iOS 10 Rumors Ahead Of Apple’s WWDC

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And once again it’s time for the disclaimer that perhaps you read far too often….Apple never releases anything of its unveiling of new products and rumors and speculation you’ll find going forward should be taken with a serious grain of salt and represent consensus rumor and possibly links from the supply chain but in the case of software that doesn’t even really apply when it comes to Apple’s iOS 10.

Remember iOS 7 and those that preceded it?

As a developer conference the WorldWide Developers Conference (WWDC) that is held annually in San Francisco and is set to commence with a key note speech from Apple on Monday June 13, largely showcases Apple’s software products in the pipeline and this year isn’t expected to be much differently. That said, it is Apple and it occasionally mixes things up and the first quarter of declining iPhone sales since its introduction (that sent stock prices reeling after the announcement) almost begs that Apple throws its customers and shareholders a bit of a curve-ball.

If Apple were to introduce any new hardware, rumors suggest that it would most likely be the Apple Watch 2, a ground-breaking new MacBook Pro that is expected to be the company’s thinnest and most powerful yet with others going so far as suggesting a touch enabled, customizable, OLED “bar” that could replace the row of keys that presently house the function keys.

It’s possible that Apple, looking to compete with the Amazon Echo speaker and Google’s announced but not released Google Home (speaker), might show-off or unveil its own Siri enabled speaker for the home but most don’t anticipate that for months.

Siri is set to be a star at the WWDC this year with its long-planned, oft rumored migration from simply the mobile space to the new OSX that is rumored to be called MAC OS. Either way the voice assistant will feature prominently and that includes an upgrade in iOS 10. Hell, Apple could surprise the world and show us iOS 10 being run on the iPhone 7 but don’t hold your breath.

New versions of iOS usually include a few surprises. Remember when multi-tasking wasn’t an option for iPhone users who hadn’t jailbroken their phones? iOS 7 brought an new design, iOS gave iPhone and iPad users alike new features like Apple Pay and Continuity. iOS 9 gave customers Siri on steroids with integration with other apps (something expected to only get bigger in scope with iOS 10), splitscreen for iPad users and a number of “invisible” improvements that souped up performance and offered users longer battery life as well.

On to iOS 10

It’s largely believed that with thousands of developers in attendance that Apple with offer them Siri SDK that would allow you to say, for example, “Siri send Joelle a WhatsApp message telling her I’m running a few minutes late for dinner tonight.”

Google Now really outclasses the present iteration of Siri and Apple who beat Google Now to market is expected to regain its place with a souped-up virtual personal assistant that is fairly robust but can only do more when asked assuming Apple hasn’t completely lost its way.

Beginning last year, rumors of Siri being able to use a yet introduced “iCloud Voicemail” that would actually see Siri answering missed calls if instructed as well as transcribing voice messages left in the cloud to text to save iPhone users the trouble of listening to them. In theory, and if given permission, Siri could also use location information to tell your colleagues, families and friends that you’re presently on a flight from Atlanta to Detroit and will be landing in 2 hours and 6 minutes.

One way or the other, iPhone and iPad users are expecting much more from Siri especially given the company’s purchases of Perceptio and VocallQ and others in the artificial intelligence arena.

There is little question that loyal fans and newcomers to Apple’s mobile line are owed some changes from the company and iOS and its rumored that iOS 10 will also feature a massive rebuild of the Apple Music but to guess what that entails is a bit of a fool’s errand. But Apple has long recognized that users just don’t care for the interface one bit.

Giving the fact that Apple’s cameras seemingly improve with each new iPhone expect some improvements to Apple’s Photos app in iOS 10 with additional effects, editing tools and more.

Apple pay will surely get in on the act when it comes to native program support and its quite possible that Apple will, for the first time, grant users the ability to get rid of programs bundled with iOS as Apple’s Stocks and Weather are considerably lesser in quality than numerous third-party apps and people like their space.

And again, expect a few surprises.

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