3 Apple Products For The Future Without Steve Jobs

The spirit of Steve Jobs’ vision for Apple could live on for some time.

ZoomThe iPhone 4S (or iPhone 5, if you believe the analyst) may be widely considered to be the last product on which Jobs actively worked. There is speculation that Jobs left behind possibly four years’ worth of new Apple products. As important as Jobs was for Apple, the current CEO, Tim Cook, will have to transition the company into its next era to create a fresh legacy that will sustain the present pace. If you were Cook, which products would you choose?

I can still remember Steve Jobs’ claims last year that 2011 would be an even bigger year than 2010 for Apple. Surely it has been a more dramatic year than any previous ones for the company, but not in the sense many of us would have expected. What we anticipated was a product expansion that would go beyond the Mac, iPhone or iPad, which has not occurred. The expectations in Tim Cook will continue to grow next year. It will be interesting to see if he will attempt to step out of the shadow of Jobs’ heritage and avoid the situation that we are now watching at Microsoft. There, Steve Ballmer is mainly considered a business manager, whereas Bill Gates was the visionary who created the company.

If Cook were to plan a legacy, which of the following would be the obvious opportunities? Here are my three choices.

Apple iTV

Apple TV was always considered to be a Jobs "hobby" product, which indicated that Apple was not very serious about it. The Apple TV wasn't quite right, and while it is still selling, it is almost invisible and could be phased out at any moment. Even in its most recent generation, the Apple TV set top box never had the punch of other Apple products.

Interestingly enough, it is possible for the Apple TV device to be the first Apple product that could be fixed and turned into a success. Will Apple be integrating Apple TV into a regular LCD TV?

The rumors that Apple is planning a TV have been around for some time. Because of its exceptional ability to bridge the gap between traditional computers and consumer electronics, Apple can expand into HDTV and drive innovation in a space that is rather slow to develop. How long have we been waiting for compelling smart TVs and app TVs? Apple has the platform (iOS, App Store), the hardware (iPhone, iPad), and the content (iTunes) to create a unique user experience that could change the TV in the same manner that the iPhone changed the cellphone.

I could imagine an "iTV" becoming a media hub in homes—much like the iMac-based media hub Steve Jobs talked about in the late 1990s.

Video Game Platform

While smartphones and iPads are used for video gaming and handheld console makers are clearly seeing the effect of Apple's success, I believe that Apple is underselling its opportunity in this space. For example, what if Apple were to acquire Steam to support its App Store service for iOS and MacOS X? Among enthusiast PC users, this would not sit too well, but the concept must sound enticing for Apple. It would be a video game platform that spans from the PC/Mac, to the tablet, to the phone and to a possible TV. A platform with Steam’s reach would help Apple to fuel game development for its devices even more, and it would ensure they become available across its product offering, perhaps via iCloud.

The Mac itself has never been a great gaming platform, mostly due to the lack of developer support as well as the lack of developer tools to create games for Macs. Furthermore, Apple never really showed particular interest in working with game developers. That scenario, however, changed with iOS. Apple has a big opportunity to leverage its current traction to evolve game apps in its App Store into a much more powerful cloud environment that could easily rival the current game consoles offered by Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Imagine Onlive on steroids that meet PS3/Xbox 360 inside a smart TV that interacts with your iPad/iPod/iPhone.

Touch and 3D Data Input

The iPhone and iPad have made touch a very compelling method for replacing the keyboard and mouse as the main data input methods. However, touch is largely a two-dimensional activity that does not work very well on today's (vertical) computing devices. For example, on Windows 8 notebooks we will need to hold the notebook screen with one hand so that we can move tiles on the screen with the other hand. Touch is an unlikely replacement for the keyboard and mouse on desktop computers and notebooks.

3D is with us already, but there is a good chance that 3D data input may arrive before 3D displays will penetrate the general market. Last month, Apple was granted a patent that may highlight the direction in which Apple is thinking of going. The company suggested that a 3D detector beam could be integrated into a mouse pad or perhaps in the location of today's track pad in a notebook. This beam could be used to detect hand movements in the space vertically above the pad. Those movements would be translated into actions on the screen. Granted, it isn't the most convenient form of 3D data input, but it is obvious that touch will have to evolve at some point; this could be one promising way.

If we consider how much the concept of the multi-touch screen has influenced the invention of Apple products and the shaping of Apple's current user and platform model, we could assume that the modification of that model will be Apple's next big opportunity. It could create a legacy for Tim Cook while it maintains Steve Jobs’ vision of creating a cohesive product lineup. A game platform, iTV and 3D data input could all easily be integrated in today's Apple lineup.