Well, it’s confirmed… amidst the massive onslaught of MSM attention given to the iPhone on this day after the Apple (no longer Apple Computer!) MacWorld keynote we learned that the iPhone will not have any over the air iTunes Store downloads. I think that’s a bit of a shortcoming of an otherwise amazing device, and it’s a particular bummer (technical term) for podcasters because the tantalizing prospect of an expanded audience access point is toast.

For now.

Why just for now? Well, two things… first, I am not sure Apple will keep iTunes out of the wireless download business forever. I suspect this exclusive deal with Cingular may be just the start, and it is Cingular that has possibly hobbled the iTunes wireless download feature so it doesn’t compete with its own music store. Once Apple can move out of the exclusive agreement, they’ll probably have more leverage.

Second, think about widgets for a second. If Apple is going to open up widget development for the iPhone Mac OS X like it did for the desktop/laptop OS X, then it’s entirely possible that a far-smarter-than-me person might be able to develop a widget that taps into the Internet connection to create some kind of podcatcher? Hmmmmm…. now THAT would be a cool workaround. To be continued…