The last time I shared my predictions before an Apple event, it was mostly wildcard predictions that were dead wrong, LOL. Just for kicks, here are my Apple predictions for tomorrow (September 10th).

Lower-Cost iPhone 5C - 99% Confidence

Apple has its eyes on the China market. Although Apple is a premium brand that charges a premium on all their products…China's budget-conscious market is far too important to ignore. The 5C will be plastic, come in probably 5 colors, and for the most part be what the iPhone 5 is today.

Note: This will be lower-cost but not low-cost. I say it'll start at $50 with a two-year contract.

Goodbye iPhone 5 - 50%

This is the hardest to predict. If they keep it, should the 5C be priced higher or lower than the 5? What features would separate the 5 from the 5C? Your guess is as good as mine.

Goodbye iPhone 4S - 75%

Based on the blogosphere, it's a toss-up on whether the 4S, the 5, or both will be discontinued. I think Apple needs to get everyone on the new Lightning plug and the 4-inch Retina screen as soon as possible.

Next-Gen iPhone with Fingerprint Scanner - 99%

If this works reliably (unlike Siri), this has potential to be a real game-changer. 100% chance Apple will keep it simple for the first year and use it strictly for unlocking the lock screen. 60% chance it will be used for iCloud stuff this year.

Within two years, 60% chance Apple will get into mobile payments.

(Limited) Offline Siri Access - 85%

In iOS 7, Siri can be used to do simple settings like "disable WiFi" and "turn on Bluetooth". Simple Siri commands like that really shouldn't require an internet connection.

Wishlist: Siri should learn your most common commands (for me, that'd be "call Mom") and execute them instantly, without an internet connection.

32, 64, 128GB Models - 70%

16GB gives a terrible user experience these days, especially because popular apps like Instagram and Vine quickly eat up space. It's time to double the memory.

Gold iPhone - 90%

Not gold gold but champagne gold. Apparently gold is the best-selling aftermarket casing for iPhones, globally. It'll probably sell well internationally.

Graphite iPhone - 70%

Some recent leaks show a new graphite-gray casing for the new iPhone.

"iPhone 6" instead "5S" - 40%

Apple needs to drop the "S" moniker because it implies the new iPhone is only a "half-upgrade." Otherwise, Samsung will continue to (effectively) use their ridiculous advertising budget to tarnish the iPhone brand.

iPhone Launch Day on Sept 20th - 98%

AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Apple all blocking out vacation days for employees the weekend of the 20th. Can't read the tea leaves any clearer than that.

Also, Apple typically launches the new iPhone ten days after the unveiling.

iPhone Game Controllers - 99%

Games for the iPhone will support a new standardized game controller. Tie this in with AirPlay + Apple TV, and you got yourself a mini game console for the living room.

Apple TV software update - 60%

The rumor mill is buzzing that something is coming to the Apple TV but no one is sure what. Whatever it is, if it's not unveiled tomorrow, it'll be unveiled next month.

Larger Screen iPhone - 0% this year (but 60% next year)

A few new behind-the-scenes things in iOS 7 totally convince me that larger iPhone is in the cards. Apparently large-screen phones sell really, really well overseas.

iWatch - 0% this year (but 90% next year)

So many tea leaves to read:

1. Apple has been stockpiling on medical sensing technology for a reason. 2) Apple hired the fitness guru behind the Nike FuelBand. 3) Tim Cook has publicly said "I think the wrist is interesting" while sporting a Nike FuelBand. (Tim Cook is also on the board of directors at Nike.)

That's all for now. We'll see what happens tomorrow!

For that past couple years, I've felt that I could totally be happy with an Android as my phone and an iPad as my secondary mobile device. I felt the smartphone should be for communication and the iPad should be for everything else. So for Christmas, I decided it was time to step outside of my Apple bubble.

I bought the Moto G.

"Why did you switch??"

Let me clarify: I didn't switch. I'm still a very happy and loyal iPhone user. But there are two reasons why I bought my first Android.

Mobile Web Development

For most of my career, I've worked at marketing agencies where my job was to pump out as many sites as quickly as possible. But now that I'm an in-house web developer, all my projects are ongoing and long-term. For the first time in my career, I finally have the opportunity/responsibility to optimize my sites to be as fast as they can be.

As the mobile internet continues to grow, I need to be able to stay on top of both Android and iOS.

Google

When it comes to web services, nothing beats Google. And to be frank, I don't trust iCloud. I don't use iCal, iMessage, @iCloud.com email, iChat, or Safari. Instead, I use Gmail, Google Calendar, Hangouts, Google Drive, Google Voice, and Chrome.

To me, investing in Android doesn't mean "switching sides." Rather, I see it as moving myself closer to Google, a company that I've always loved for their web services.

"Why'd you pick the Moto G??"

For an unlocked smartphone with the latest OS, you simply cannot beat $179. And because it's manufactured by Motorola, a Google company, I have faith the device will have great support for OS updates in the future.

As a budget phone, the Moto G does have its shortcomings. The camera sucks, there is no LTE support, and it's only 16 GB…but none of those matter to me! I only need to be able to test my sites in the web browser. Anything else is a bonus.

Speaking of bonuses, the Moto G comes with 50 GB of complimentary Google Drive space.

To me, the Moto G is the iPod touch of Android that just happens to have phone capabilities.

What I Love About Android

• App Defaults & Intents — One specific problem for me is finding the right video player that works with all my cloud/network drives. On iOS, I'd constantly be making trade-offs. I'd find a video player with a great interface…but had shitty cloud integration. Or I'd find a video player with great cloud integration…but a shitty interface. With Android, I can easily pick an episode of Modern Family from my Dropbox and open it in MX Player Pro.
• LED notifications — It's smart, simple, and saves a lot of battery by not lighting up the touchscreen everytime a push notification comes in. If they had this for iPhone, I'd use this to notify me of unread messages from certain people. (But then again, maybe smartphone LED notifications will be overshadowed by push-enabled iWatch/smartwatches.)
• Launcher & Lock Screen customization — This has a lot of potential. Aviate, Cover, and Facebook Home are all playing with some innovative ideas but I'm still waiting to see one launcher/lock screen app that really nails it.
• Bigger screens are awesome for reading and watching videos. The two most-used apps on my iPad mini are Netflix and Instapaper. Being able to do these on a large-screen phone is pretty damn nice.

What I Don't Like About Android

• Inconsistency of the Back button — This thing drives me NUTS. Sometimes, it's just intuitive to be able to jump back to the previous app with a tap of the Back button. Other times, when I expect to get to an app's main screen, the Back button just throws me back to the homescreen.
• Shitty interactions — Overall, the Android interface is good enough to do its job but it's the lack of the fun, interactive bouncing and physics that sets it a notch lower than iOS.
• Inconsistency of icon design. The homescreen just looks so damn ugly on Android because all of the app icons look completely different. Icon gradients, sizes, shapes, and even the rounded corners are just all over the place.
• Big screens are annoying for one-handed use. While I really love having the extra pixels for reading and watching videos, it's annoying to navigate around the phone with just one hand. I constantly have to change my grip to navigate around.
• Mini-USB is annoying after being spoiled by Apple's Lighting connector. "Did I plug it in the right way? Nope. Okay, lemme flip it over. Hmm, that didn't work either. Lemme flip it over again. Okay, there we go."
• I have yet to find an Android-exclusive app that I really love.

"What would it take for you to switch to Android?"

I quickly learned 90% of the iOS apps I really care about have an Android counterpart (e.g. Chrome, Circa, Dropbox, Feedly, Google Hangouts, Instapaper, Netflix, Simplenote). But there are few things that iOS does better than Android for me:

Syncing Twitter between Desktop and Mobile

Twitter is huge for me. I use Twitter Lists to stay on top of four things: tech news sites, tech bloggers, friends, and basketball.

Tweetbot for Mac/iOS syncs timeline positions across devices seamlessly. It's an underrated killer feature that separates Tweetbot from all other Twitter apps.

In addition to timeline syncing, Tweetbot also does an amazing job of syncing mute options. #NFLteams, #NHLteams, #TVshows, #horoscopes, tumblr.co, instagr.am, etc…all that shit is off my Twitter timelines, both on my iPhone and Mac. Mute once, muted everywhere.

Maintaining My 10 Year Old Music Library

This coming April, my iTunes library turns ten. That's ten years of obsessively organizing, rating, and tagging over 6,500 songs. With each song properly tagged, I'm able to dynamically create really awesome Smart Playlists.

Amazon Music, Google Music, and Spotify are not compelling enough for me to throw away my 10-year investment in iTunes.

Take Great Photos

The iPhone 5s' burst mode is totally the underrated killer feature. When I take action photos of my niece and nephews running around, I never miss a moment because I can take 10 shots/second and full resolution.

To be fair, I have yet to play with the cameras of other Androids.

Closing Thoughts

Overall, after a month of owning the Moto G, I've found that Android is really good…but it's not great. I like it…but I don't love it. I really like how Android gives me a ton of customization options…but I don't love any of the options.

(Sidenote: When iOS 7 came out, a lot of Apple haters cried out "Apple copied Android!" I have no fucking clue what the fuck they were talking about; iOS 7 is nothing like Android.)

The Android ecosystem has come a long way these past two years and I can confidently say it satisfies 90% of my app needs. The phablet form factor is something that's growing on me, especially because my vision has degraded from cataract and eye surgery.

If I were to seriously consider switching from iOS to Android, it'd basically come down to one simple question:

Which solves my computing problems more: tighter integration with Google services or tighter integration with Mac apps?

For now, I'll have to stick with the latter.

Maybe over time, things will change. Maybe my interest in Twitter will diminish. Maybe an iTunes competitor will invent a smarter, more automated way to organize my music. Maybe Google will conquer the next era of computing — wearable computers, smart TVs, smart car displays, and home automation.

Until any of that happens, I plan on keeping the iPhone as my daily driver while having the Moto G riding shotgun.

Update: After less than a month of getting my first Android, I've decided to return my Moto G. I also recycled my iPad mini at Gazelle.com and used the money from both to purchase a 32 GB Nexus 5 (Google Play Edition).

While the iPhone 5s is still my best option as a primary mobile device, the Moto G worked out so well as a secondary mobile device (for reading, streaming, and mobile web development) I decided to consolidate my iPad mini and Moto G into one legit Android.

Alex Dobie, editor at Android Central writes:

The open -- or "openy" -- nature of Android has its advantages -- a wide variety of hardware, hackability and custom ROM support, endless choice in screen sizes, software customizations, multimedia chops, chassis styles and industrial designs. But it comes with one major Achilles heel -- the labyrinthine, time-consuming and expensive process of getting phones updated with a new version drops. It’s not anyone’s fault, it's a weakness that's built into Android's DNA, and one we doubt will ever be overcome.

This is why Android is just not for me.

Don't get me wrong; Android is a fantastic platform...but it just has too many hurdles that prevent users from getting their hands on the latest version.

I love well-designed software. I love using software the way the designer meant for it to be used. I love software designers that have the balls to say "No" to feature requests because they have a clear vision and they're sticking to it.

Whenever I see that New Software Update indicator, I jump on it immediately because I always want the latest and greatest. I may not have the money to upgrade to the new iPhone every year. But when Apple releases a new version of iOS, it feels like it's a new phone. And that's enough to keep me happy and hold me over through my two-year contract.

But the reality is there are some people that are the complete opposite. There are people that get annoyed by software updates and go on as long as possible avoiding it.

Those are the jailbreakers. The tweakers. The "I want to customize every bit of my smartphone to make it unique" kinda people. The people that want more hardware specs bang for their buck instead of well-designed out-of-the-box software.

Those are the people that will never have the latest version of Android running on their smartphones...and they're perfectly fine with that.

Welp, none of my bold predictions were right, lol. I ain't trippin' though. Honestly, that's part of the magic about Apple -- there's that constant wonder and mystique in trying to predict what they're gonna do next.

All in all, the iPhone 5 is a solid update to a solid product. And despite how people complain this update is "meh," the iPhone 5 is gonna be the greatest selling product yet.

If you haven't heard, tomorrow morning Apple will be hosting a media event to unveil the new iPhone. As an Apple geek, it is my duty to obsessively follow the Apple blogosphere like it's my job and and live my life one Apple event at a time, lol. Based on everything I've read, here are my predictions for what will be announced tomorrow.

First, let's cover the basics:

• Faster. HD-quality front camera. More magical. "Thinnest iPhone EVAR." Makes bacon.

And here are other predictions going around all the rumor sites:

• new design with more metal, less glass

• 4-inch diagonal screen

• 4G LTE.

• thinner dock connector. USB 3.0.

• headphone jack on the bottom.

• available for sale on Friday, Sept 21st.

This one hasn't been talked about much in the rumor mill but I'm sticking with it:

• same price points and same storage specs (16, 32, 64GB). Whoever started the "iPhone 5 will be $800" rumor deserves to be bitchslapped.

Okay, now for my actual, bolder predictions:

• Super iPhone IV Alpha Turbo Tournament Edition

• "iPhone with widescreen" — No "5". Everyone will keep referring to it as the iPhone 5, just as how everyone still refers to the iTouch. Hell, everyone keeps calling it "the iPhone" when Apple has always consistently referred to it as just "iPhone."

• Bluetooth 4.0. This has been built into the 4S for the past year but I think Apple will make a big push to tightly intertwine the iPhone into our daily lives. This brings me to my next prediction…

• Mobile Payments. I think Apple will pass up on NFC — just like they passed up Blu-ray — and will set out to make mobile payments mainstream with PassBook and Bluetooth 4.0.

• iPod nano watch — a companion device leveraging Bluetooth 4.0 to give you push notifications and basic controls (play/pause/next) right on your wrist. A couple years ago, someone close to me went to China and visited Foxconn. This friend saw a bunch of prototypes, including an iPod Shuffle-like device that was meant to be a companion for the iPhone/iTouch. While I don't think this is exact prototype will ever make it into production, my gut says Apple will eventually release something along those lines.

• Built-in water resistance. Rumor has it that Apple saw a demo of Liquipel and was amazed by it. I can see Apple trying to lock up a year-long exclusive on this technology.

• AirPlay Direct for streaming to an Apple TV without a WiFi network. (Source)

And my final long shot prediction:

• Tim Cook standing on stage, unveiling something totally unexpected, flicking off the crowd and saying, "SURPRISE, BITCHES. BWAHAH!" Okay, maybe not that far. But Cook vowed very publicly that Apple will "double down on secrecy" under his tenure. And as the mastermind behind Apple's supply chain, he would know the perfect places to leak fake parts.

That's all for now. We'll see tomorrow morning how piss-poor badly my predictions will be, lol. But no matter how wrong I am or what Apple unveils tomorrow, there is no doubt in my mind that this will be the best-selling product in Apple's history.

-Mel

Counternotions:

Suppose you were the CEO of Apple in 2005 when a couple of intergalactic visitors with time-warping technology offered you this bet:

Design and manufacture a small mobile device that seamlessly combines the functionalities of a cellular phone, a web surfer, an audio/video player and a small PC, and your company will double its market cap and establish a third mass-market computing platform after Windows and Macintosh.

Would you take it?

Before you say, "Are you nuts, why wouldn't I?" ponder just a few of the issues involved.

With the iPhone being so saturated in the world today, it's easy to forget how truly daring and revolutionary it's launch was.

Steve Jobs took that challenge by the horns and made it his bitch.

Let's start with the basics:

• Black and White
• $200 for 8GB, $300 for 16GB
• Hits stores on July 11

Now for some of the stuff you probably don't know:

• $30/month for Unlimited Internet — The iPhone is significantly cheaper for two reasons, the first reason being the iPhone is now subsidized by AT&T. The cost of unlimited internet increased to $30/month, up from $20. $30/month times 24 months = $720.
• Good Luck Unlocking - Because AT&T is banking on your 2-year commitment, they're gonna be extremely anal about people trying to unlock their iPhones. In the previous model, you could buy the iPhone from the store, bring it up and activate it (or hack it). Now, just like any other phone, you have to get it activated immediately after you sign up with AT&T.
• GPS = Convenient, Stalkerlicious - With the built-in GPS, you're gonna see all sorts of apps that take advantage of geo-location (knowing where you are). When you take pics, it'll know your exact coordinates of where you took the pic. Want to see reviews of all the restaurants around you at any given moment? Done. Want to track where your friends are? You could fire up an app and see their locations on Google Maps. "Dude, why the fuck are you at my girlfriend's house?!"
• 32GB by February? - Apple is pretty good about updating their products at regular intervals. iPods tend to get updated in September in preparation for the holiday season. September is a little too soon for an update, especially since the 3G isn't hitting stores until July 11. But January is a nice time to introduce an update because that is when Apple holds its biggest conference.

My final verdict:

People that have an iPhone...just keep it. Have a little self-control (I know, it's hard) and hold out for the next minor update, which should be coming sometime early next year.

Everyone else? $200 and $300 is a fucking STEAL compared to all the other stuff that is out there. It's an iPod + a phone + a web browser + a portable YouTube player (which is great for laughs at parties). All you Facebook whores will love it too.

As an Apple Fanboy, this is the most wonderful time of the year, other than Christmas. Even three years before I made the switch to Mac, I paid close attention to Steve Jobs and his zen approach to introducing teh new hotness.

Last year, Stevie introduced the iPhone. That was absolutely huge. It was a five year project that was in the works ever since the launch of the original iPod back in 2002. If you pay close attention to all of the latest cellphones, it's clear everyone is stilling trying to play catch-up by adding multi-touch hotness and true mobile web browsing.

So what is Steve gonna unveil this year? Obviously we won't know until Tuesday morning because Apple is notoriously good at keeping their lips shut, and even more notorious at seeding false information to outsiders. But based on rumblings in the blogging community, their history in product cycles and a little melv-intuition, here is what I predict:

• iTunes Video Rentals — It's been leaked countless times that Fox, Disney and more studios are on board.
• Apple TV 2.0 / Mac nano — It's the only logical compliment for the new iTunes Video Rentals service. Added ability to download movies right from your TV.
• iPhone Updates — Definitely new software features. Possibility of a 12GB model and price cut on existing 8GB model. Definitely no 3G network support yet.
• MacBook Air — An all-new line of slim pro notebooks. Possibly the rumored sub-notebook, but I don't think so...not just yet.
• New Cinema Displays — They're overdue for new form factors and screen sizes.
• No iPod Updates — Too soon. They were just updated before the holiday season.

Those are my more probable predictions. But there's one more thing...my ultra crazy pipe-dream prediction:

• Google Integration with .Mac — With the CEO of Google on Apple's Board of Directors, I think the two companies will try to double team on Microsoft and Microsoft Office. Someday I see a tight integration between Apple iWork and Google Docs. That is, the ability to work on Word documents on your Mac, and have it all save onto your Google account. You'll be able to edit your Word & Excel documents anywhere you want, whether it's on your computer, in your web browser or on your iPhone.

That's all my predictions for this year's expo. Whatever they announce, it should be awesome...just as long as it's not an all-new iPhone. In which case I will have to shoot myself.

// inspired by sherwin at properscoundrels.com

...even a baby could use it.