Everybody knows that when you want to find out what the future holds for Apple product development, you don't ask a Magic 8-Ball; you ask Larry Ellison. But if Loose-Lips Larry isn't answering his phone (the guy must've finally gotten Caller ID), sometimes a bevy of random Apple product managers will do just as well. For instance, a Macworld UK article is chock-full of info about what Mac fans can expect Apple and others to release over the course of the next year or so. Among the stuff we can expect to grace our credit card bills: mobile phones that "work with" PowerBooks; third-party "Bluetooth" wireless networking solutions; two-way access to FileMaker Pro databases from mobile phones; DVD and FireWire in a future iBook; and iBook-like designs finally making it into the PowerBook.

Now, some of this comes as no surprise; few of us are unaware of the rumors that Pismo, the current PowerBook, was originally planned to ship with an iBook-type case, for example. And adding FireWire and DVD to the iBook sometime in the distant future only makes sense. The focus on wireless technologies shouldn't come as a surprise, but given that the stuff these product managers are discussing-- Bluetooth, WAP, infrared, etc.-- aren't AirPort, we admit, we're a teensy bit taken aback. Okay, Apple's been working with mobile phone manufacturers Nokia and Ericsson for "a year" now; so what does it mean, exactly, for a mobile phone to "work with" a PowerBook? Are we talking about wireless Internet dialup access? Synchronization with Personal Information Managers? What?

Personally, here's what we'd like to see in terms of wireless access and mobile phone integration: a small modem that plugs into a USB port on one end and a cellular phone on the other. Since our iBook lacks a PC card slot, we can't just run out and buy a cellular-capable card modem. (Well, okay, we could; we just couldn't actually use it.) The idea of burning cell airtime by surfing wirelessly down at the local coffeehouse holds great geek appeal. Maybe we'll have to drop Larry a line and see what he thinks...