2010 was the year of innovations at Apple, everything starting in January with the presentation of the iPad tablet, culminating with the launch of iOS 4/iPhone 4 and ending with the new Macbook Air. This year Apple struggled to launch products that would change the way we perceive a tablet PC, a smartphone or a netbook. With the iPad they managed to radically change the tablet PC market, the iPhone 4 managed to bring a "new breath" and with the Macbook Air they set a standard.
I expect that in 2011 Apple will match the performance of the previous year, but I don't expect it to surpass them. At the moment, the iPad tablet is the top of the range in terms of tablet PCs, the iPhone 4 is one of the best smartphones in the world and the Macbook Air does not have much competition. This year I expect Apple to focus more on software than on hardware and besides the new Mac OS X Lion we will probably see some major changes to iOS, at least I hope so.
iOS is in great need of an important facelift because we have been working with the same interface for years and many feel the need for a change. This year I suspect that Apple will implement a good part of the tweaks from Cydia directly in iOS and will reduce the number of those who jailbreak for customization. In the same vein, I expect Apple to fight much more aggressively against jailbreak and I expect factory unlocked iPhones to be sold almost everywhere.
Basically, this is what I expect from Apple in 2011. What do you expect?
