What Apple Wants

Nearly every rumor out there about Apple is fueled by what consumers want or expect from Apple. But what about Apple wanting things? More specifically, who do they want?

Apple is hiring. Apple has been hiring. Apple will probably continue to hire for years on end. But if we look at who Apple wants now, we may extrapolate what Apple wants to provide in the future.

One of the largest complaints about Apple right now is its lack of 3rd party apps on the iPhone. Rumors abound indicate a migration toward the release of an SDK. But does that jive with what Apple wants? Here's a list of selected job postings on the Apple website:

• Phone Tools Software Engineer - iPhone - Develop tools to aid in the development and debugging of the phone functionality of the iPhone
• iPhone Applications Frameworks Engineer - We are looking for a proactive, highly motivated engineer to work on the Applications Frameworks for iPhone.
• iPhone -Telephony Embedded SW Engineer - Adding features to telephony middleware library

Seems like those rumors are, at the very least, plausible. And what about the next generation of iPods? Here's a good posting that mentions the iPod, but not the iPhone:

• iPod SW Developer Tools Engineer - Experience working on Media/Audio/Video and Wireless products a plus

Does that mean the next iPods will have wireless?

On top of that, there are a good number of "iPod Graphics" jobs that require plenty of 3D experience. Now, as far as I can tell, the only iPod capable of 3D graphics is the iPhone... and it only uses 3D for Coverflow (please, correct me if I'm wrong, or send me an iPhone so I can verify for myself). Does this mean a considerably more interactive (ie: reactive) interface for the iPod? One might draw that conclusion.

Please, proffer your opinions in the comments.