[6ren]

Cash hoard: Maybe they will buy their own hardware manufacturing facilities, right down to silicon foundries. They like vertical integration, and they don't like their manufacturers (e.g. Samsung) becoming competitors.

Long term: although Apple is defending its current properties, I think it is setup to routinely create new categories of products. This is where Apple's talents are most valuable (especially combining hardware and software to push the envelope), when new things are still difficult; they don't seem to be good at commodities (e.g. cheaper phones) nor want to be. They've gone iPod, iPhone, iPad. They're also trying TV hardware. What's next? Maybe a game console; a watch; a much smaller smart phone; an ARM/iOS laptop or desktop; or something I haven't imagined.

But yes, the question is whether they can manage it without Jobs.

[hackingOnAJet]

Apple has not demonstrated any interest in buying its own manufacturing facilities. Doing so would not provide the company with the flexibility and agility required to stay ahead of the market. Instead, Apple uses cash incentives to allow its manufacturing partners to invest in new technologies earlier than market demand would have otherwise made feasible. In exchange, Apple signs deals for exclusive purchasing rights to these new technologies.

By providing incentives to third parties instead of assuming the manufacturing risk internally, Apple can accomplish the same goals with comparable payoff while taking on much less risk.

This strategy is, in part, one of the reasons why Apple is able to offer tech like the retina display in the iPhone 4 long before its competitors.

[balakk]

I was thinking bigger.. how about a new car? electric of course. Completely different from what we know. A mobile computer we can travel in.

[marknutter]

Please let it be a watch (dead serious).

[r00fus]

The current iPod Nano with bluetooth would have been killer. Wireless headphones tied to your watch... now that's wearable computing.

[Game_Ender]

As a watch wearer I agree. I would love for someone to really reinvent the product into something better.