What did Steve Jobs say but didn’t announce during the 2010 WWDC keynote?

Steve Jobs took the stage during the 2010 Worldwide Developers Conference keynote and made some major announcements. iPhone 4, iMovie for iPhone, new iBooks app and iOS are some of them. However, listening closely to what Jobs said, we can find some secrets that he might wanted to keep. First, during the demo and specs of FaceTime, Jobs said that the feature is available only over Wi-Fi. “FaceTime is going to be Wi-Fi only in 2010, we need to work a little bit with cellular providers, get ready for the future,” Jobs said. Unless he was talking about international cellular providers, there is only one provider in the US, AT&T. This might be an indication of multiple US cellular providers carry the new device in the near future. Rumors exist for a long time that Verizon will get the iPhone either before the end of 2010 or at the beginning of 2011. A few rumors exist for Sprint as well.

Jobs also said that there will be huge number of FaceTime devices this year available to make FaceTime calls. “Apple will ship 10’s of millions of FaceTime devices this year,” Jobs said. Interestingly, he didn’t say “iPhones” but he chose the word “devices”. According to some analysts, Apple is expected to sell about 7.5 to 8 million iPhone devices in Q3 2010. These include iPhone 4 as well as iPhone 3GS devices. If the rate continues, Apple will sell about 15 to 16 million iPhone 4 devices by the end of the year. We believe that Jobs had a much larger number in mind when he was talking about “10’s of millions” devices. With that said, there are two possible ways Apple will be able to sell a very high number of FaceTime devices. First, by allowing iPhone 4 on other carriers like Verizon and Sprint before the end of the year or by introducing another FaceTime capable device. We believe that Apple will introduce another device with the ability to make FaceTime calls. This will be the new iPod touch with cameras to allow the same FaceTime functionality found on the iPhone 4. iPod touch supports Wi-Fi and so these devices will be able to make FaceTime video calls over Wi-Fi. We should expect the new iPod touch to be available mid November.

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