A remote control from Apple

With AirPort Express Apple really have begun to show how a Mac sitting somewhere in the house could be a 'digital hub'. Music stored on iTunes syncs to a portable iPod or is beamed wirelessly to the audio system in the lounge. But I've got to go into another room to select a different album! So what I want from Apple this Christmas is a remote control

It could be boring; iPods already show how to control music on-the-move. So just put the same interface on some Wi-Fi enabled remote or maybe even provide some Wi-Fi add-on for an existing iPod. Alternatively...

Invent a new category of mobile device; a Wi-Fi enabled mobile client. Sure its got to be small and mobile, but if its use is restricted to 'in the home/office' it doesn't have to have the form-factor of a mobile phone that can be hidden in a smart suit, it could be more like a PDA - even a bulky PDA. But it doesn't have to operate standalone like a PDA. For a device that can be assumed to be always Wi-Fi connected, then lets make the simplifying design decision that it carries no specific user data at all. No more syncing, just access the data when you need it.

What would run on this mobile device? Obviously some cut-down iTunes controller/gadget, a way of reading my email, Spotlight to find stuff, a mobile version of Preview to read stuff, maybe even a VOIP client but also, I would hope, some sort of browser.

Although browser's don't offer the full richness of a desktop application, they do provide a remarkably flexible, good-enough solution to deliverying information. For example I would want access to the data in Address Book and iCal. People already have multiple interfaces to such data via the desktop, the .mac web-interface and even via an iPod. A web-like interface, albeit mindful of the reduced form-factor, is not impossible. Indeed Apple have precisely the sort of experience required to make a go of it. A browser-like environment might also give acess to some subset of all those gadgets that are going to be built for Dashboard.

Did I say 'No more syncing'? Well, not quite. Apple have done remarkable things to make syncing as seamless and painless as possible. Syncing to a .mac account offers both security and remote access. Maybe our Wi-Fi enabled mobile client could talk securely to a .mac account through any Wi-Fi hot-spot.

So, ideally before Christmas 2004, new hardware and an operating system to run on it, a number of new apps and 'small' web versions of others and integration with .mac. Doesn't seem too much to ask.

Comments

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