Apple’s first keynote of year is nearly upon us, but what will it bring?

Lion preview

Apple caught everyone by surprise last week by making the Mac OS 10.7 Lion preview available to developers. I expect Apple will go over some of the previously unannounced features such as Versions and AirDrop (I think everything has been leaked now though … naughty developers!!!).

iPad 2.0

I’m firmly under the impression that the iPad 2 will be a minor update that will simply keep it ahead of the competition. I think a front facing “FaceTime HD” camera will be included alongside a faster processor and more RAM. I don’t think it will get an SD card slot and I don’t think it will get a retina display … although I would like to see that.

MobileMe

MobileMe can no longer be purchased, but Apple have already stated that their new data center will be used for it. This is the strongest indication that it is simply just changing form. I think there will be a free version with Dropbox type functionality, so you can easily share files between your iOS devices. Other than that I’m not sure what they will add.

Something to do with the BBC?

The BBC are hosting an event at the same time as Apple’s keynote, so I imagine there is some link between them.

I think it will be one of 2 things:

1) A subscription deal on the iPad 2) The iPlayer integrated into Apple TV

iOS 4.3

iOS 4.3 will be made available tomorrow, but I don’t think there will be any surprise features.

iOS 5.0

One thing that I would like to see is the beta of iOS 5.0. I think iOS 5.0 really needs to clean up how notifications work, I suggest they copy webOS’s very clean and simple implementation. In addition to that I would like some sought of synergy between my iPad and iPhone (through MobileMe ?) whereby I can do things such as replying to text messages on my iPad. They may even open up the Apple TV in iOS 5.0… that would make things interesting.