(image courtesy flickr user korosirego)

Man, what an epic win year it's been for Apple! Poor-antenna-PR aside, pretty much everything the folks from Cupertino launched hit gold in 2010, whether it was the refreshed take on the iPods or the iPhone or the all new iPad, which spawned an almost dysenteric flow of Android tablets for the rest of the year! Not to forget the impossibly thin(ner) MacBook Air, which points to the future of how Apple notebooks will be. Think about it � a Jan. 27 iPad announcement, then the April 8 iOS 4 preview followed by the June 7 WWDC launch of the iPhone 4, and then the Sept. 1 iPod updates and finally…closing out the year with the Oct. 20 'Back to the Mac' announcements! Phew!

As A Byte of Apple wraps up on 2010, it is the season for speculation about what the next year will bring for Apple. Our takes on these usually go ten deep, but in the giving spirit of the season, we've thrown in one extra for no additional cost! Here are our 11 for 2011…

(image courtesy flickr user traftery)

iPad 2: That there will be an iPad 2 is a foregone conclusion. The iPad has ended the year lining many Christmas stockings despite the looming fear of a new one hitting as soon as the first quarter in 2011. So how can Apple better the iPad 2 to fend off the credible challenge that the BlackBerry PlayBook and others of its ilk will pose in 2011?

• A front-facing camera for FaceTime is all but a given, as is a sleeker and lighter design, possible one with tapered edges a la the current gen iPod touch. The design changes may just force the speaker grille to the rear of the device, allowing for a better speaker to be packed in as well. A Retina Display on the iPad looks unlikely if Apple is to preserve the price point.
• Word also has it that Apple may look to ship three versions of the updated tablet, adding a CDMA model to the already available Wi-Fi and 3G.
• And as absurd as sounds to Apple observers, it's been rumored by Eldar Murtazin that the iPad2 will feature a USB port or USB host capabilities, possibly to allow access to files on portable USB sticks and the like.

(image courtesy flickr user gonzalobaeza)

iPhone circa 2011: Will it be the iPhone 5, or the iPhone 4G (which is what a whole lot of folks calls the iPhone 4 anyway!) to reflect its possible love for 4G LTE networks, more so with a deal with US carrier Verizon in the works?

• Nomenclature aside, expect the next gen iPhone to possibly try a whole new form factor to quash any ugly signal issues from resurfacing � there're a whole gang of folks post the iPhone 4 signal debacle who're just looking to keep Apple honest.
• Specs will be boosted as well, with the next gen iPhone and iPad sporting a processor whose power at least matches Qualcomm's 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor.
• NFC, already a term being bandied about much with the Google Nexus S' adoption, will probably feature in the next gen iPhone. Initial use may allow you to turn the iPhone 5 into a passcode-protected electronic wallet or security passkey, one that would communicate via the short-range wireless technology to other compatible devices. In the long term, it may communicate with NFC-equipped Macs to allow you to start using any Mac as if you were using your home or office Mac.
• And if you've been following the patent circuits, Apple has recently acquired the patent for a glass-less stereoscopic 3D display system, which may just find its way onto the next gen iPhone.
• 2011 may just be the year that Apple's iOS devices will top the list of targets for malware and hackers. 2010 saw a browser-based jailbreak for the iPhone 4, will a more serious flaw be exposed in 2011?

(image courtesy flickr user procsilas)

Macs: With the late 2010 launch of the MacBook Air and the early January launch of the Mac App Store, the momentum will see heightened expectations for Mac units next year.

• Will flash storage become the norm in all Apple notebooks, as the success of the Air would suggest? It'll all come down to the volume deals Apple can strike with SSD suppliers, but if the 2010 Air is anything to go by, expect the 2011 family of Macs to be blisteringly fast.
• Battery life discussions took prominence in 2010 with the extremely capable 5-7 hour battery life on the MacBook Pros and the downright insane 10-11 hours from the iPad. Apple's battery life calculations tended to be very conservative this past year, a refreshing change from industry practices, but the performance increase was clearly down to their secret sauce � innovative battery management and longer-lasting batteries. Expect much better stuff on this front next year.
• With Intel's early 2011 launch of LightPeak, a technology that will pave the way for 10Gbps connections to your peripherals, Apple may just forge the path by adopting LightPeak in the 2011 Macs, bypassing USB 3.0 entirely.

What's your take? Will a white iPhone ever show up? Will Macs go mass-market? Will Apple launch an iScreen and make a serious play for the living room beyond the Apple TV? Will the much-awaited cloud-based iTunes hit? Or… is there a "one more thing" coming from Steve Jobs? Let us know in the comments! Any which you look at it, 2011 cant come soon enough!

(image courtesy flickr user themaddy)

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Earlier this month,� I was off to Japan on invitation from NTT Docomo as a part of the Tata Docomo 3G Life activity. Sounds like fun right ?� Excitement is an understatement.� I have always been amazed by the Japanese mobile market. Almost all of the products are not available outside the land of the rising sun.I have been very interested in NTT Docomo ever since I saw them at MWC and CommunicAsia. Stuff like Separable Phone and Eye controlled earphones are not something you would expect to see everyday. As you all might know NTT DOCOMO is one of the leading mobile operators in Japan with over 55% market share. The company holds 26% stake in Indian telecom operator Tata Docomo which sparked of the per second billing revolution and became the first private operator to launch 3G services.

I would like to share some interesting moments about the journey to NTT Docomo's Headquarters in JapanI had to catch an afternoon flight to Delhi to board a night flight to Tokyo in Japan. Reached Delhi a bit late due to bad weather and barely caught the flight to Tokyo. The Air India flight was pretty smooth and we landed in Tokyo in around 7 hours.

We checked into the awesome Hilton Tokyo hotel at Shinjuku-Ku and soon after headed for lunch at an Indian restaurant Bombay Club !

NTT DOCOMO Headquarters -- Sanno Park Tower

We then headed to the NTT DOCOMO Headquarters which is in a building known as Sanno Park Tower and we headed to the 27th floor to find some pretty ladies at the reception of the office.

We were greeted by Murat Karadeniz who took us to one of the top most floors of the building for the first round of meetings.

We met Yuji Yamamoto,Keisuke Yoshizawa and Takafumi Ito and had a general introduction. We then headed to the Train station for a Osaifu-Keitai field trip

Osaifu-Keitai Mobile Wallet Service

Osaifu-Keitai can be called a Mobile Wallet service offered by NTT DOCOMO. It was launched as early as July 2004

We were provided with Mobile phones which had chips inside capable of handling mobile payments. We first went to a shop to load our phones with some yen to use the service. We tried the Edy(Mobile Money) and Suica (Railway fare payment) services and it was simply mind blowing.

Check out the video below in which I pay for my train ride using my phone.

We also used it at McDonalds to buy some burgers and paid for it using just the phone.

Also check our the Japanese stowing their baggage in a hi-tech locker

Towards the� end of Day 1 we were provided with a local phone and a pocket internet router. It is similar to a MiFi but it kept running for almost 1 day before it ran out of battery. I could achieve speeds of 4-5Mbps on the road easily. Infact my laptop and iPhone were using this router for internet connectivity.

Day 2 started pretty early and we had our breakfast and headed to the Docomo Headquarters in Sanno Park Tower.

We were given an overview of the service offered by NTT Docomo in Japan such as i-mode , i-concier. i-bodymo, Otayori (Photo sharing service). Will try to cover these in a separate post soon.

Augmented Reality Glasses !

We also managed to get a nice view of Mount Fuji from the 41st floor.

Future Station

We headed to the Future Station where we were first given a overview about the Heart Vision� 2020.

Story of Yuki a 16yr old japanese girl

An awesome video about a connected world. The story of how our lives might be in 2020.

We then got to see the company's portfolio of phones and products

Kids Phone

Sound Leaf so that you hear through your bones and it worked !

Raku Raku Phone 7

Touchwood phone

They care about used handsets too !

LTE service (Xi) upto 75Mbps download speeds

NTT DOCOMO is rolling out LTE this month in select areas in Japan with speeds upto 75Mbps (down). The service is called Xi (read "Crossy") and we were given a overview of how LTE can change lives.

We then got into a awesome 3D Virtual Reality experience were we made a Kimono

Augmented Reality Golf Course on Android

Some nice little Docomodake mushrooms at the office !

Darth Vader at the NTT Docomo office.

It was time to say good bye to our friends at the Docomo office as we headed for lunch.

Docomo smartphone lounge

We then headed to the Docomo Smartphone lounge which showcases all the handsets currently available in the market.

Sharp Lynx 3D Phone

The Samsung Galaxy Tab

The Toshiba REZGA Phone

After that we headed to the NTT Group showroom NOTE which is a Futuristic showroom showcasing some interesting services. We saw demos of services like Telemedicine, Home Networking, IPTV, Cisco Telepresence.

The best part of this showroom was the t-Room which is the future of Educational services. You might have heard of Virtual Classrooms, but the t-Room takes it to the ultimate level ! Students get to interact with a Teacher present in a remote location and get to see each other face to face. The t-Room is a circular room filled with cameras and large flatscreen TVs.

Watch the video below courtesy of our friends from Crunchgear to get an idea of how it works ! It was unbelievable .

Akihabara -- Gadget Heaven -- almost got lost

Akihabara is one of the largest electronics markets in the world. It's a big chain of multi-storeyed electronic malls and one can easily spend days here ! I spent just few hours just at one shop Yodabashi and picked up some gadgets and almost got lost on my way out.

Thanks to my iPhone and internet , i found my way outside !

Sayonara

Dinner was hosted by NTT DOCOMO Team at a nearby Indian restaurant and I certainly enjoyed the conversation more than the food.

And it was awesome meeting folks who traveled along with me. It was a great mix of people who were part of the trip -- Harshal from Tata Docomo , Puneet from MobiGyaan , Tarun from TelecomTalk , Vivek from Qualcomm , Ashwin who is still in school , Yoganandh who is an engineering student, Swaminathan who is pursing his PhD

A big thanks Tata Docomo and NTT Docomo for making this trip possible. They certainly took great care of us and also made this trip a very memorable one.

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