WWDC Wish List

Tomorrow is WWDC. Much like how I had an Android wish list for Google I/O (and I got my top two wishes!) a few weeks ago, I have one for the iPhone and WWDC. Given that OS 4.0 has been in beta for quite awhile, there is a little less suspense. So my wish list is a little more product based instead of development based.

1.) iPhone for Verizon. AT&T has nixed the generous data plans for the iPad (as well as for the iPhone,) so really why is there any reason for Apple to stay exclusive with them? In fact one could imagine that AT&T busted out the new pricing last week because they knew their exclusivity was coming to an end. I certainly hope this is the case. Personally I would not switch to Verizon, but I hope that many folks do. Plus I think that if folks had a choice of iPhone on AT&T or iPhone on Verizon, then both companies would compete much harder, improving networks and dropping prices. This is a key but subtle component of the Android strategy that fanboys/apologists often seem to miss.
2.) Non-AppStore apps. No way, right? Don't be so sure. How easy would it be for Apple to give folks a deeply buried user preference for allowing non-AppStore apps on their iPhone? An insignificant number of users would ever enable this "dangerous" option, but it would do so much. From a PR perspective, it would take the heat off Apple. Actually this might not just be PR, it might be legal as well. Want to use Flash to develop for the iPhone? Ok, just distribute it through your own channels to users who want to go outside of the AppStore. Obviously this would really make life easier on developers. The current provisioning process is ridiculous.
3.) Mobile Safari improvements. I expect that we'll hear about how Safari and/or Mobile Safari is fifty-billion percent faster than ... something else. Apple is fond of blowing up micro-benchmarks. I'd like to also see some new features. I'd really like to see Web Workers, especially since Safari already supports them. I'd be thrilled to see the Device API, so that we can get access to the camera (and how about that front-facing camera, too?) and how about access to a user's contacts? It feels like Android'd browser is really pulling ahead of Mobile Safari, so it would be great to see Apple take back their lead.
4.) Real multitasking. I'm probably going to hurl tomorrow when I have to hear Steve Jobs brag about multitasking in iPhone OS 4.0. It's bullshit. As I've said before, OS 4.0 does not implement multitasking, it implements a handful of multitasking use cases. There is a big difference. Of course there is no chance of this. The multitasking in OS 4.0 is obviously technology designed by marketing and business people, not by engineers. They want to put an end to those obnoxious Motorola Droid commercials that make fun of a "a phone that can't walk and chew gum at the same time." So instead of figuring out how to do multitasking right, so that it enables developers without sacrificing performance, we get a useless feature (unless you happen to be one of the three use cases) that will be hailed as revolutionary.