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I like the cheery scenario put forth by Paul Andrews at TechFlash which has Steve Jobs’ re-emergence at Apple timed to coincide with a major, game-changing product announcement. Andrews lists the frontrunning product opportunities as:

• a $500 netbook that wouldn’t cannibalize MacBook sales
• an iPhone announcement around either Verizon carriage or video capabilities
• the first serious debut of Apple TV

Apple TV is definitely the Apple product with the most untapped potential, and it’s the perfect time for Apple — anyone! — to emerge as the first platform to make the purchase of a la carte professional content as easy as iTunes.

Consumers continue to thirst for sane and affordable ways to pay for the content they watch, and producers do need to be paid for what they create.

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Wanna bomb out, technologically, in Japan? Use an iPhone.

In Japan, anyone sporting an iPhone is a doof. Because iPhones don’t have multimedia text capabilities, video camera functionality, or TV reception. In Japan, those things are … um … expected.

Slashdot tells me that in Japan the iPhone is selling so poorly it’s being offered for free. Apparently in Japan, the Panasonic P905i is kicking the iPhone’s a**.

Living here in the US, I don’t love my iPhone less, now that I know this. Though, TV would be good! However, this whole discussion does remind me of a pricelessly entertaining rant on “Am I Right or What?” about the iPhone vs. the Nokia e70

Update: Major ooops! I fell for apparently flawed and misleading reports propagated in Wired and spread around. Apple Insider tries to get to the truth:

After seeing the Wired article, [Jpanese journalist Bobi] Hayashi pointed out in his own blog that his comments on the P905i were not only taken out of context, but also rather dated, as that model is from late 2007. He also says he never called the iPhone too lame to carry. ”My cellular weapon of choice, of course,“ Hayashi wrote, ”is an iPhone and my cellular weapon of choice to the foreigners is INFOBAR2 and I don’t even dare to charge my P905i these days.“

I just spent 5 days in San Francisco with pretty much only the Internet access afforded me by my iPhone. My awesome hosts had awesome wireless, but had forgotten the WPA password. Guests: forget connecting.

Specimen A The virtual jukebox

Specimen B Professional development, camaraderie

Specimen C Things to think about that can’t be addressed in 140 characters or less but are fun to consider

Specimen D Angst, useful and otherwise

Specimen E Kinship

(I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth. It was my birthday week. I ate salads prepared by the incomparable Marlena Spieler — she of the must-read Roving Feast column in the SF Chronicle. My chilluns walked dogs with their beautiful grandma and even got to see a dog show at the Cow Palace, rode cable cars and saw wonders at the renovated Cal Academy of Sciences including Pierre, a molting 25-year-old penguin (click to watch the penguin cams!) no longer wearing his neoprene vest. I dined with near and dear at the incomparable Foreign Cinema as well as at the Basque Cultural Center restaurant where the farm kitchen soup is not to be believed.)

But. My generous host is not the nonexistent someone who wouldn’t mind me downloading attachments, installing Tweetdeck, letting young children go onto Habbo & chat & play flash games, etc. on his laptop.

So, life was reinvented. I slowed down, lost touch with machines, spent time with people, wafted well-fed, well-entertained, on disconnected air.

Coming back to a computer with my own software — my beloved TweetDeck — and its Internet connection, I was able to see clearly what I value about using Twitter.

1. Twitter has become a virtual jukebox. I love it when people post the names of songs they are listening to, with a link to the audio file. I almost never click because there’s enough noise in my life, but I love to hear the songs playing in my head.

2. Search by topic means a constant stream of  ideas,  opinions, questions, and resources. I benefit greatly from a flurry of Tweets about TV, TV trends, internet use, marketing, art & design, challenges ahead, humor, and technology.

3. I have developed a strange kinship with people I don’t know that makes the world feel like a jollier, more friendly place. I like it. And it’s low-intensity, so it’s not an extra “thing to take care of.”

So anyway, It’s rehumanizing to go off the grid and also to be back on the grid after a fun break.