PiperJaffray analyst Greg Munster predicts that the iPhone may just be getting a new search feature, the styling of the Mac OS X's Spotlight function. The catch is that this may not be available until early next year.

That aside, Munster also made predictions for other Apple matters, such as the recent UK launch for the iPhone, and the new MacBook. Full details on Munster's predictions are available in the full article.

Investment banking firm PiperJaffray analyst Gene Munster recently commented that it is very unlikely for Apple to showcase the iPhone at its upcoming event Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

In lieu of it, Munster added that the show will be highlighted by new MacBook Pros and quite possibly new iMacs. Munster's basis for this observation is Apple's update history for its products. According to the analyst, professional notebooks are updated every 182 days on the average.

The most recent generation of MacBook Pro was launched around 210 days ago. Likewise, an iMac update is also long overdue as the last time Apple had it was 257 days ago. The average release date for every generation is usually around 168 days.

While the above mentioned products are yet to be confirmed, Apple has promised in the past that a full-featured version of OSX 10.5 Leopard will be demonstrated and handed out at WWDC.

"Apple continues to dominate the digital music player and online music markets, despite new competitors constantly entering the market," or so says PiperJaffray's recent findings. Accordingly, Apple Computer conducts a bi-annual survey for around  six years now. That sounds like bordering on paranoia and with the sampling just comprised of 1,000 high school students, the computer company might not be getting the real picture.

Since we are here anyway, the research says that the iPod is taking much of the market share with 79%. Closest competition is Sony with a lowly 8% share. In the meantime, the study found out that almost 80% of the students are currently downloading music online, and majority of those use P2P music sharing networks.

"But of those students who use legal online music services, 91 percent said they use iTunes, which is up significantly from our spring 2006 survey," comments PiperJaffray's analyst Gene Munster. The middle market investment bank and institutional securities firm accordingly attached this growth from iTunes increasing content variety.

Apple maintains that winning the teenager sector is pivotal to the company's continued long term growth. Judging from the research firm's numbers, it seems that the Cupertino-based company will be enjoying this comfortable lead for quite some time.

At Apple's Word Wide Developer's Conference (WWDC) last week, the developers of the Mac OS X, surveyed by PiperJaffray analyst Gene Munster, were pretty unanimous in their observation that Apple's Intel transition is progressing optimally.

Munster said that all developers who had ported an application from PowerPC to Universal Binary reported that the process went easier than they had actually expected. Meanwhile, 15 out of 16 developers predict that there will be a greater number of Mac applications in the future because of the Intel transition.

A total of 90% of the developers also believe that the enhancement on Mac's ability to run the Windows operating system - which Munster believes will be integrated in the release of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard - will positively impact Mac application development.

If the Intel transition continues on its progressive path, it is without a doubt that it will not be long before Mac applications get an upgrade that consumers will definitely enjoy.

For this article, you're going to need large black plastic bags, a shovel, and something to cover the stench.

Why?

Because Steve Jobs just uncovered the dead. I'm talking about the elusive iPod phone. It's been talked about for so long. But now, Steve Jobs himself is supposedly so excited about it that he keeps talking about it. Imagine. Steve "Everything-Is-Top-Secret" Jobs, blabbing to people about an iPod phone? It sounds so unbelievable I almost spat out my coffee when I first found out about it.

Steve blabbing secrets! That right there makes me think this is either a rumor or a ruse, and my bet is it's a ruse. Apple's up to something, and this is all a smokescreen (like when Apple announced they'd never enter the sub-PC market and then went ahead and released the Mac mini only a few months later). Steve Jobs is an evil genius.

Still, Wall Street analysts (PiperJaffray, Bear Stearns, etc.) are saying an iPod phone is likely to happen. They cite their own reasons and proofs that Apple has, indeed, been hard at work on mobile phone technology. Unfortunately, chances are this news is going to turn stale and start to smell funny before any of us will get to see an iPod cell phone: analysts expect the phone to come out in the middle of next year, if not later.

What's holding up the process? According to some market analysts and Wall Street watchers, it's probably economics. Apple has to be careful because an iPod mobile phone might ruin sales of low-end iPods. This is because when technologies are merged, demand for low-end products tends to go down. For example, now that most mobile phones have cameras, nobody buys the cheap digital cameras, but people still buy the high-end ones. The same thing might happen to Apple's brand-new lower-end iPods and refurbished units.

Gene Munster, an analyst at PiperJaffray, said that Apple is probably better off concentrating on devices with one main feature instead of making devices (like an iPod phone) that have multiple functions. I'm not sure how serious a man named "Munster" can be, but we do know from past experience that Steve Jobs has a habit of pulling the plugs on a project even after it's far into its development. So even if Apple really is developing an iPod phone, it might never finish development.