On Sunday I will fly to San Francisco to attend WWDC. This will be my fourth WWDC in a row. From what I see, most of the sessions will be a rehash of what we saw last year. That isn’t too bad as it will allow me to focus on what is new in Snow Leopard and iPhone 3.0 and spend more time at the labs.

People seem to have very high expectations from this WWDC, which isn’t unusual. Most expect new handsets and a hopeful handful still expect the mythical Apple Tablet to be finally announced. I am not that interested by new hardware. New handsets will come at some time, that we know, and since we know that they will be running iPhone OS 3.0, which is already available for current devices, I really don’t care if they are announced at the show or two months from now. As for the tablet, my guess is that we will have to keep waiting.

However, most people seem to be much less interested by Snow Leopard. That is probably a mistake. Apple has deliberately set low expectations for this release and is probably set to over deliver in several areas, even though nothing has been announced. Regarding the new features that we know about, like Grand Central and OpenCL, we have no exact idea what kind of impact they will represent in terms of performance gains. I hope to be pleasantly surprised. Like last year, I will keep my finger crossed for Windows and iPhone versions of iChat which would make the Mac version more useful.

On the iPhone front, I have high expectations for significant third party hardware device announcements that can be controlled from the phone. Building a strong ecosystem around the iPhone is key to its long term success and Apple has been very clever to open the development of non-trivial hardware extensions to third parties. It would be nice to see Arduino work with Apple to allow hardware geeks easily create new hardware gadgets for the iPhone. That would open a new market for the phone in universities all over the world.

You may have noticed that I have been quiet for the last few months. I was busy working on a new Mac application. As you may have guessed, I don’t have a lot of time to work on personal projects. My job at IBM from Monday to Friday, with extremely long working hours, and my family to which I devote week-ends take most of my time. As a result, I have to be smart and use any spare time wisely. Working on multiple projects is definitively not an option.

The application I have just released, CityListBuilder for iMovie ‘09, is quite simple. It is designed to help non-technical Mac users to add support for additional cities to the new animated travel map feature. This can be done by hand quite easily by just editing the contents of a flat file, but I thought that Mac users deserved a better solution.

From a technical perspective though, writing this app was a very interesting exercise. It gave me the opportunity to work with REST services (to interface with the Google Maps geocoding service), WebKit and the authorization services. I think that the strategy of releasing relatively quickly small apps that allow me to learn new technologies is quite effective. I have already started to look for new ideas for my next project. One candidate project involves using Bonjour and Quartz Composer, two technologies I have never used so far and that I believe are quite interesting. It would also allow me to work on an iPhone client which is quite exciting. I will let you know more once I actually start coding.

When Apple announced the iPhone OS 3.0 last week, most users where pleased. This new version addresses most of the problems that customers have been complaining about since the launch of the 3G iPhone. Features like cut, copy and paste or the ability to finally sync the Notes application with a Mac or a PC will definitively make a lot of people happy.

However, despite all the improvements that Apple has included in this new release, it is clear that this is just a transition product that will improve the user experience but that nobody can seriously define a revolutionary. Those who expected the iPhone OS to run on new types of devices, like a larger tablet or a smaller, cheaper phone are probably disappointed. There seems to be nothing in this release that allows existing applications to run on different form factor devices. That doesn’t mean that we won’t see a new generation of iPhones relatively soon. In fact AppleInsider has already reported on some of the features the new phones are expected to sport when they are released this summer. However, these products will be evolutionary (better camera, improved speed, etc), not revolutionary.

So, what should we think of those rumors that tell us that Apple has been shopping for 10” LCD screens? They might be still be true, but they just won’t be for a device running the iPhone OS. That probably means that if Apple chooses to release a Netbook later this year, it will most likely be a Mac, or at least a device much closer to a Mac than to an iPhone.

The iPhone is already a popular product in the US, but it will become much more popular, specially in the enterprise, once Apple releases version 2.0 of the iPhone OS. With the new software companies will be able to easily distribute custom build applications to their employees using a special version of the iTunes App Store.

While not much is known about this application, it is a pretty safe guess to assume that it is Mac OS X only and that it will probably included in an upcoming release of OS X Server. While such a strategy may help Apple sell a couple of hundred servers, it is hard to believe that Apple doesn’t have larger ambitions in the telephony market, specially for small and medium sized businesses.

Asterisk is a popular open-source application that is already widely used on Linux servers. It is used to create cheap telephony solutions that used to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The solution is an open source/free software implementation of a telephone private branch exchange (PBX). Like any PBX, it allows a number of attached telephones to make calls to one another, and to connect to other telephone services including the public switched telephone network (PSTN). With Asterisk it is easy to setup voice mail boxes and route calls to home numbers or cell phones.

Asterisk also supports a wide range of Voice over IP protocols, including SIP, MGCP and H.323. It can interoperate with most SIP telephones, acting both as registrar and as a gateway between IP phones and the PSTN. This makes Asterisk a perfect complement to iChat.

Apple has a long history of including open-source applications with OS X Server, making them easy to configure and manage. The OS already includes products such as the Apache Web Server or the MySQL database server. So why not include Asterisk? It would allow Apple to offer a turnkey solution for small to medium companies. Imagine a server that costs less than US$ 5,000 and offers everything that this market needs, from e-mail to instant messaging, from wikis to video conferencing, and now with a true unified communications solution. I am sure it would quickly become an instant hit.

What is required to make this happen? Asterisk already runs on OS X, so all Apple really needs to do is to integrate it better with the OS and offer the required analog phone and E1/T1 interfaces for the XServe. Additionally they will need to port iChat to Windows (this is long overdue). On the business side, they will also need to improve their VAR network as these solutions cannot be simply sold at the Apple Store, they need to be supported by IT professionals.

None of these hurdles seem too hard to overcome. I really believe that Apple will eventually offer such a solution, with an announcement coming maybe as soon at WWDC. After all, at the event there is an Information Technologies track designed for IT professionals who support Mac networks and many of those attending it would likely be very interested by such an announcement. The iPhone is Apple’s key to get the Mac into the Enterprise and Asterisk can make it happen in a really big way.

Last year over 5,000 persons attended WWDC. At the time it represented a new record for the annual Apple developer event. The result was fueled by the imminent launch Mac OS X Leopard. This year, with 25 days to go before Steve Jobs addresses developers at the keynote speech, Apple has announced that for the first time ever, the conference has sold out.

I am sure that most do not realize the significance of this announcement. In the past, Apple has used many dirty tricks to artificially increase the number of attendants to WWDC. For example, there used to be a separate conference for Quicktime content creators. I believe that Apple cancelled that event two years ago and folded it within WWDC. Last year there was a session track for web developers, presumably to pave the way for new web applications targeting iPhone users. The result was that if you engaged in conversation with people you didn’t know you were likely to find out that they had absolutely no clue about Objective-C or XCode.

This year things are likely to be quite different. Apple no longer needs tricks to fill Moscone West up. Gone are the tracks for web developers and video content creators. There still is a track for System Administrators but the rest of the sessions are designed exclusively for developers. This means that even if attendance only grows to six thousand (the Convention Center was already packed last year), this will still represent a very significant increase in the number of real programmers attending the event. It is a clear sign that many of those 200,000 persons who downloaded the iPhone SDK are actually using it and want to be prepared for the launch of the app store at the end of June. This is going to be the best WWDC ever!

Earlier today, Ryan Naraine reported for eWeek that “PayPal, one of the brands most spoofed in phishing attacks, is working on a plan to block its users from making transactions from Web browsers that don’t provide anti-phishing protection”. The reason behind this decision is that “browsers that do not have support for blocking identity theft-related Web sites or for EV SSL (Extended Validation Secure Sockets Layer) certificates are considered ‘unsafe’ for financial transactions”.

This announcement has generated a lot of concern among Mac users since Safari, the most widely used browser on that platform does not support EV SSL. Even though I do use Safari as my main browser on both Mac and Windows, I do agree with the decision. The reason is simple, even though it is very simple to avoid phishing attacks on any computer by just pointing your DNS information to OpenDNS, few know how to do it or even understand how phishing works. Those who complain about the decision are obviously not aware of the size of the phishing attacks and the amount of fraud they represent. If PayPal’s decision forces Apple to implement EV SSL support into Safari, I will certainly not complain. It is great to have a fast and standards compliant browser, but security for the technologically challenged users should be a major concern for Apple.

However, there are more reasons to back PayPal’s decision. Too many users are still using old browsers and this his slowing down the adoption of new technologies. I would love to see more companies to stop supporting old versions of Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. That would really give web developers an opportunity to create great innovative applications. Right now, people too often prefer to use those old versions because there are still sites that require them. If large sites start requiring newer browser versions, those old sites will face increased pressure to modernize. That cannot be bad for the industry or the end-users.

I just read an editorial on The Mac Observer in which John Martellaro writes that Microsoft Retail Stores would fail. He bases his conclusion on the poor reception Vista has had in the market so far, specially among consumers, and the fact that Microsoft seems to have lost interest in that segment of the population.

I totally disagree. For starters, Microsoft currently produces one of the most successful consumer electronics device, the XBox 360. Microsoft could easily fill up any Apple Store just with Xbox 360 games and accesories. Then there is the Zune. Sure, that MP3 player isn’t nearly as sexy as the iPod touch but I could see more people buying it if it were properly showcased. Microsoft could also sell phones based on Windows mobile made by their hardware partners. Those phones are certainly not state of the art but they (almost) work as advertised and appeal to a segment of the population. Microsoft also produces some PC hardware that includes keyboards and mice which are quite popular. And then obviously there is software, Windows and Office of course, but let’s not also forget that there is much more, like the Microsoft Expression Suite which is a decent collection of products and finally highly popular PC games like Age of Empires or Flight Simulator. So, the perception that Microsoft does not have products that are compelling for consumers is totally wrong.

People also tend to assume that Microsoft would be unable to match the Apple shopping experience. I am not sure what they mean by that. Sure, Apple’s sales force tends to be nice and knowledgeable but having run a small chain of Apple retail stores for three years about ten years ago, I know that this is relatively easy to achieve when you only handle a small number of SKUs. The secret of Apple’s success has to be found somewhere else. You want to know what it is? Easy. People go to the Apple Store because it is usually one of the only stores in the mall that appeals to men (although not exclusively), and because there is free internet access. That was the genius behind choosing malls to open stores. People usually don’t go to Best Buy or Fry’s to just hang out, instead they go to a mall where there are more entertainment and food options. And where do men go when they are tired of watching the women apparel that their wives or girlfriends want to buy? That’s right, they go to the Apple Store. WHy? Because there simply aren’t many other options (and it could get even worse if The Sharper Image goes out of business.

There is a reason that explains why Apple hasn’t yet opened stores in Germany, France or Spain. Those countries haven’t embraced the retail shopping mall model like the US, the UK or even Mexico. It has to do with expensive and scarce real estate in downtown areas where affluent people use to shop. In those countries you may find malls in the suburbs but they will usually not house luxury or premium brands. You could argue that not all Apple Stores are located in malls, and you would be right. In fact all flagship stores (San Francisco, New York, Chicago. Tokyo and London) are on busy streets, but only major markets support that model. The problem is finding great locations for smaller stores. Nothing prevents Apple to open a flagship store on the Champs Élisées in Paris or Serrano in Madrid but where does Apple grow from there if there are no (suitable) malls?

Apple has great products but analysts and Apple enthusiasts must understand that many of those who enter the company stores do it often simply because of a lack of better options. That is great for Apple because it generates a disproportionate amount of foot traffic, but most of those people would probably welcome a little competition. I love Apple but I also like to spend some time at a Sony store, specially if the alternative is spending time at Zara or Coach. I am sure that if Microsoft decides to open new retail stores and like Apple places them in malls, they will be able to get a fair share of that traffic. Wether Microsoft deserves it or not is a different matter.

Microsoft just announced that they would make Windows Vista cheaper. It is clear that Microsoft wants to spur adoption of Vista and lowering the price of a product is certainly easier and quicker than improving the product to make it more palatable.

What bothers me is that I don’t hear any existing Vista customers complaining. Compare that to the clamor that resonated through the blogosphere when Apple decided to lower the price of the iPhone. So, what is happening? It seems that despite Microsoft’s claims that Vista has seen a strong adoption, few customers have actually purchased the new OS, most Vista users are really new PC buyers who get it pre-installed. That probably explains why so few feel cheated.

However, that is not the only reason. It is clear that the expectations customers have from both companies are quite different. Microsoft customers have a business relationship with them. They understand that Steve Ballmer is running a business and wants to make a profit. Apple customers, on the other hand seem to think that they have a more personal relationship with the Cupertino based company. Many seem to believe that in exchange for buying from the underdog and heavily promoting their products among their friends they deserve to be treated almost as partners. That will have to change at some point, but right now Steve Jobs really needs the legions of Apple fans to continue growing, even if it means having to put up with the somewhat silly protests of some loud fanboys when they don’t agree with some corporate decisions.

At MacWorld 2008, Steve Jobs made some important announcements. One of the new products he introduced was Time Capsule. Today that product finally became available, just in time to match the announced product availability date (end of February).

What is really weird for us old timer Apple followers is that in timeframe between MacWorld and the launch of Time Capsule, many new Apple products that were not announced at the expo have also be released. In fact the list is quite long and includes many major launches such as Aperture 2.0 new Mac Books and Mac Book Pros, and a new 16GB iPhone to name a few.

It is clear that Apple has decided to launch new products as they become available and not wait for events such as WWDC or MacWorld expo to announce them. This makes a lot of business sense, as conventions have become a thing of the past and increased competition does not allow for product launch delays that may give competitors an edge.

I am not really sure how this will impact WWDC though. This is a very special event that is crucial to Apple success. It is imperative for them to demonstrate year over year increased attendance and without the buzz of new product releases and no new OS version in sight, this is probably a difficult task for the organizers. That is why I am quite certain that this year crowd drawer will be the iPhone SDK. We may see some preview of the SDK next week along with some nifty demo applications at Apple’s roadmap event but it is clear that both the full SDK and the enterprise features mentioned on the invitation will not be available immediately. This meeting will probably be an opportunity for Apple to apologize for the delay while demonstrating solid progress. It will also be a great occasion to announce the dates of WWDC and generate hype for the event.

I am currently in Vegas, resting a couple of days after a very hard end of year and an even more complex year start. I had the opportunity to play a couple of minutes with the new Mac Book Air at the Fashion Mall Apple Store. It definitively is a sexy machine. I would love to have one at work to replace my IBM laptop. This is a great machine for e-mail, Internet browsing and customer presentations. It will not replace my MacBook Pro any time soon, but it is a great addition to the portable Mac line of products. Judging from the crowds the new laptop was drawing and the number of inquiries , I don’t expect it to be the failure many have predicted.