Ok, the Apple keynote is coming up and I’ve been checking out the usual rumor mills among other highly regarded Apple sites and I’ve come away with the feeling that everyone is missing something. Normally, I wouldn’t use my blog for speculation, but I can’t shake it—it seems so obvious to me! There are rumors aplenty that Apple is going to release an ultraportable notebook (or subnotebook) and some even think that it’s a bad idea. But a subnotebook would be so… well, Sony, not Apple. It wouldn’t ceate a new product category the way that Apple likes to do (see Newton, iMac, iPod, iPhone). Moreover, Steve Jobs has said that he was more than just intrigued with the iPhone’s touchscreen capabilities—that he could see the technology influencing the entire line of Apple products. And I think it’s precisely the touchscreen technology’s influence that all the subnotebook rumors are missing—namely because they all have keyboards! ((Well, not everyone, sort of.)) Imagine instead, a big Nintendo DS—a subnotebook with two screens. These screens operate in tandem so that documents and windows can be spread across them, or one or the other can become an input device (a keyboard being just one of those). That’s my prediction, at any rate. And at least part of the reason that I feel like it’s not too wild is because Apple’s been after this device for a while. It might’ve been a Sculley-era Apple vision, but Jobs is the only who could make it a reality. Regardless, the keynote will still be valuable.

No doubt about it, whether you love or hate Steve Jobs, you have to admit he’s an interesting character. I found this really nice read over at New York Magazine. Normally I wouldn’t post something like this to Banapana, but with all the iPhone hype, it’s nice to see something about Apple that has some substance. And if you want something with less substance (but good anecdotes straight from the horse’s mouth) you should check out the Apple Folklore site.

That’s to say that there are an awful lot of opinions out in the blogosphere about the new Apple iPhone, and that I intend to be one of them. However, in the interest of trying not to be a total clone, I will restrict my opinion to just one facet of the iPhone, and that is the hubbub about 3rd party applications. There are quite a few people who seemed to be worried about whether the iPhone will support 3rd party software. I’ve read several opinions that the iPhone really doesn’t even constitute a smart phone without “real” office applications. There are also some people who think that the lack of a keyboard will be a problem. These people have really missed the boat, in my opinion, because what the iPhone does more than any other “smart” phone can is make the network the computer.

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