the fourth-generation iPhone and posted it to its site, the Web went into a frenzy. Since then, everyone has believed that it was the follow-up to the iPhone 3G. But so far, Apple has yet to confirm that it was in fact the fourth-generation iPhone. Maybe Steve Jobs could shed some light on that to help clear things up.

In a recent e-mail exchange with a customer, Steve Jobs said that printing will be making its way to the iPad. But he wouldn’t give a time line and he failed to elaborate. That’s unacceptable. The lack of printing is a glaring omission from the iPad and it needs to come sooner rather than later. Hopefully the CEO will announce printing in the iPad at the WorldWide Developers Conference next month.

A couple years ago, just about anyone would have said that Apple and Google were allies in the fight against Microsoft. But today, that’s not true. After ousting Google CEO Eric Schmidt from Apple’s board, Steve Jobs went on a public tirade explaining the issues he saw with Google. That spat turned into what has become a contentious relationship between the two companies. It would be nice to hear once and for all if Apple really does hate Google now.

It’s easy to look past all of Apple’s faults and think of it as a wildly successful company that has nothing to fear from competition. But that’s a faulty belief. The hardware company is still facing significant pressure from Microsoft and Google, both in the software market and in the mobile space. For its part, Apple has stayed tight-lipped on which of the two companies it’s most concerned about. Maybe a short e-mail message from Steve Jobs could reveal that.

A few months ago, Apple bought online-music service Lala. Since then, the company has said little (if anything) about the acquisition. And just a few weeks ago, Lala announced that it was closing at the end of May. Once again, Apple has said nothing. Meanwhile, Lala users and the market in general are left wondering what Apple has planned for the service and whether it will start moving some of its own operations to the Web. Hopefully Steve Jobs will shed some light on that.

When Steve Jobs took a leave of absence from Apple last year and explained that he was experiencing health issues that prevented him from discharging all of the duties of his position, speculation abounded over who would take his place. So far, Apple hasn’t said who will take over for Jobs when he finally leaves the company for good. That’s unfortunate. Apple has shareholders that have millions of dollars invested in the company. They should be made aware of what to expect when the company’s savior is gone.

Determining when the iPod will finally be discontinued must be coming up in some meetings with Apple executives. Admittedly, the discontinuation of the wildly popular iPod won’t happen for years. But rest assured that it will be happening. The product that once carried the hardware company is now seeing sales plateau as consumers move on to other Apple products that already boast iPod capabilities. It will be a sad day, but eventually Steve Jobs will need to decide when the iPod will leave store shelves.

Apple offers two key operating systems: Mac OS X and iPhone OS. One of the operating systems has a small portion of the market and is being handily beaten by Windows. The other is the benchmark by which all other mobile operating systems are compared. With that in mind, Apple will need to invest more of its cash in one operating system or the other. It would be interesting to know which of those two software packages the company believes will carry it into the future.

Over the past decade, Apple has become the most secretive company in the industry. Time and again the company has ensured that the products and services it plans to announce won’t sneak out in the news before it has a chance to introduce them. But with Steve Jobs e-mailing customers and offering more details on products than he has in the past, some are wondering if the company’s policy of secrecy is coming to an end.

The debate over whether Apple should license Mac OS X is a heated one. Some believe that it would help Apple gain market share and more effectively compete against Windows. Others say that it could ruin Apple’s hardware business. But only one person’s opinion matters: Steve Jobs. And so far, the Apple CEO has said that he will not license Mac OS X. But that doesn’t mean that the topic shouldn’t be broached. It would be nice to hear Steve Jobs shed a bit more light on why he believes Apple would be wrong to license its operating system.