Apple will switch all of its operating system to the mobile platform, and use the devices as the “server” and the desktops/laptops as the “clients” – or another way to think about it is the boot drive will be the mobile device. That way you can always have your media and the sync will be reverse of what it is now, making the mobile device the central hub of your digital life.

This would allow you to do your computing with your stuff, your desktop, your files where ever you wanted, on the go and always with you. Apps will become even more proficient and proactive and prolific giving users the ability to do more with less, and respond on an almost “as needed” basis.

The implications of this arrangement actually begins to take the thin client into whole new realms where we couldn’t before. Students could actually afford software/hardware. For instance, with my iPhone, I have a video (and still camera), a media management app (photos app built in that handles albums of stills and video clips) and for $7.99 I have an editing app that gives me almost the same capabilities as iMovie, plus with the 3Gs speed, I can upload my video to youtube in a few seconds. So for $199 for the phone, 7.99 for the editing app, and my monthly bill (that I already am stuck with anyway) that comes to, let’s say $960 for a year of service, and lets throw in the OWLE Bubo for another $130 bucks for a wide angle lens, mic, tripod mounts and awesome ergogrip- brings us to a grand total of $1296.99. If you take out the fact that everyone has a cell phone and already pays for service, subtract that $960 back out for a total of $336.99. That’s less than a meal plan, or a few text books, and certainly less than a new laptop. Not to mention you can call your child while at school, keep track of what they are doing via twitter/facebook, and even GPS track them (with permission of course).

Lets take the student thing one step further, download an e-book app like Stanza, including the classics for english class, subscribe to the courses through podcasts, and manage their registration through another app (all for free), share notes through BUMP, research topics through their built-in camera, manage their health with medication reminders and trackers, and you start to see the relevance of the mobile device – if you haven’t already.

The iPad is NOT a big iPod Touch -it’s so much more than that. A student brought in his iPad, and showed how he could demo his wedding videography and photography examples, draw upp an estimate in another app, and then have the client sign the contract right there on the spot proves the importance of this device. Think about the medical implications-Doctors reviewing the X-Rays with you minutes after you get zapped, reviewing medical history, updating your patient info, and then writing and signing the prescription all on the spot on his iPad – thats more than a big iPod Touch. It is the beginning of the end of computing as we think and live about it now. Try not to google for a day.

So that’s my prediction – we’ll be walking around with our mobile office, capable of working anywhere – downloading .99 to $10 apps for the work we need to do now, and not worried about the longevity of it – it did the job we needed at the time we needed. I could even see where the platform wars move from the desktop/laptop world to the mobile device world altogether. All this data would be backed up in the cloud of course – that damn bubble of an idea that won’t go away, or at least won’t get renamed. (tangent alert) The Cloud. It just sounds bad, like all my data is going to rain down upon the masses for all to steal. Or it’s going to rain on me at any minute. Or strike me with data lightning. Lets not call it the cloud anymore, how about the haven, or kingdom, or the man, something other than the nebulous mess of a cloud.

Maybe that’s why we’re all not walking around with netbooks and tablets that weighed more than a freshman-in-chess-club’s backpack. They didn’t allow us fun and enjoyment at doing what we needed to do, only disappointment and frustration at the simple reason that the device just didn’t mesh with the rest of the world. They didn’t give us the flexibility that Apple has provided with the app store, iTunes store and now iAd frameworks -contrary to the belief that its a closed system. That closed system works 99.9% of the time I need it to day in and day out. A student told me he downloaded the latest album from his favorite band on the way to school (at a stop light of course) and listened to it for the rest of the ride.

I really hope you people are ready for this – cause its going to rock!
Thanks for reading.