It’s less than a week until the Apple World Wide Developer Conference and, as ever, the rumours about what Apple will give us a look at are flying thick and fast.
iOS 7
It seems to be a dead cert that we’ll get a look at iOS 7 with the new, Jony Ive-inspired design and it seems likely it’ll be flat. Not in a bad way, mind, but in the sense that all the icons and other design elements will have been flattened to be…well, a bit more Windows 8.
This is no bad thing. Personally speaking, I’m a fan of the flat look and Ive is too, based on his hardware designs over the last few years. Simple is better seems to be the motto.
What can’t be argued is that iOS is badly in need of updating from an aesthetic viewpoint. It’s still the best operating system out there, by a long way, but it’s starting to look dated so any refresh will be a good thing.
A refreshed design isn’t going to be enough to excite the Apple fandom or the tech media, however. There’ll need to be more. But what?
For once, Apple have managed to keep a lid on things and there’s skant information around. More integration with other services is one way Apple could go. That would include things like Flickr and Vimeo, for example, making your Apple device even more of a media publishing tool than it is already.
Remember this is a conference for developers, not the consumer, so it could be that Apple opens up its APIs a bit more. Indeed, Tim Cook has hinted at this in the past. It won’t be a throw the doors open and come on in approach, but any loosening of control will be welcomed by iOS devs, we’re sure.
The Mac’s operating system may see some improvements too. According to Engadget, these are likely to be geared towards power users more than your average Joe with the likes of tabbed navigation in the finder and multi-monitor support for Spaces. But again, there’s no confirmation of any of this and Apple are playing their cards close to their chest. If only this was the case when they launch a new iPhone…
Chips
Could Apple be adopting the new Intel chip, Haswell? That would mean a whole new round of MacBooks and Mac Pros. They replaced almost the entire range last year and could repeat that this year with the faster chip. It feels too soon to us, but Apple can’t afford to fall behind in this area. They may not always be first, but they’re usually one of the early adopters. Time will tell.
Internet Radio Service
There’s been enough rumor to include this as a possibility. Apple could be set to unveil a free radio service (supported by iAds) that wouldn’t directly take on the likes of Spotify but would instead target Pandora and others of that ilk. Deep integration with iTunes would allow you to buy tracks you like but this will depend on having enough label deals in place.
No content, no announcement.
No Apple TV, iWatch or Hardware
Don’t expect any hardware announcements of note. This isn’t a consumer facing conference and only hardware devs need early access to would be included. That clearly doesn’t apply to iOS devices at this point. Macs might be a different story, especially if the chip rumor is true.
The upshot is that if you’re a consumer then, iOS 7 aside, you’re not going to be interested in WWDC this year. However, if you’re a dev or an Apple fanatic then there will be at least something to get your juices flowing.
WWDC kicks off on June 10th in San Francisco.
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Ben Greenwood
Ben is the founder and editor of TechDrink. A huge fan of technology and social media, he has been blogging on those and many other subjects for well over five years. You can follow him in many places, including Twitter, Facebook and Google+.
Latest posts by Ben Greenwood (see all)
- Apple’s WWDC 2013 – What Will We See? - June 5, 2013
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- Google I/O Keynote Speech – LIVE - May 15, 2013
