MacOnMacs: A look back at 2005 (and ahead)

Now that we're a couple of weeks into 2006 and I've had a chance to fully absorb January's Macworld event, I thought we could take a look back at Apple's 2005 - one of the biggest years for the company to date:

• January 11th - iPod shuffle/Mac mini - Apple's first flash based iPod and Apple's strongest contender yet to nudge PC users into the Mac's warm embrace.
  
• January 24th - iTunes Music Store downloads = 250 million (about one million songs per day).
  
• February 23rd - 2nd generation iPod minis - including a new 6 GB model.
  
• April 29th - Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger ships.
  
• May 10th - iTunes Music Store expands in Europe (total countries = 19).
  
• June 6th - Intel processor announcement for 2006.
  
• June 28th - Podcast directory debuts in iTunes Music Store.
  
• July 18th - iTunes Music Store downloads = 500 million.
  
• August 24th - iTunes Music Store in Japan (total countries = 20).
  
• September 7th - iPod nano replaces popular iPod mini.
  
• October 12th - iPod with video/iMac G5 with Front Row and remote/Music videos, TV shows, and movies debut in iTunes Music Store (total shows = 5) - fifth generation iPod release accompanied by ABC/Walt Disney deal which allows purchase of video content through iTMS. Front Row and remote opens the door to Mac "Media Centre".
  
• October 19th - iTunes Music Store in Australia (total countries = 21).
  
• December 6th - Eleven shows added to iTMS (total shows = 16).

A lot of great announcements in 2005, and an increasingly successful Apple along with it. I've got a few things I'm still waiting for in 2006:

• Intel Mac desktops (given the name change for the Intel MacBook Pro, I hesitate to use the term PowerMac);
  
• Intel Mac laptops (probably just called MacBooks);
  
• Native releases of pro and other applications for Intel Macs (come on Final Cut Pro!);
  
• Dual-booting of Windows on the Intel machines (even if it makes me feel "dirty" :-) );
  
• Video iPod (not iPod with video ;-) - flip the current iPod 90 degrees, put a larger widescreen display on front and maybe the controls on the back/side, and, very importantly, increase the native file resolution so that I can watch shows from my iPod Video on my TV at a decent quality);
  
• Front Row 2.0 for all Macs (more responsive and more fully implemented - lets see additional control and customization available, display of artwork in Music section, and a lot of bug fixes);
  
• Apple Remotes for all Macs (I don't want to have to hack around this any more!);
  
• Apple-branded Phone (ROKR just didn't cut it, guys - let Apple actually design the phone and UI this time, please!);
  
• AirPort Express with streaming video (and it'd be awesome if it could act as an Ethernet bridge as well);
  
• iTunes Music Store expands to include more video content in Canada and elsewhere.

Those are my hopes for what lays ahead, what are you guys looking forward to? Let me know in a comment!