The keynote for Apple’s WorldWide Developer conference is a little under two days away. What’s expected out of Cupertino this year?
Image: Apple
That depends on who you ask. There’s not much point in asking Apple directly, unless you fancy being buried under the by now well-polished “Apple does not comment on rumour or speculation” line, although to be fair I haven’t been hit with that one personally for a few years now. Usually there’s just no comment at all.
What’s being touted around the traps is interesting, though. Here’s the rundown of what’s being touted as potential WWDC Keynote reveals, along with my thoughts about how feasible I think said rumours actually are.
iOS 8
Almost every rumour source, credible or not, has pegged Apple announcing the next version of iOS at WWDC. Banners now dotted around San Francisco’s Moscone Center tend to suggest that this falls into the “highly likely” category, although it’s only the really optimistic that suggest that iOS 8 will magically roll out to iOS devices sometime this week.
Again, that’s optimism (“new software — yay!”) versus pragmatism. Any new version will have bugs but also new features, and that’s the stuff you’ll want developers working on, not fighting against. A consumer release of code this week feels terribly unlikely.
Mac OS X 10.10 “Yosemite”
Yosemite’s a guess — again based on some of the banners going up around Moscone right now — but again it’s a safe bet that Apple will roll out developer code for the next iteration of its desktop operating system. It may be called Yosemite, but then again Apple could shift naming convention again and decide to go with Sylvester Stallone action movie names, calling it “Cliffhanger”. Personally, I’d hold off until 10.11 “Demolition Man”.
Getting serious again, along with iOS 8 it makes a lot of sense to unveil operating systems at WWDC, simply because while WWDC allows Apple the opportunity for a big media brouhaha, it’s still fundamentally a developer conference. It makes business sense for Apple to allow developers to get to grips with its code prior to its release to limit bugs and enhance development opportunities, so that’s what they’ll do.
Health/Home apps and services
This is the other big and persistent rumour surrounding Apple; that they’re moving into health applications and/or applications for monitoring and controlling home environments via iOS. Apple, naturally hasn’t actually said a single thing about either aspect, although some curious trademark filings suggest that it’s at least got an upcoming play in those spaces.
Again, it would make a certain amount of sense for Apple to announce these kinds of initiatives when they’ve got lots of Apple-friendly developers paying attention, because again platforms like these need developers on board. I wouldn’t say it’s definite, but it’s certainly feasible.
Beat It
Apple made headlines last week with its $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics.
http://youtu.be/G63RxyRzQhI
It’s likely that they’ll at least make mention of that again, if only because it’s a purchase with a certain amount of “marketing cool” factor behind it. No, I don’t think that this was the sole reason for buying Beats, but if you’ve spent all that capital, you’re going to want to make the most of it. Beats will get mentioned, but I’d be very surprised to see any new products at this stage.
iWatch
I’m putting the iWatch into the same category as the iTV, in that it feels like something that’s been suggested for such a long time without a single credible bit of evidence as to the existence of such a device outside of Jony Ive’s prototyping labs.
I don’t doubt that this is an area that Apple’s looked into, much the same as everyone else, but that doesn’t mean that a product announcement is imminent. Again, as a new platform it may require significant developer input, so there’s a feasible possibility there. But I strongly doubt it, because it would simply make more sense to give an iWatch its own very distinct launch. Apple’s been able to see Samsung tilt at the smartwatch concept multiple times now with limited traction, and it’ll want the maximum hype behind any iWearable it decides to bring to market.
iPhone 6
Bwahahaha!
No.
Alex Kidman is not in San Francisco, and travelled to his desk to file this report as a guest of his legs.