While at a concert, political debate, trade show, company meeting or other big event, you could tune into a message board of other attendees. (And, of course, high school students will always have multiple social streams based on the physical location of the school, plus social clique.)

Another Apple patent emerged recently that hints at another use: A . It's possible that Apple could build the ability for members of an iGroups group to communicate via push-to-talk.

The patent application also implies that "Media" is involved, and that makes sense. iGroups could be Apple's answer to Microsoft Zune's peer-to-peer music-sharing feature.

While many patent applications never become shipping products, I'm convinced iGroups is on a fast-track to full realization for three reasons: