Prior to yesterday’s announcement from Siri that Apple’s WWDC will take place June 13-June 17, anything I said about the event would have been no more than baseless bellicose conjecture. Today is not terrifically different but now that we have a few concrete details I don’t feel as bad about speculation, intelligent or unintelligent guessing as well as just making stuff up about the summer event.
Siri announcement and Apple’s WWDC details
With Siri breaking the dates of the annual San Francisco event, it forced apple to add a little bit to the mix since “her” announcement yesterday.
“The Keynote and State of the Union promise exciting reveals, providing inspiration and new opportunities to continue creating the most innovative apps in the world,” said Apple today. In addition to the dates, we know that the Keynote address will take place at the Bill Graham Center which will allow Apple to offer an additional 3000 seats for those wishing to attend the event.
“WWDC 2016 is going to be a landmark event for developers who are coding in Swift, and building apps and products for iOS, OS X, watchOS and tvOS,” wrote Apple senior vice-president Phil Schiller in a press release.
What we’ll see and what we won’t
Siri’s announcement yesterday was certainly not the norm for Apple ahead of an event. It more than suggests that Siri will likely see a larger role in the Apple product line. Rumors have persisted for some time that “she” is set for her debut on OSX this summer and that now seems a foregone conclusion. The bigger question is whether rumors suggesting that the new version of OSX (to replace El Capitan) will be a new version of OSX or the first release of macOS? The rumors have been quite persistent, but end of the day they remain rumors.
Further reports (rumors) suggest that Apple also plans to implement 3D Touch on a wider scale, update CarPlay and tvOS while allowing iCloud voicemail from all devices and there is likely going to be some overhaul of Apple Music.
While many have been calling on Apple to make a rare hardware release at WWDC, specifically roll-out a new MacBook, that looks less likely after Apple surprised many today with a new line of MacBooks that are faster and have a longer battery life and are now available in rose gold.
As Apple senior vice-president Phil Schiller specifically mentioned Swift in his press release, expect Apple to showcase its open source system throughout the conference, which is for developers as much, or more, than reporters and share holders. I mean, it is a developers’ conference after all.
iOS 10 to steal the show?
It likely will. The reason is simple, more people use iPads and iPhones than other Apple devices. And it’s a software upgrade at a “software event” while watchOS and tvOS will likely be upgraded, it surely won’t draw people’s attention like the release of a new OS for the company’s omnipresent devices.
If Apple stays true to form, iOS 10 will be demoed on stage but if I was a betting man I would expect it to be demoed on either the iPhone 6s or the iPhone 6 Plus.
For those looking for iOS 10 to be demoed on the iPhone 7, well, simply get over it. Apple doesn’t do things that way and if you’re reading this, you’re likely well aware of that.