On WWDC 2011

May 29th, 2011

Brain dump of expectations for WWDC 2011 (June 6–10).

• Still sticking by a focus on software, with new hardware limited to incremental upgrades (speed bumps, Thunderbolt port) to the MacBook Air or Mini.
• Small chance of an iPhone update to an “iPhone 4S” — similar to the 3GS from 3G.

So, software:

iOS

• Definitely: iOS 5. Apple’s under pressure to differentiate and move beyond Android.
• Notifications and widgets: With folders and the large number of apps; the generic notification feels inadequate. “Widgets” would be nice to dedicate some home-screen real estate to current information.
• Voice Control: Don’t use this much on the current iPhone, and voice recognition has got to become more reliable than fingers/touch; a pretty high bar to reach.
• Possible: NFC. Google’s Wallet announcement felt a little premature and the reason may be a similar Apple announcement. I really want to use my iPhone to pay for stuff, but for it to fly, it’s got to work with all my existing cards and in as many stores as possible from day one. Apple could tie purchases to an existing iTunes Account. The rest is fuzzier as they require hardware updates from Apple and at merchants.
• Long Shot: Apple TV apps. If Apple is revamping the television, I’d say it will include apps, which means developers, and WWDC is the perfect time to announce. They may retain some secrecy by sticking with the current black box Apple TV to “experiment with this hobby further” — saving a full Apple TV set proper for a splashy announcement for the fall — if said experiment goes well.

Lion

• Definitely: The iOS-ification of OS X will push the limits to brow-furrowing in some long-term Apple users. Already seen complaints about the scroll bars and dressing up of iCal and the Address Book. My take: bring it on. it strengthens the synergy between all of Apple’s products and makes the Mac a more likely purchase to an iDecice owner that currently syncs to Windows (shudder).
• Lion delivered via the App Store.
• iWork 11.
• Possible: Some surprising integration of iOS devices and OS. The lock-in of the Apple iDevice ecosystem is one Android weak spot. I can imagine opening up an iDevice to some local storage of settings and files, or using an iDevice as a remote control or display.
• Long Shot: iJobs — a personal Clippy-esque avatar that tersely informs you of inefficient computing — say going to the menu for “Copy” instead of using a the keyboard command, or drawing regular rectangles instead of ones with rounded corners.

“iCloud”

• Definitely: Music service. Some hesitation due to getting those pesky labels on board, but both Google and Amazon’s agreement-free announcements suggest Apple is due to launch something here. I expect Apple’s offering to be superior by keeping things as pain-free for the user:
• No uploading of all your tracks or sorting through your library to figure out what to upload. Apple already knows your iTunes Library contents via Genius. It will look at what you have and simply mirror them online.
• Streaming playback will “just work” — stops and stutters limited by caching snippets of your local library.
• Hooks to purchase music from iTunes — perhaps Pandora-like streaming “similar music” channel that looks at your music but includes content you don’t own with obligatory options to buy. This aspect will in retrospect have been useful in getting the labels on board.
• Possible: MobileMe revamp with DropBox-like storage, integrated into Lion. Apple’s essentially cloned/bought popular services before (Watson, CoverFlow). Also, improved photo and video sharing.
• Expand the above music service to include video. Maybe a Netflix-style streaming service with the differentiating factor of better quality.
• Long Shot: Time Machine on steroids - back up your Mac to the cloud.

Conclusion

These are my armchair predictions (save for that iJobs thing); and I expect to be totally wrong on most. I’d love to hear your expectations.