Less than two weeks until Steve Jobs unveils the next iPhone at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, it appears that the device will come equipped with video chat capabilities. Also in today’s App Industry Roundup, we look ahead to a world with $100 Android tablets and $97 iPhones.
Lights, action, video chat camera on the iPhone
If the rumor mill about features for the 4G iPhone wasn’t enflamed enough heading into Apple’s June 7 Worldwide Developers Conference, now comes word that the device will showcase video chat capabilities.
According to a report by tech blog Engadget, the 4G iPhone will accommodate real-time face-to-face conversations. Further, it appears that American Beauty director Sam Mendes is directing a new round of television commercials for Apple and the iPhone. One generation’s 1984 is another’s Revolutionary Road, perhaps.
All of this of course amounts to further evidence of the world’s worst kept secret. The new iPhone is coming, and new features like video chat and multi-tasking capabilities will open up more worlds of opportunities for third-party application developers.
Stay tuned.
Who needs a cheap laptop with $100 Android tablets?
Among the considerable pop cultural impacts the iPad has delivered in its first month of commercial availability, none is more profound on the tech sector than the universal acceptance of tablet computing the 9.7-inch screen device promotes.
Increasingly, business and casual consumers alike are ditching their laptops (at least for a few days and counting) in favor of the the convenience and portability of touch screen tablets.
Now that Apple has loosened the cap off the proverbial ketchup bottle top of tablets, expect scores of viable competitors to swarm the market in the months ahead. Rather than being beholden to one family of devices, Google’s Android mobile operating system and app Marketplace is positioned to power dozens of smart phones as well as a new generation of tablets.
While an Android and Verizon-powered tablet will likely be the most formidable iPad competitor, a more budget-friendly alternative is on the way. Taiwan-based Via Technologies plans to release a $100 Android-powered tablet device later this year. Combine this with Wal-Mart’s new $97 iPhone offering (AT&T plan still required), and you’ll realize that application-powered devices are now accessible to nearly everybody.
There is no doubt that future application development will reflect this new reality.
