Apple's next big thing? Video, analyst says

Computerworld - Apple's next big thing may be a video platform that combines cameras in the next versions of the iPhone and iPad with the giant data center the company's building in North Carolina, an analyst said today.

During a quarterly earnings conference call with Wall Street and industry analysts Tuesday, Apple's chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer cited "future product transitions" as a contributing factor to the anticipated decline from a 42% margin for the year's first quarter to a 36% margin for the quarter ending June 30.

The conservative guidance isn't unusual: Apple typically underestimates its margins for upcoming periods, and often explains that "future product transitions" are one reason why it won't clear as much profit.

But one analyst read more into those tea leaves.

"They seem to be saying that there's more to the next quarter than the introduction of a new iPhone," said Ezra Gottheil, senior analyst with Technology Business Research, referring to the expected launch of Apple's next iPhone this summer.

Gottheil thinks that Apple is ready to make a major move into video, and based his bet on a series of clues in the company's upcoming hardware, as well as the $1 billion data center in North Carolina that's now hiring personnel.

Gottheil's prognostications have been spot-on at times, off the mark at others. A year ago, he bet that Apple would enter the netbook market with an "iPod Touch on steroids," a good description of the eventual iPad. In December 2008, however, he predicted that Apple would launch a pair of netbook-style systems the following month, something Apple did not do.

"The front-facing camera in the next iPhone is something we've always wanted," Gottheil said, referring to this week's disclosure by tech blog Gizmodo that the 2010 iPhone will have two cameras, including a new one that faces the user. "But that also makes sense if Apple is going to push into video conferencing, video social network or video social gaming."

Calling that market a "kind of white space," Gottheil sees it as one of those opportunities that Apple has historically grabbed. "Apple is the kind of company that could make that a big deal," he said.

The current iPad, which lacks a camera -- one of the pieces that was on most wish lists before the tablet debuted -- also seems to have space in its current design for a front-facing camera, Gottheil added. Others, including teardown expert Aaron Vronko of Rapid Repair, have also speculated that the next iPad will sport a camera. "It looks like it's all ready for the camera, even including a hole in the glass for the lens," said Vronko, who earlier this month tore apart the first-generation iPad. "Apple probably made a game-time decision not to include it."