By Georges van Hoegaerden

I am not going to add to the craze about Steve Jobs (Apple CEO) health rumors on the internet, and I seriously hope he recovers quickly and in excellent health.

Anyone trying to sue Apple or its board for inconsistent information, should back-off and be glad they are not faced with a similar diagnosis. One of my friends (much younger than Steve) was recently diagnosed with the same type of (a rare) cancer and is apparently being treated by the same doctor at Stanford. Having heard his stories first hand, I side with Steve that he cannot project with accuracy what is going to happen as 1/ what causes cancer is still fairly misunderstood (follow the cancer series on Charlie Rose and you’ll understand) 2/ his rare type of cancer (with about 8 known derivatives) is even less understood. So, give the man some space.

Steve has proven to be the best guy to ever run Apple, but that doesn’t mean the company can’t improve. Here is what I would do, given the chance:

1/ Making the current OS work “as promised”.
Snow leopard is on its way and without knowing any of the details the OS needs some fundamental improvements in Expose and Spaces that are simply not working correctly, those (and many other) flaws have been in OS X for quite a while and since it affects the user experience, that is simply not acceptable within Apple standards. It is clear, in many other areas, that the rapid pace of innovation in other areas has taken its toll on the focus on the OS. In addition, the OS needs an Applications Store similar to the iPhone App Store.

2/ Consumer OS, major OS overhaul.
It is time for Apple to define a new trajectory for the OS. The current OS trajectory is too technology centric and focuses primarily on local operating capabilities. Today’s use of computers requires a transparent blend between offline and online capabilities. I have formulated new specifications of what this new hybrid OS should look like, that is more powerful and easier to use (and gesture ready) than any of its predecessors. This new OS is a continuum of the iPhone experience yet dramatically exposes the increased power of a personal computer platform. This OS will provide similar experiences across the Apple TV, iPhone and computer platforms.

3/ Increased focus on digital photography.
Music and photography are the two most important applications consumers use. Digital photography needs fundamental new focus and a new application that manages photographs across offline and online repositories. Think of iTunes and the iTunes Store for digital photography. We have formulated the specs for these new capabilities. In addition, Apple should explore new camera technologies as well (for inclusion in later devices), the current dSLR vendors are leaving behind unique software opportunities that can improve the quality of images dramatically (even without changing the hardware).

4/ Put support in product group P&L.
Apple’s support is better than other vendors’, but a little better is simply not good enough. The organizational structure of Apple separates support from product groups, which, in every company, disconnects the product promise from its realities. I would make product groups responsible for their own support P&L, ensuring implementation of innovation is a closed loop. No longer will product groups be able to ignore the 5000+ complaints about a single bug in Apple TV, for example.

5/ Network backup (Time Capsule) needs an overhaul.
The Airport wireless base station is a fantastic, no hassle, device that just works. The backup capabilities with Time Machine that uses a USB connected disk (to the Airport) is fundamentally flawed. These networked storage devices have no fsck (file-system-check) built in that prevent disks becoming unstable because of lost network connections or other aberrations that can occur. Based on the documentation I assume Time Capsule also does not include fsck and is therefor also unreliable as a backup drive.

6/ Broaden adoption of Professional Applications.
Most of the professional applications for photography and movie editing simply provide tools to edit, requiring the operator to understand the often complex language and methodologies involved. But the power of professional tools becomes really obvious when the application provides methodologies that hide the underlying composition of tools. Through the use of styles, derived from a marketplace, both Aperture and Final Cut Pro can be dramatically enhanced to provide new capabilities that expedites new editing techniques for experienced users and enthousiasts.

7/ Implement movie rental subscriptions.
The iTunes store needs a movie rental subscription model to adopt the ‘old’ Blockbuster and Netflix model, many americans are used to. A fixed monthly rate allows you to watch a certain number of movies per month, perhaps with rollover credits to compete with alternative distributors that can’t follow due to their dependence on low-usage profits.

8/ Apple TV needs a tuner, make that two.
Apart from a new “front-row” user interface (supported by a new OS as described in 2), the Apple TV needs to embrace DVR capabilities. Similar to the iPhone and AT&T, Apple should take a swing at giving customers a better end-user experience (and integrated with iTunes content) with Comcast, or else threaten to take the business from under their noses. The cable-card mandate makes it possible for virtually any vendor to displace the current set-top-box and DVR experience, and I would bet customers would pay a premium to get rid of the Comcast experience.

9/ Build Apple TV server.
Longer term (preferably after a deal with Comcast) I would like to see an Apple TV with tuner capabilities feeding all my TVs, rather than having individual AppleTV and DVR tethered to each to TV. Record once, playback anywhere (for traditional and new media).

10/ Deep dive into enterprise server sales.
The enterprise server strategy of Apple is a mystery to me. Having built a couple of new business revenues in large business (Oracle, HP) and SMB segments (Symantec) I don’t see Apple apply the pressure that warrants building products for this segment.

Again, as a 15-year empathetic Apple user I would like nothing but to see Steve return soon and hope this blog will consequently void itself.

Tags: Apple, IPhone, Apple TV