Is it too late to make my Apple announcement predictions? Nah I don’t think so! There’s alot of rumour going around – mostly iPod centric which frankly I don’t care about – but here are a few things I do care about, and really hope happen:

[Update] Check out my review of iTunes 9 here.

iTunes 9

Actually, this is one of the main rumors going around, it’s pretty certain it will happen. What are we expecting though?

1. 64-Bit – This is a must – it’s one of the last Snow Leopard apps that is still 32-bit.
2. Cocoa? With it’s 64-bit goodness, will we see a re-written iTunes in the same way Finder has seen a Carbon->Cocoa update?
3. Social – I just cannot see this happening – sharing songs like “I am listening to xxxx” is so dull and about 3 years too late. I’d be interested in other social aspects, but I see little 3rd party integration.
4. New UI? – I’m keen to see iTunes get some new sparkle – the existing UI has been in place now for a couple of years.
5. iTunes Plus – I see this becoming the default, no more options. Goodbye 128kbit DRM’d downloads – no need for them anymore.

Subscriptions

With the inclusion of Spotify on the App Store, I am almost certain a music subscription model is coming from Apple. I just cannot understand why else they would allow this application to go onto the the iPod/iPhone because it basically infringes on one of their biggest products – the iTunes Music Store.

Sure, there are legal implications which may have forced Apple into a corner on this one, but seeing as the record labels seem willing to go with subscription models these days, I am more than certain Apple will have to eventually.

I’m predicting a seismic shift in the way user’s consume music. From CD -> Digital Downloads -> Subscriptions via streaming/offline cache. I strongly believe that this is where we will see the future of music consumption going.

Music aside, there have been some strong rumors and rumblings around a subscription TV show service – I’d like to see this stretch to movies too. We’ll see.

iPhone 3.1

I’m pretty sure this will happen today. The 3.0 OS has been out for a while now, and seeds of a 3.1 version have been spotted. What will it contain though? Well it’ll more than likely add support for any of the new aforementioned features above (and any I haven’t guessed). Hopefully it will have the usual zippy speed boosts, and will make Safari Snappier(TM).

AppleTV

Finally, I don’t think we’ll see a new AppleTV today, but I do believe some new firmware will come out the door, which will include access to online content such as BBC iPlayer. As you know, Sony PlayStation recently released their firmware 3.0 for PS3 which also includes the same, so I see no reason for Apple to ignore that.

All will be revealed in a few hours…