Apple recently confirmed the dates for the next WWDC, the annual conference for software developers. It will be held June 13-17 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, location used in the past to unveil new operating systems. Rumor has it that Apple will announce new updates to iOS, OS X, tvOS and watchOS.
Let’s go through the main rumors and news so far.
iOS 10
Apple's next operating system version for iPhones and iPads might undergo major design changes and several improvements. The new update’s flagship might be related to Siri, which will introduce new features, including the integration with third party apps. Developers could potentially allow iPhone users to interact with their apps using voice commands.
Moreover, it seems that Apple is building a speaker powered by Siri, that could act an un hub through Apple's HomeKit platform, becoming for all intents and purposes, Amazon Echo’s enemy.
Each iPhone or iPad is equipped with apps live Stocks, Game Center, Calendar, Voice Memos, Reminders, iBooks, Apple Watch, Notes and News. Apple is reportedly working on hiding or deleting apps installed by default from the Home Screen. They could be restored from device settings.
After just a little over a year from the release of Apple Music, the company is rumored to change its streaming service drastically. The user interface is redesigned with darker tones and lyrics support will be introduced as well. These changes aim at Spotify, which has recently announced its 30 million subscribers, while Apple Music has only 11 million users.
Apple is planning to support additional partners from all around the world for its Apple Pay service and is working on something new regarding the person-to-person payments, including the feature to let customers send money to one another through iMessages.
OS beta version will be released June for developers, while everybody else could download it in Autumn, probably alongside the release of iPhone 7.
OS X 10.12
Once again the most anticipated news is Siri, that will be integrated on Apple’s computer with macOS. It will be enabled in the menu bar through a microphone icon, which will launch the voice assistant.
Siri has already been integrated on all the other OS (iOS, watchOS e tvOS), so this is definitely a smart move.
Moreover, it seems that OS X will change its name into macOS to even out with other OS. At the same time, there could be news under the hood, particularly the ability to run iOS applications on Mac devices.
tvOS 10
For years rumors have been circulating about Apple’s plan to launch its TV streaming service - following the footsteps of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video - with 25 channels on Apple’s own products. However, it seems that problems have emerged while negotiating prices on TV shows, so it’s unlikely that Apple chooses this path.
watchOS 3
The third major Apple Watch OS update seems to include new features and improvement on performance.
It has long been rumored that the company is evaluating third party support, which will give developers more freedom to customize the watch home screen.
However, the core of this update will be the fitness tracking apps, which will allow to monitor activities more accurately and intuitively.
App Store
Apple is planning a huge improvement for App Store, mainly to solve issues, such as searching apps, which has never been accurate. Moreover, speculations claim that the App Store could allow developers to pay in order to move up in search results.
Although in the past and on more than one occasion Apple used the WWDC to showcase new hardware, the conference focus is about software, so it is unlikely that new MacBooks could be introduced.
As always, Apple plans to live-stream the conference, available on all Apple updated devices and on Windows computers.
At Mr. APPs, we will obviously watch the conference live.
