I f Apple made a device like the iPhone, but not just an enhanced iPod, in the same form factor as the iPhone, that ran as full of an OS X version as possible, without any (traditional) phone service, and let people program it (complete access) — that would be insanely great. My fear is that they just release an iPhone-like iPod, which is nice, but not exciting. I want OS X in my pocket, to be able to program with and on it, to do multi-person audio iChats, video chats, screen sharing, audio/video recording, mount networked machines, etc.

I realize there are serious limitations imposed by the chip and supporting hardware, so we can't just cram an iMac in there, let alone a Mac Pro, but even a tamer device is something that could really take off in the market — a general purpose no-phone-iPhone device, perhaps fulfilling the promises and excitement that surrounded the original handheld market, which, after all, Apple helped kick off a while ago.

One other possibility, is to allow iPhones to run arbitrary programs only when not attached to a phone network. I hate the idea that what an iPhone can do is in any way influenced by what some phone company needs. A physical switch could allow programs that sit in a sandbox environment to run without the phone hookup (but it would be a must that wifi networks still be available). My guess is that concerns over hacking the phone side of the device will forever keep iPhones from being a generally programmable device, however.