My short list of product/service improvements I’d love to see in 2009:

1) The first is a simple one which I really thought was possible.  The ability to play music on my mac (iTunes or otherwise) and control the volume (and even mute) all system and apps sounds.  Tired of getting Skype pop-up sounds while blasting a good song and wearing headphones

2) All airlines need to copy JetBlue’s “little things”.  First, build a web site that is actually usable – I recommend eating the dog food, and make you airline customer service team actually use their own site to book and manage trips.  Second, dump the knee and elbow assault food cart and deliver food and drinks with a basket the way JetBlue does.  All of us 6’+ folks will be very thankful 🙂

3) Consumer Electronic firms need to start offering the ability to lease hardware.  I don’t want to own this stuff, deal with recycling, etc.  Instead of buying, would happily prefer to pay $150+/month and have a TV, laptop, secondary iMac, and iPod/iPhone that gets refreshed every 18 months.  The service would include picking up the hold hardware and transfering the content if need be.  I think there is a huge market for this.  And with a leasing model there would be a steady inflow of used machines, which the companies could certify and then lease back out at reduced rates.  I would personally love to have some extra PCs, for example, in the house for the kitchen and living room, and would be fine with it being one generation behind — just need it for web surfing and light music/video usage

4) From the I-can’t-believe-this-doesn’t-exist category: A google apps native iPhone app for email and calendar that syncs OTA

5) iPhoto Flickr sync.  I use iPhoto to sort and edit my photos, and then upload a small subset to Flickr.  Would love a way to take those Flickr sets and sync those back to iPhoto so that when I use iChat or my AppleTV I can load up the Flickr sets via iPhoto

6) Now that Dash Navigation is ditching their hardware, I’d like to see that service available on my iPhone and BlackBerry next year

7) Fix the “on behalf of” issue that plagues gmail and google apps. This issue causes emails sent from external accounts to show the gmail address in the “from” line to any recipient using Outlook

So any shot these will happen ?

Happy New Year !