Apple is notoriously secretive about its product releases, so the Californian corporation has confirmed nothing about its forthcoming World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) lineup. However, the rumor mill related to Apple is always churning, so we in fact have a reasonably good idea what to expect from this critical consumer electronics industry event.
WWDC – Apple Watch 2
And top of the list at the WWDC will be the release of the second Apple Watch smartwatch. The Apple Watch 2 will be tasked with building the market penetration of Apple in the smartwatch niche, with the company having experienced a relatively successful initial Apple Watch cycle. Apple now dominates the smartwatch marketplace, and the Apple Watch 2 will be intended to demonstrate to consumers that this is a vital product rather than a gimmick.
With this in mind, Apple is expected to introduce new health-tracking functionality in particular, as the California-based company attempts to demonstrate that the Apple Watch can work as a standalone device. Thus, the ties between the Apple Watch 2 and the iPhone will be severed at WWDC, with some reports indicating that the second Apple Watch will be completely independent of the iPhone range.
iOS 10
Alongside the Apple Watch 2 at the WWDC conference will be the release of the iOS 10 operating system, even if the final version will not be available until September. The flagship operating system of Apple is hugely important to the company, as it is utilized in the iPhone range every year, and iOS 10 will be no exception with the iPhone 7 awaiting on the horizon.
iOS has a reputation for being superior to any other mobile operating system, even if some fans of the Android series may question of this conclusion. There are a raft of rumors is related to the latest iOS 10 release, with Apple expected to announce numerous upgrades to the system ahead of the next generation iPhone 7.
Apple Music
In particular, Apple Music is expected to improve considerably with the iOS 10 release, with Apple intent on improving the social cohesion of this software. Other improvements suggested for Apple Music include the ability for users to swap “mix tape” playlists, while it is possible that other users will be able to follow one another and listen to currently playing music, effectively creating a massive pirate radio station on the application.
App Store
iOS 10 is also expected to polish up the App Store, obviously one of the most important sources of revenue for the Apple corporation. The ecosystem which is central to the Apple App Store will receive attention during the iOS 10 update, with Apple keen on more aggressively marketing the best apps and component ideas in its flagship store.
So it should be a slicker App Store that is available to consumers once iOS 10 reaches the market, and numerous other integrated services and features have been suggested for this next generation shopping cart system.
App Extensions
It has also been suggested that Apple will seek out and buy up a wide variety of innovative extensions to include in the iOS 10 operating system. This would have the potential of hugely enhancing the overall user experience within the operating system, with potentially popular improvements such as photo and video filters, sophisticated text editing, transformation and translation, document editing tools and web content filters all among the suggested improvements.
iMessages
It has also been suggested that Apple will improve iMessage with the onset of the iOS 10 operating system, with Siri integration apparently central to this process. This would make the software considerably more user-friendly and convenient to use, while also expanding the feature set of the personal assistant, without necessitating a huge amount of investment from the Apple perspective.
Utilizing Siri more effectively would make sense for Apple, as it continues to push the capabilities of its personal assistant program, while it would also mirror trends in the industry. Quartz recently launched a mobile news app which enables users to converse directly with a news feed, and something similar from Apple could very well be in the pipeline at the WWDC.
watchOS
Aside from the iOS improvements to be unveiled at the San Francisco conference, it is also anticipated that there will be a new watchOS operating system unveiled at WWDC with the intention of serving the Apple Watch 2.
Hardware
Although Apple has occasionally debuted new hardware at the WWDC conference, it is reasonable to assume that the Apple Watch 2 will be the only new device to be announced at this event. There has been a distinctive software focus at the conference over the last few years, and thus it is generally considered by analysts that the Apple Watch 2 will be the only major hardware device to feature at the event.
