Chris Leonard’s 2008 wishlist

2007 has been a pretty eventful year in mobile but then every year is pretty eventful – that’s why it’s so interesting.

I’ve been pretty underwhelmed by the iPhone but its hype and popularity show it’s a popular release that’s already kick started a revolution in touch-screen mobile UIs. But what do I want in 2008? Here’s my wishlist:

1. Sony Ericsson W960i
The Walkman “iPhone killer” seems to have missed the boat in 2007 after being unfortunately delayed until this year. However, Sony Ericsson’s Walkman handsets are some of the best music handsets around with great ripping software, easy UI and quality manufacturing.

The thought of a high-end 3G touch-screen Walkman phone with 3.2-megpixel camera, oodles of memory and a huge colour screen puts this top of my wish list.

2. Google’s Android to take off
Google’s first attempt at a mobile OS is an interesting one. The response to it hasn’t exactly been overwhelming, and with people like Nokia and Motorola initially sceptical, the fact that Google’s Open Handset Alliance got support from over 30 of the world’s top mobile companies to launch a completely open mobile OS is a promising one.

It’ll also be good to get an open alternative to Symbian, UIQ and Windows Mobiile, just to get them to raise their game.

3. More Mac OS support for software
With mobiles using PCs more and more for managing your media content and organising your contacts, it’s still surprising that most software bundled with phones won’t work on Macs. One example is Sony Ericsson’s Disk2Phone; a great programme making it easy to rip music to your handsets, yet it won’t work on Mac OSX. Why not? Come on manufacturers, sort it out!

4. Apple to unlock the iPhone
Apple, the company behind the open source OSX OS, almost shot itself in the foot with the iPhone – it tried to stop handset unlocking and third-party apps.

Thankfully it now seems to be changing its mind (at least for third-party apps), so we might finally see the iPhone become the Mac-in-your-hand it promised to be. Oh, and we would like to not have to spend around £1,000 with O2 to get it.

5. Motorola to get back on track
A couple of years ago, Motorola hit a purple patch with its RAZR and its stylish follow-ups which were massive (and influential) handsets, and then…. Nothing. It failed to set the market alight in 2007 and almost seems to have fallen off the pace behind Nokia, Apple, Sony Ericsson. If only Motorola could recapture some of that former glory, with a useable UI, and it could get back in amongst it at the top of the manufacturing tree.