Apple has apparently sent a few high-level employees to CES to scout out the competition and see how other companies present future products.

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) famously avoids the biggest event on the tech industry calendar, and given the traffic on Paradise Road this morning you can’t exactly blame them. But that doesn’t mean Apple isn’t scouting the competition in person at CES 2012.

A reporter from PaidContent says he ran into Greg Joswiak, head of iOS product marketing for Apple, who answered a few questions as to why he was there. Apple is interested in learning more about presentation techniques from competitors, including the layout, aesthetics and which products are at the forefront.

Source: Paid Content

Zagg SparqCase may just be the dream accessory for everyone complaining about their iPhone battery life since their upgrade to iOS5 or the iPhone 4S. Understanding that people like additional power while on the go Zagg has created the SparqCase, a battery case for the iPhone 4 / iPhone 4S that stands out from the rest for one major reason — it has a removable battery.

Sure, that may not seem all that important, it is already supposed to be an extra battery, who cares if it can be removed, right? Wrong. What if you are going out on a camping trip for a week and won’t have power, or you want to take better advantage of that tethering plan you have without the battery dying so quickly? With the Zagg SparqCase they were able to not only allow for a removable 1700mAh battery to fit in the case, but they also kept the size of the case rather small. The case is not nearly as thick as some of the others, and the ability to purchase an extra 1700mAh battery to keep with you on the go is something that will appeal to many users.

We got a chance to go hands-on with the Zagg SparqCase here at CES 2012, but unfortunately we will have to wait a few months for it to hit the store shelves.

iHome is working on bringing three new iPhone docks to its already large portfolio of accessories. The new docks are set to be revealed at CES 2012 which starts next week. Three models will be introduced in total; one will even include AirPlay.

• iW4 AirPlay Wireless 20 Watts Bedside Speaker System for iPad/iPhone/iPod: making its alarm clock speaker system debut, AirPlay utilizes the home WiFi network to deliver more flexibility than ever before. Easily stream your entire iTunes library over the network to listen, sleep or wake to your favorite tunes. The iW4 is expected to retail for $269.99.
• iP18 LED Color Changing Dual Alarm Clock Speaker System for iPhone and iPod: a little bit of color goes a long way with this ultra-modern and stylish alarm clock speaker solution. Now with a smaller footprint and new cube design, this app-friendly Glowtunes offering has big features including four color-changing modes, Reson8 speaker chamber technology, one-touch clock sync and more. The iP18 is expected to retail for $69.99.
• iD50 App-Enhanced Bluetooth Alarm Clock Radio Speakerphone for iPad/iPhone/iPod with AM/FM Presets: the alarm clock you’d expect to see on James Bond’s nightstand, but with a price tag that makes it realistic for non secret agents to own. The iD50 is strong in the features department and has a smooth finish that will stir you to wake rather than shake you. The iD50 is expected to retail for $169.99.

The bad news is that these new docks will not be available to buy until later in the year. That’s as good as it gets on the release information for now. We will let you know as soon as we find out anymore.

Source: Business Wire

BEHRINGER sent us a release about their latest creation — the world’s biggest and most powerful iPhone dock. The dock, which it has appropriately named iNuke stands at over eight feet wide, four feet tall and weighs in at a massive 700 pounds. The sound output from this beast is said to be around 10,000 watts.

It has been purpose built for BEHRINGER stand at CES 2012 at a staggering cost of $30,000. Yes, that makes it a publicity stunt, and yes it seems to have worked. Unfortunately, that also means the iNuke will not be available for sale.

So, if you want to see it in the flesh, make sure you visit BEHRINGER stand. If you just want to hear it, it probably won’t matter where you are; especially if it goes to 11.

Looks like Engadget has discovered a mockup iPad 2 case at CES. The screen above also seems to contain a mock iPad 2 as well. As the iPad 2 announcement grows even closer, the normal mockups and leaks are ramping up. This case seems to fit in line with most of the others. It has camera cutouts in the front and back and a much larger speaker cut-out.

This case and mockup comes from Dexim. Besides having the mythical iPad 2 mockup, it looks like a pretty neat case concept in itself with a pretty ingenious design for a Bluetooth keyboard. It also confirms what all the rest have when it comes to size. The iPad 2 will most likely be slimmer than the current generation.

After the leaks with the iPhone 4, I’m still skeptical as to whether or not these case manufacturers had a way to get ahold of an early mockup. On the other hand, all these case leaks seem to be in agreement. What do you guys think? Hit Engadget’s website via the link to see a few more images.

via Engadget

We’re on the ground for CES 2011, looking for iPhone and iPad apps, games, accessories, and general awesomeness. Tonight is CES unveiled, and we’re going to keep running from there. So if you want to see all the new stuff that’s coming your way in 2011.

The Smartphone Expert Network is here in full force, so make sure you keep up with Android Central, CrackBerry.com, PreCentral.net, and WPCentral for the latest in Android, BlackBerry, weOS, and Windows Phone news. (And if you want the gory, behind-the-scenes details, give a Twitter follow to @reneritchie @philnickinson @crackberrykevin @backlon — if you dare!)

Again, if you’re a developer or manufacturer and you want to amaze us, let us know: news@tipb.com!

[Note: Pic above is CES 2010, we'll make new memories soon enough!]

BusinessWeek is adding to the Verizon iPhone rumor heap with word that the near-mythical device will launch sometime after CES and before Valentine’s Day — in other words between mid January and early February 2011. Attributed to “a person familiar with Apple’s plans” (boy he gets around!), BW says:

Apple (AAPL) will likely host one of its splashy product introductions to announce a new version of the iPhone that works on Verizon’s (VZ) network. Customers are expected to stampede to the new pairing, leaving AT&T (T), until now the exclusive U.S. distributor of the iPhone, with an enormous problem.

Or just leave AT&T with less network congestion and a happier remaining customer base? While AT&T will no doubt lose some customers to Verizon, and other manufacturers will lose users to the iPhone on Verizon, BW also points out that at least both of them will be in the game, unlike Sprint and T-Mobile US.

Is Verizon enough carrier choice for you, or do you think Apple should do in the US what it does pretty much everywhere else now — offer iPhone on all major carriers?

One of the more interesting conversations the Smartphone Experts team had at CES 2010 was with Root Wireless, who monitors the performance of Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile in the US. Their overall message is that there’s no single best carrier, because it varies so much from place to place, but they did try to determine which carrier survived CES the best.

Here’s the bottom line:

• AT&T started out providing the fastest service, but quickly fell to 4th place.

• Verizon better maintained its consistency of service, performing particularly well on the event’s busiest days.

Loading its proprietary Root Mobile™ crowdsourcing application on smartphones purchased off-the-shelf from each of the ‘Big Four’ carriers, Root Wireless conducted stationary tests at a fixed location immediately adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center, constantly running Root Mobile from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., January 5-8. The linear tests determine data transmissions speeds, cell tower hand-off rates and network connection failures, as monitored and reported by Root Mobile. It is noteworthy that the findings differ from others data transmission speed tests conducted using PCs, precisely because Root Mobile is engineered to determine wireless consumers’ real-world experience using smartphones, not PCs. Also worth keeping in mind: Results reported here are local to the Las Vegas Convention Center. Root Wireless network mapping software has confirmed that all network performance is local; it varies from neighborhood-to-neighborhood, from service provider to service provider.

CrackBerry Kevin shot some video at Root Wireless’ booth, so if you’re curious for more (and the techies among you should be!) go check that out on CrackBerry.com.

My experience after the break!

Now make no mistake, there were a lot of iPhones at CES. Tons of BlackBerrys too spread over all the carriers, and a few DROIDs here and there, but the iPhone and AT&T definitely had one of the most visible presences at this convention. For my part, I brought my Rogers iPhone 3GS with me (and yes, it was very expensive). That meant I roamed between AT&T 3G and T-Mobile EDGE (something several Americans told me they wished they could do!).

Anecdotally, not just at CES but at the airports in between, I would walk down a hall and lose all signal on one network and have to wait for my iPhone to roam back to the other. Same in Vegas, the hotel had zero T-Mobile EDGE, but fine AT&T 3G, while the Convention Center was AT&T fail and solid T-Mobile EDGE. Sympathetically, I don’t know how you Americans suffer through any of your GSM/HSPA carriers (and Dieter might add Sprint to the list, given his MiFi failures during the show).

Fake Steve was right, you live in one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, and quite often you can’t connect a call or pull any data. And worse, even when a cell tower gives you 5 full bars of signal, there’s no telling wether the backhaul has any actual bandwidth left behind it. (Imagine having a powerful WiFi router lit up at home, but your cable or DSL modem was dead behind it).

O2 is apparently suffering now as well, so you’re not alone, but it’s going to take massive investment and brilliant innovation (including solid 4G coverage) to ride the upcoming tsunami-like data demands.

At CES 2010, Cocoon Innovations went from dipping a toe into iPhone waters with their new, windowed, messenger-style netbook bag to diving straight in with the secret-in-the-turtleshell Fastback cases.

The netbook case has a transparent pocket to showoff your iPhone or iPod touch, and inside features their really interesting looking Grid-It organizer, which can also safely and snuggly stow your iPhone or iPod inside.

The Fastback is an iPhone case that opens in the back to reveal an ample amount of storage for a headset, cards, etc.

Video after the break!

After being Barely There last year, at CES 2010 TiPb wanted to know how much slimmer Case-Mate could go — turns out they could go Bare. You read that right, one of the big products on display for Case-Mate in 2010 was their entry into the iPhone skin market, and the twist is their version doesn’t require any application liquid, you just peel and apply.

Video of the skin being applied, after the break. And if you’re the guy who made a living selling the tiny little squirt bottles, please don’t comment spam us — we’re just the messenger….

ZAGG, the makers of Invisible Shield, have diversified in a big way with their ZAGGbox video recorder, ZAGGsparq battery charger, and AppSpace service.

ZAGGbox pulls in all your analog video (including HD via component), gives you fast switching via a unified remote, and renders iPhone-compatible video you can send right to your device.

ZAGGsparq is a massive battery charger that re-charge an iPhone 4 times before it runs out of juice, and since it has 2 USB ports, it can charge your Bluetooth or any other compatible gadget at the same time.

AppSpace is an application discovery engine where you can go online to try and sort through the App Store’s massive catalog and find more of the stuff you like. It also supports Android, with BlackBerry, Palm, and Symbian coming soon.

Video of all three, after the break!

[YouTube video link]

Ion’s iType is a full sized — full. sized. — keyboard for the iPhone or iPod touch that comes bundled with an App Store app for easy text input. Output is another story — given the iPhone’s app sandboxing, you have to email or copy and paste the text into other apps. Ion is open to letting other apps use their hardware, however, so if Apple doesn’t get it together and offer standardized keyboard dock and BT protocols, and something like a Finger App to share document content, we’re hoping third parties can get at least part of it done themselves.

They also make a piano/synthesizer style iDiscover keyboard as well.

But enough philosophy, let’s get physical with the keyboard. And who better to try perform the ultimate typing test than our best frenemy CrackBerry Kevin. He puts it through its paces in the video below. Check it out after the break, and let us know what you think.

[YouTube video link]

The Motorola Endeavor HX1 is the latest salvo in the Bluetooth noise-reduction arms race, and it takes it to another level — reading the bone vibrations in your inner ear and digitally converting those vibrations into recognizable speech. That’s right, when regular microphones fail, when even noise-reduction won’t work, Motorola is actually turning off the microphone entirely and reproducing what you say based on sound waves in your skull. It won’t sound as good as a mic, however, but in a crowded place like the floor of CES 2010, rather than a dull, indistinguishable crowd roar, you can actually be heard.

Video after the break!

[UPDATE: And the TiPb Store folks told me they just got the Motorola Endeavor HX1 in stock, and it's on sale 31% off, if the video entices...]

[YouTube video link]

As iPhone Live! regulars know, I use a Blue Microphone Snowball for our podcast, so when they announced their 2nd generation, iPhone 3G/iPhone 3GS compatible Mikey, I was gravitationally pulled towards their booth for a quick look.

It’s small, it plugs into the iPhone dock, and they also offer a free Blue Fire field-recorder app in the iTunes App Store [Free - iTunes link]

The 2nd gen Mikey should ship this spring. Check out the video after the break, and note: this was recorded using a pre-production unit of that very mic!

With iMakeMyCase, Case-Mate is taking their popular case model and not only offering you hot, artist-based designs, but breaking apart those designs to their core elements and letting you customize and collage them to create your own unique variation.

There are lots of on-line tools provided, included spays, mirror effects, and if you’re not feeling particularly creative, reference designs by each artist.

Check out our walkthrough after the break!

The iPhone has made it’s first big, official splash at CES 2010, courtesy of the iLounge Pavilion, set up by the fine folks at iLounge. I’ve only spent half a day walking around so far, but you can’t throw an iPhone without hitting a major player at a big booth showing off some amazing new iPhone accessories.

Here’s a quick rundown of what I’ve seen so far:

• Etymotic, well known for their high-end in-ear headsets has incorporated the 3-button iPhone/iPod-style controller onto their cables giving you full volume, pause/play, etc. They’re also offering an entry-level model without the same system, but with excellent sound quality.
• HyperMac is offering a new external batteries with USB-out for iPhone.
• ExtremeMac is doing a range of charging as well, lots of options.
• Seidio is bringing the vibrant colored case love.
• Case-mate is offering a design-it-yourself option for cases, also a no-squirt-liquid-required body skin, and Hug, a non-proprietary inductive charging solution where you can buy their case and pad, or from another member of the consortium so you can mix and match. Nissan cup holders will also support it!
• Gelaskins is bringing in National Geographic and Marvel Comics licenses.
• Music skins is bringing Beatles licenses.
• Otterbox is offering lighter, but still armor-like solutions for those who want a little more convenience.
• Incipio is going with multiple materials and bold designs.

ics after the break!

Microsoft and Ford were showing off the third version of Ford Sync at CES, and Casey and Phil from Android Central and I jumped in and got a demo. The good news is that it works great. It plays your music, makes your phone calls, and alert the authorities in case of accident, and more…

The bad news is the “and more” doesn’t apply to iPhone and iPod touch owners since Apple hasn’t properly implemented all the Bluetooth control protocols. Also, SMS to voice isn’t implemented for the iPhone, and I’m guessing that has to do with the current SDK as well.

Still, the system looks slick and solid, supports multiple phones and music players, and lets you focus on your driving rather than fiddling with your devices. As more places make hands-free mandatory, it’s also going to be increasingly important.

I saw Microsoft’s massive booth at CES and a giant Bing sign so, optimistically, I went on over to talk with them while our friends from WMExperts hit up the devices. The Bing folks were great, but had no specific knowledge about Bing for iPhone other than there was an app and it did stuff but was kinda beta outside the US. Fair enough. So I headed over to the main reception and asked if there was anyone there from the Microsoft iPhone team. And that’s when it got funny. “What iPhone team?”

Eventually they sent me over to the Windows Phone counter, who just laughed at me and got annoyed that I was sent there.

Why am I posting this? Microsoft is one of, if not still the, biggest software maker in the world. Whether they offer a competing mobile platform or not, there are probably approaching 70 million iPhones on the market, and Microsoft provides Exchange ActiveSync, and apps like SeaDragon (okay, Microsoft Labs, but still), and Bing (which they’d like to be a big deal). That there was no one from Microsoft’s iPhone team at Macworld last year was silly but understandable. That there’s no one here at CES 2010 this year — or at least if there is, they’re not at all discoverable — is just dumb.

If you’re not going to do integrated offerings, if you’re going to be the “network nervous system” that services everyone, if you’re going to offer software and services for other popular platforms — show up and evangelize them. If you want to compete against Google and be taken seriously, if you’re going to be in the game — have some players show up.

Since the entire SPE team was here at CES in Las Vegas, it made perfect sense to take some time away from ogling gadgets and chatting up our friends in the blogosphere to record a podcast. We talk up what we’ve seen so far, including the Nexus One and Motorola Backflip; we also chatted a bit about what we’re hoping to see at Palm’s event today.

As you might have guessed, the show was recorded and hosted by our pal Mickey Papillon of TCPJ. Give it a listen!

• The Cell Phone Junkie
• Subscribe with your favorite client
• Subscribe via iTunes
• Listen via phone with Podlinez: 510-495-6352
• Download the show directly

[Rene apologizes for quality of iPhone-taken pano, but felt the behind-the-scenes peak made up for the lack of photography skillz]

Digital Experiences is an event held the eve before CES 2010 officially kicks off, and as we’ve come to expect — there was a lot of iPhone in the room. From EA showing off their latest games to Sonos showing how completely they’ve gone in on iPhone, from Speck to Griffin to XtremeMac giving us sneak peaks at their upcoming gear from Powermat’s inductive charging solutions, all the way to Google’s massive Nexus One booth (okay, everything except that maybe!) the iPhone was in full force.

Check it out, after the jump!

EA Mobile showed TiPb some of the new gameplay that’s coming to Spore: Creatures for the iPhone and iPod touch, and it represents the next stage of evolution. Literally.

Picking up where Spore: Origins left of, your little life-form crawls from the primordial ooze, you have to negotiate similar challenges to last time, but now there are also bosses to contend with, and creatures you may just socialize with rather than savage (or be savaged by!)

It’s coming soon to the App Store. But we have a sneak peak video right after the break!

[YouTube Video Link]

UPDATE: According to WMExperts liveblog, it was a Tablet PC by HP running Windows 7 and called — wait for it — the HP Slate. Yes, named after Apple’s latest tablet name rumor. Looks chunky, and its using a desktop OS. Okay.

ORIGINAL: So the rumor is Steve is about to introduce a new tablet device — no, not Steve Jobs of Apple, but his nemesis Steve Ballmer of Microsoft — and he’s rumored to be doing it tonight at CES!

Our sibling site, WMExperts, has the details and Dieter and Phil will be there live covering Ballmer’s keynote at 9:30pm ET, 6:30pm PT, 2:30am GT (tomorrow morning, yeah?)

Will it be the crazy courier concept we saw before? More Tablet PC tomfoolery? Surface-to-go? And if Apple is unicorns, is this the pegasus?

And does this have any effect on Apple’s rumored iTablet show on Jan. 27? Or does Apple just ignore what everyone else is doing, as usual, and show up with what they got?

That’s right TiPb ‘verse, for the first time ever I’m hitting CES with the rest of the Smartphone Experts crew — because for the first time ever, Apple’s not at Macworld, Macworld isn’t in January, and iPhone stuff will be at CES!

If you’re going to be there as well, if you’re an App Store developer, an accessory maker, a fellow blogger, an Apple engineer with a secret HD iPhone or tablet-esque device to leak, or — and especially — a fellow TiPb member, ping me and let me know. I’m looking to fit in as much as is inhumanly possible.

All major iPhone and related stories will of course go up right here, and as you know there are a ton of ways to follow TiPb’s feed.

I’ll also be tweeting everything else meta-style from @reneritchie, including whatever behind the scenes shenanigans and competitive insights I can sneak out. (tag-line, nothing will stay in Vegas!)

Also keep an eye out for our editor-in-chief Dieter Bohn (@backlon), Kevin Michaluk (@crackberrykevin), Matt Miller (@palmsolo), Phil Nickinson (@philnickinson) as they cover everything else for CrackBerry.com, PreCentral.net, NokiaExperts.com, AndroidCentral.com, and WMExperts.com, as well as our Round Robin co-hort, Mickey Papillon (@tcpj_mickey) who might just get us back on the mic again.

See ya there, or we’ll bring it to ya here!

UPDATE: Ryan Block returns to Engadget to smash this rumor.

At no point did Gary even remotely imply that Apple would be present at a future CES — let alone state flatly that Apple “will be there” in 2010.

Oh, WSJ…

ORIGINAL. The Wall Street Journal is reporting, almost off-handedly, that Apple is planning to attend CES 2010, a trade show it has avoided up until now, and arguably eclipsed in 2007 when it announced the original iPhone at the then similarly timed Macworld Expo.

Apple pulled out of future Macworlds, causing the expo to change focus and time slots for 2010, but the idea of Apple actually showing up at CES instead? To quoth Dieter: Cats and dogs — living together!

The meat of the WSJ’s story is actually that Steve Jobs has been invited to Keynote at CES but isn’t returning their phone calls. While Jobs owned the spotlight at Macworld before handing the final show over to Phil Schiller in 2009, Jobs would be one of several Keynotes at CES, including lovable competitor Steve Ballmer of Microsoft.

Would Jobs settle for “one of”? Would Apple, after leaving Macworld and saying they prefer to set their own schedule for special events, and that they reach more people via the Apple Stores every week anyway, really want to return to almost exactly the same formula with CES?

We doubted it, and still don’t believe what our eyes are reading.

With Apple announcing that Macworld 2009 would be its last, rumors began to fly that maybe CES 2010 would get Steve Jobs’ attention instead. TiPb still isn’t buying that — given Apple’s stated reasons, it makes no more sense for them than Macworld.

However, now word comes that iLounge has begun working with the CEA (the organization behind CES) to create an iPhone (and iPod) “iLounge Pavilion” at CES as a rallying and gathering point for exhibitors — perhaps in lieu of Macworld 2010.

iLounge seems to feel this is necessary to help proactively preserve and project forward the iPhone and iPod community given the perhaps uncertain future of Macworld.

Macworld (the magazine, not expo, though they share the same parent company) editor Jason Snell, however, on Twitter expressed concern that iLounge might have crossed a line beyond merely being proactive.

Hearts and souls are likely still hoping for a strong and vibrant Macworld next year, but are pragmatic minds and wallets turning more towards CES? And what lines should — or shouldn’t — be crossed when it comes to media (new or old) covering events, or each other, while having or making alliances with competitive events?

As I’ve said many times before on TiPb, I’m a Palm guy going back to the Palm V, and Treo guy going back to the Treo 600. When Palm essentially abandoned that user-base (see my Palm Treo Pro Round Robin video and review) a few years back, I abandoned them and dove headlong into the iPhone (and now the iPhone 3G).

I still have a very warm spot in my heart for Palm, however, their innovation in the smartphone space, and their focus on zen-like user experience. So, when Palm announced their new WebOS platform and premiered their new Pre handset at CES (see our new baby sibling site PreCentral.net for all the details and a massive hands-on video), I was more than just a little ecstatic. I won’t lie, it’s the first post-iPhone device that’s caught my attention.

Don’t get me wrong, I still fear for Palm — the market is much more crowded than it was when they helped create it, and for all the problems WebOS and the Pre solve, they bring their own set to the table. However, watching the Palm Keynote fro CES I, presented by former Apple iPod father Jon Rubinstein and Palm founder Ed Colligan, two things stood really stood out for me:

• What Palm outright stole from the iPhone and put in the Pre
• And what Apple should immediate steal from Palm and put into the next iPhone OS.

We’ll get into both, after the break.

What the Palm Pre Stole From the iPhone

First, stole is exactly the right word. No, I’m not talking about Rubinstein’s verbiage (you can copy a Jobs script, but not the delivery, b’okay?) Feature for feature — gesture for gesture — the former Apple team headed now by Rubenstein as Palm straight up jacked whole swathes of iPhone functionality to a degree that I’m pretty much certain Apple’s lawyers are drafting up whole heaps of infringement claims against them for all those patents Steve Jobs mentioned during his first iPhone introduction back at Macworld. Let’s take a look…

Form Factor

Okay, an iClone is an iClone, and many would argue Apple didn’t invent the singular black slab that is the iPhone’s now iconic shape. Many would also argue there are only so many ways to make a full-screen, touch-screen device. Fair enough. But from that full, touch screen to the singular center button at the bottom, degree of rounded-ness not withstanding, we’ll call an iClone an iClone when we see it.

Specs

Not only does the Pre look like the iPhone, it’s built like the iPhone. It’s almost like the iPhone feature set was lined up and checked off one by one: 320×480 capacitive touch screen — check. Accelerometer, ambient light, and proximity sensors — check. While the package is smaller in its closed state, and has been amped up (hello A2DP stereo Blue Tooth!), the mold from which it was cast is still patently obvious.

The Dock

The original Palm PDA platform had a static, lower tier application launcher space, if anyone remembers that platform anymore, but it was interrupted by the stylus input bad, and later hard-buttons took its place. With the Pre, however, Palm has taken a step sideways into the iPhone launcher paradigm. You get five buttons instead of four, and they focus on Palm’s nouveau Pillars of PIM — Phone, Contacts, Email, Calendar, and… up arrow (I’m guess a way to launch more options).

Real-World UI Interactions

It was amazing, back at Macworld 2007, to watch Steve Jobs effortlessly flick through a list of contacts and see them bounce with virtual elasticity when they reached their end. This kind of intuitive visual cuing is invaluable to the user experience. No wonder Palm copied it almost exactly. Flick through the Pre contacts, same capacitive acceleration, same elastic bounce back.

Likewise panels zoom in and zoom out, and slide over each other, just like with the iPhone, to give a sense of stacking and information depth.

Turn the Palm Pre and not only does the accelerometer rotate the screen, it does so with the same animation as the iPhone. No smash cuts like other handsets here.

Multi-touch

This is the big one, and the one I think have Cupertino’s lawyers revving up their engines. Rumor has it that other post-iPhone capacitive handsets were supposed to ship with multi-touch, but fear of Apple’s patents ultimately made them reconsider that functionality. The Palm Pre looks to have done no such reconsideration. Witness: pinch to zoom, double tap to focus, flick to scroll.

It’s not just that they used multi-touch, they used the exact same gestures the iPhone already used to do it.

WebKit

Apple’s open source web rendering engine, WebKit (based on the Linux Konquerer technology) doesn’t have a huge desktop browser share outside of the Mac, but it’s positively pwning the mobile space. Nokia uses it, Google’s Android uses it, (some think Microsoft should dump Internet Explorer 6(!) for Mobile and use it!), and now the Palm Pre uses it as well.

What the iPhone Should Immediately Steal from the Palm Pre

What’s more important than dwelling on what the Palm Pre stole from the iPhone is what Palm did to extend, and yes, improve upon it. Several of these improvements are so compelling, Apple immediately needs to take a little vengeance on Palm and steal them right back! Which ones?

Multitasking “Cards”

One of the most impressive features shown off in the Palm Pre demo was the concept of stacked cards, where the center button could “zoom out” and give a real-time, updated view of what was happening on other open applications. The iPhone needs this badly. Not multitasking third party apps will increasingly be seen as a limitation on the iPhone, but RIM or Windows Mobile style Task management is likewise a non-starter.

Luckily, the iPhone already has 2 existing metaphors for this. First and most closely resembling the Palm Pre cards are the Mobile Safari “tabs”. Tap the tab button and the current web page zooms out and you see all open tabs. Pick the tab you want, it zooms in full screen. This could easily be adapted to multi-tasking applications.

Frankly, however, I’m not sure its good enough for the iPhone. The second metaphor, CoverFlow, might just be. We don’t know what’s driving the Palm Pre under the hood, but we know the iPhone has awesome OpenGL and PowerVR graphics that just beg for a drool-inducing task-switching implementation. Flick to change between your apps as easily as you do your albums in iTunes.

To close an app, as the Pre does with an upward throw-away flick, Mobile Safari Tab “X” buttons could be a solution, as could the flick-away, but I’m not sure how necessary that is. In an ideal world, iPhone OS X would transparently handle memory in the background, “sleeping” (saving state) what hasn’t been used or isn’t prioritized as needed.

As to the reorganization ability of the Pre task manager, I’m not convinced you need it in a switching system as fast as capacitive flicking.

Short of a Mac-inspired Expose for the iPhone, CoverFlow app switching would be killer.

And what better, easier, and more elegant way to implement it than just hitting the Home button in Landscape mode?

Merging the Cloud

Palm made a big deal about the Pre being built from the web up, and it sort of (and it no doubt increasingly is) a big deal. Since we’re not sure what kind of media capabilities the Pre will have, the need to cloud-manage 1GB+ movie files may not be a worry to them the way it certainly is to the iPhone, but for PIM data did what they’ve always done — nailed it.

Pre hooks into popular cloud data stores, Exchange, Gmail, and Facebook (and perhaps others) and merges all your data behind the scenes to present you with a single handheld gateway — a unified view. Exchange contacts seamlessly integrated with the matching picture from your Facebook friend was the example given, and it’s a game-changing one. Likewise, Pre combines together IM and SMS into a single, person-centric threaded conversation.

Tying in IM, Twitter, and people’s own email address cards create something close to what I’ve always been asking for — an application that unifies and HIDES all the various pipes away from the user.

Chad has mentioned several times that Apple has all sorts of Mobile iChat patents floating around. Can we get those put to use?

This is the type of flawless user experience both Palm and Apple are famous for. Palm is giving it to us first on the mobile platform. Fine. Apple, give it to us next.

(And we won’t even get into what might happen if Apple leverages their new iPhoto ’09 Faces (facial recognition) and Places (geotagging) technology into this paradigm!)

Status

On the Mac, if you have iChat open and you receive an email from someone who’s also an iChat buddy, their availability status is shown to you. Palm’s Pre works in a similar manner, showing you IM status in the email app. Sadly, the iPhone currently doesn’t do this. It should. Dieter has asked for it repeatedly and he’s right. Even though iPhone apps like Pinger do a great job aggregating status, there’s no reason it shouldn’t become ubiquitous throughout a mobile experience. And there’s every reason it should.

As mentioned before, the user interface lines between SMS, Twitter, IM, etc., and even email are and should be blurring, and a way to not only manage all those communication pipes, but seamlessly leverage them as well, is increasingly becoming a necessity for connected users.

Auto-Save

Palm has always “just worked” when it came to saving state of data. Add a contact and no matter how complete or incomplete, Palm has just saved that state of the data on the device and for sync. With the Pre they’ve taken it a step further and saved state right back to the cloud as well.

The iPhone, by contrast, wants you to confirm the save with a button tap. This is okay to prevent fragmentary entries from polluting your pristine data store, but in the real world it’s just annoying. If you start entering a calendar event, and you suddenly and urgently need to go into a different app (something that happens in the real world), you shouldn’t have to worry about losing whatever data you’ve entered, or having to start over.

Just like Palm, and like Apple already does in Apps like iMovie, data should just be saved on exit as-is, and synced back to the cloud or local machine, also as is. It’s simply a better, more robust user experience.

Keyboard Launcher

Familiar not only to everyone who’s ever used a Treo, Vista Search, or Mac Spotlight, but truly understood by anyone who’s become a QuickSilver (or similar application launcher) user, sometimes typing is just the fastest way to reach the data you want. The Pre does a great, Spotlight-esque job of quickly parsing keystrokes into local and cloud search results, and the iPhone should be able to leverage Apple’s Spotlight just as powerfully.

Sure, the Pre has a hard keyboard, which is the last thing I want on an iPhone (remember — at least for me — the era of hard keyboards is over!). So what to do?

Stick a Spotlight icon on the Home Screen, what else? Okay, sure, make up something fun… Let me shake on the Home Screen to bring up a Spotlight optimized keyboard. Shake is used in other apps to do neat things, leverage it to let me do killer search as well. Shake, type, boom! (I kid, a little, see quickie mock-up pick).

Either way give me rapid search access into contacts, events, files (yes, give me a single, multi-app accessible file storage bin so I can get some Office action going — but more on that in a future article), and the option to shoot off into CalDAV, CardDAV, WebDAV (iDisk), or general Web searches.

Conclusion

We didn’t touch on everything, including the swiped App Store come App Catalog, or the innovative non-modal notification system, but hopefully this gives some idea of our ideas on where the iPhone brought the smartphone space, where the Pre has taken killer features from that, and what Apple could do to take some killer features of the Pre right back.

But what are your ideas? Anything from the Pre (or other post-iPhone smartphones) YOU think Apples needs to immediately integrate into iPhone OS 3.0?

No sooner to rumors sprout that Apple may have abandoned Macworld only to show up at CES next year, than the CEA decides to pour some miracle grow on them. Says CNet:

Jason Oxman of the CEA confirmed Saturday that the group “dedicated a special area at the 2010 CES to Apple-related CE manufacturers.” That immediately sets up an alternative for companies thinking about exhibiting at Macworld 2010, which will not have Apple present for the first time in 12 years.

No word on Apple itself actually attending of course (Dieter thinks it will never happen), but with Macworld sending out free early-bird registration offers already, this could be a way to try and lure in Mac- and iPhone-centric third parties very much on the fence about 2010.

Who would still go to Macworld if CES gets its Apple on next year?

Apple Insider is reporting that Apple is packing up the graceful booths and elegant displays, and taking Steve’s winnebago to CES next year:

Sources close to the company have indicated to AppleInsider that the move is a done deal, a remarkable turn of events given that CES has long been dominated by Microsoft’s product announcements issued in keynotes delivered by Bill Gates and now by CEO Steve Ballmer.

TiPb has long felt that Apple has long felt it was too aloof for the tacky lights and hollow glitz of Vegan and CES, but could the times really be a changing that much? And if Apple does go to CES 2010, which Steve will give the Keynote, Ballmer or… Jobs?

Confession: I’m just leaving Macworld and haven’t had a chance to form much of an opinion about the Palm Pre yet (see pics). TreoCentral (and our new baby sibling site, PreCentral.net) absolutely KILLED it on the first impressions, and make sure you check out the live blog (and congrats to Dieter on the trifecta of Schiller, Balmer, and Colligan all in one week! Superstar!).

The Treo 600 was my first smartphone, the 680 my last before the iPhone, so I have great fondness for Palm despite them leaving me “out in the desert” (TM, TreoCentral TreoCast) for years and years. I want them to succeed, I want them to force the entire industry to keep up the innovation and revolution the iPhone started. I want Steve Jobs and Apple to run back to the drawing board and feel compelled to make the iPhone HD 3.0 even better than they intended.

First blush: I love the organics of the device (the egg-shape does throw me, but that’s the only exception and the overall look brings it home) and think cloud-focus and their WebOS platform (which I think is based on Apple’s open-source WebKit, same as Safari on iPhone and Chrome on Android) are gutsy moves. Apple uses a hybrid of rich clients and web connectivity and smashes it out the park with Google Maps-style iPhone apps. Palm is running WebOS apps like native WebApps (which should avoid the outcry Apple faced with the original, pre-App Store and SDK iPhone dev solution). If it works Palm could have brilliantly out-maneuvered the whole “they’ll never get developers”. However, one look at Apple’s focus on gaming shows the power of the rich local client — is AJAX enough to run iPhone caliber gaming and other really hard hitting applications? I guess we’ll see. We’ll also see how they nail multitasking better than any previous OS, according to Dieter, when part 2 of TreoCentral’s first impressions go online later.

On the negative side, for me (the anti-Dieter in some ways), I still think the era of hard keyboards is over, and dislike the moving parts of a slider all the more after the round robin (even portrait ones). That’s just personal taste. The capacitive touch screen with gesture area looks solid, though I have to wonder if Apple’s lawyers will rev up the multitouch patent files?

Apple’s rivalry with the new Palm will be telling for political reasons as well. Those who remember the history know that the new guru behind Palm’s new hotness is the old Guru behind Apple’s old hotness, the iPod. He reportedly really wanted a hard keyboard on the iPhone, and Jobs skidoosh’ed it. (Which is why I jokingly called it the “iPhone Slider”. I guess we’ll see, however, over the next few months if Rubinstein remains but the learner, or if he is now the master.

Enough of my thoughts, iPhone lovers — especially former Palm faithful — what do you think?

TiPb isn’t the only Smartphone Experts site working our tails off this week. Our editor-in-chief, Dieter Bohn is pulling the live-blogging trifecta, going straight from Macworld to cover Steve Ballmer’s CES kickoff tonight at 6pm PST for WMExperts AND for the (very much anticipated) debut of Palm’s next generation NOVA hardware and OS for TreoCentral — not to mention everything AndroidCentral. Never to be out done, CrackBerry Kevin (with a full on CrackBerry Crew!) will push any and all BlackBerry news they get their cracky hands on. Check out all our sites throughout the day for the latest, greatest, most Smartphone-geeky coverage.