In Depth: Apple WWDC 2011: what to expect

Sunday, 5 June 2011

In Depth: Apple WWDC 2011: what to expect

Apple's uncharacteristically detailed announcement hasn't just confirmed that next week's WWDC will be a Stevenote: it's also told us what he'll be talking about.

So what can we expect?

New hardware? Probably not

Apple doesn't usually tell us what Steve Jobs will introduce.

While it's nice to imagine a One More Thing where Jobs unveils a solar-powered iPad that can turn base metals into gold, the detail in the PR announcement suggests that Apple's trying to manage expectations here.

This one's about the software.

iCloud

The rumours were right: iCloud is Apple's new streaming service. Will it deliver some, all or none of the items on our wish list?

The music locker and music streaming appear to be a given, with Businessweek reporting that it will scan your iTunes library and let you access the same songs from any Apple device.

OS X Lion

We've been excited about this for ages: Lion promises to bring the best iPad ideas back to the Mac, with full-screen, autosaving apps, more multi-touch, a brand new version of Mail and file versioning.

Factor in AirDrop wireless sharing, Safari's new Reading List, the new Resume feature, Mission Control and Launchpad and you've got enough to keep Steve Jobs saying "boom" for days.

iOS 5

We're expecting a major upgrade of Apple's iPod, iPad and iPhone OS in the form of iOS 5, although we don't expect to get our hands on it before September. iCloud integration is a given, and it'll be interesting to see if the purported "deep voice control" makes an appearance.

Improved notifications should remove one of the more annoying things about iOS, and it's possible that Spaces and Widgets will make their merry way from OS X to iOS. Bad news for iPhone 3GS owners, though: that model's expected to drop off the iOS Happy List.

We're sure some of you are doing the Sad Mac Face at the apparent lack of hardware announcements, but if you take a step back and look at the combination of iCloud, iOS and OS X Lion you're looking at something really, really big.

After all, these are really major changes to Apple's desktop and mobile OSes that blur the line between Macs and iPod/Phone/Pad and connect everything to the cloud. And that's much more interesting than an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5.

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Tags: iOS, Apple, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, mobile phones, mobile