Where’s Apple going to be in 2006? An Intel powerhouse? Media hub of the family entertainment center? A consumer electronics company? All possibilities and all predicted by the big names in the industry. One such name, a writer for Business 2.0, Om Malik has his own little list of predictions. They are as follows:

1. Apple will finally take its market share to over 5%. (I am finishing up my follow-up post on increasing support for OS-X from software vendors!)
2. iPhone, the real thing comes to market sometime in September 2006 time frame.
3. Mac Mini finally becomes Apple’s CE platform for the living room.
4. Apple releases iPod-inspired devices for the home.
5. Apple will get closer to Cingular in terms of wireless music.

Let’s go down the list. Yes, I agree with point one. Apple well crest 5% easily has it has already hit 4% for this year. With the new Intel boxes to be out by mid-year, I can see little reason why Apple couldn’t gain another few million users and maybe even more. Hey Steve, why not throw in a free iPod nano for each new Switcher? Let’s go for 6%!

After the failing of the Newton, I can’t see Apple getting into the cellular phone market as item two states. Apple has yet to even release a radio enabled small form factor device such as the iPod Bluetooth we’ve all been waiting for for over a year. If it’s having difficulties getting out a wireless version of the number one DAP in the world, I can’t see a phone ready to take on the big three (Nokia, SonyEricsson, and Motorola) any time soon. Further, there has been no rumblings about Apple speaking to GSM chipset providers (which would make the most sense since it has a relationship with Cingular) or Qualcomm for CDMA. Nope, don’t see this one happening.

The Apple mini as the homes Compact Edition. Mmm, don’t know about this, either. With Front Row on the iMac and maybe 2.0 on the mini, it still has a way to go before it’s even a teenager let alone mature enough to compete with Microsoft’s Media Center Edition of Windows XP. Hey, I love OS X and think it’s the right platform to center your media requirements around, but the Cupertino boys have some work cut for them before that happens. So I disagree with Om here, too.

Now Om had to go and make the next prediction nice and vague. iPod-inspired devices for the home. Man, that could be anything! Is Apple going to make garage doors? How about a blender? Or maybe a coffee machine? Sorry, this thought of Om’s is just way too broad to even to consider. I do think Apple will veer more into the consumer electronics space as the iPod has proven to be a good mix for the affordable personal computer creator. I can see more snazzy devices coming from it that will craze the world like the iPod has.

The last prediction is one that may or may not happen. I would like to see iTMS accessible from Cingular’s networks and I think that’s what Om eludes to in his final prediction. But is Apple willing to take another cut out of its profits for Cingular whom likes to charge nearly $2 for each ringtone downloaded off its network? That’ll be a difficult feat for Jobs to pull off…maybe as tough as trying to get Apple Records to give up its Beatles catalog for iTMS.

[tags]apple,2006,predictions[/tags]