Apple’s annual WWDC keynote is right around the corner, and here’s a guide of what to expect from Monday’s keynote where Apple is likely to announce new versions of OS X and iOS.
Like every year, the keynote will begin with Tim Cook welcoming developers, and revealing a lot of statistics and numbers related to the entire ecosystem of Apple’s products including iTunes, App Store, iCloud, Apple Store and more.
iOS 8
Since iOS 7 featured all-new design, we don’t expect Apple to make radical changes in iOS 8, which is codenamed “Okemo”. We expect Apple to showcase 8-10 major new features and improvements in iOS 8 such as:
- Healthbook: One of the most popular Apple rumor in the past few months has been that Apple is working on a health and fitness, wearable device. Healthbook is a new iOS 8 app that will monitor your most important health statistics like steps taken, calories burned, weight lost and track vital signs like blood pressure, heart rate and other blood-related parameters like glucose levels. All this data would likely be obtained by the sensors on the iWatch. The app will feature an interface similar to the Passbook app. Here’s a mockup:
- A leaked screenshot of iOS 8 gave a look at the Healthbook app icon, which reveals that it’ll track your blood pressure, heart rate and calories burned.
- Improved Maps with Transit directions, augmented Reality: With iOS 6, Apple took a bold step to build its own mapping service, replacing Google Maps. The launch wasn’t great, as the data coverage was limited, and a number of features like transit, street view weren’t available. iOS 8 will improve the Maps app with improved points-of-interest data, public transit directions in select cities, augmented reality and indoor mapping.
- Preview, TextEdit apps to make iCloud more useful: TextEdit and Preview, two very frequently used applications on the Mac, have supported iCloud syncing since quite some time. According to rumors, Apple will finally build iOS versions of these two apps to make the synced documents through these two apps accessible on iPhone and iPad. For more on these two apps, read this post.
- Standalone iTunes Radio app: iTunes Radio is Apple’s new free, ad-supported music streaming service, that lives inside of the Music app on iOS 7 devices. Apple plans to make iTunes Radio a standalone app in iOS 8 for better visibility, and increased engagement.
- Split-screen multitasking: The iPad is often ridiculed for its lack of pro features. With iOS 8, Apple is rumored to finally add split-screen multitasking to the iPad, though the feature might not be ready in time for WWDC.
- No Game Center app: iOS 8 (and OS X) will not include the Game Center app, and the functionality would instead just live within the games that support Game Center.
- Improved Notification Center: The iOS 7 Notification Center includes three tabs, Today, All and Missed. With iOS 8, Apple is reportedly thinking of including just two tabs, Today and Notifications. The iOS 8 Notification Center would also include more information from your online accounts powered by Apple’s acquisition of Cue.
- Inter-App Communication: Apple is considering adding inter-app communication abilities in iOS 8, a feature that has long been requested by the iOS developer community to better facilitate sharing of information between apps. With inter-app communications, you could edit a photo in one app, and post it to another, without the need to hop between the two apps.
- iPad as a secondary display for your Mac: There have been a number of apps that let your iPad double up as an extended screen for your Mac, but Apple is reportedly building this functionality right into iOS 8.
- Tips app: Leaked screenshots of iOS 8 reveal that Apple is working on a new Tips app, with a light bulb icon. The Tips app could possibly give users tips to better use their iPhone and iPad, but it’s exact purpose isn’t known yet.
- Siri song auto recognition: iOS 8 will have a song identification feature like the Shazam app, built into Siri. So you can ask Siri “what song is playing” and iOS will use audio from the microphone to recognise the song.
- VoLTE support: iOS 8 will add support for Voice Over LTE, that carries calls over the LTE network. The feature is being rolled out by major US carriers, and should be ready by the time the iPhone 6 comes out.
Smart Home platform
According to multiple reports, Apple will unveil a Smart Home platform at WWDC, so that it has a role to play in the “Internet of Things” trend. The platform would make it easier to control your electronic appliances using your iOS device. We really got excited thinking about the possibilities of the platform, but it was later revealed that the platform would simply be an extension of the Made for iPhone program.
OS X 10.10
iOS 8 is all about incremental changes, but its older counterpart, OS X is about to receive a much bigger update, with a rumored redesign due to bring it in line with iOS 8’s new design language. OS X 10.10 is codenamed “Syrah,” and the WWDC banner put up at Moscone hints at a California-themed name of Yosemite.
OS X 10.10 will feature a flatter design, with a completely redesigned interface. While we haven’t seen any leaked screenshots of OS X Yosemite, there have been many concepts that give us an idea of the changes:
A Finder concept for OS X 10.10
Apart from the redesign, Apple will likely add some new features to OS X 10.10, including porting some of iOS 7’s popular features like Control Center, Siri for Mac, and other improvements.
Apple will likely release beta version of OS X 10.10 to developers of its Mac developer program immediately after the announcements.
Xcode 6
- WWDC, after all, is an event for developers, so it would be unusual if Apple didn’t have something (exclusively) for developers. The company will likely release Xcode 6, a major update to the IDE developers use to make iOS and Mac apps. This would include a new version of the iOS Simulator that handles higher resolution and scaling, right in time for the much rumored iPhone 6. Other improvement areas include rapid prototyping, testing, and including frameworks.
- Another announcement for developers is likely to be about iCloud, a service that holds a lot of promise but has largely disappointed till now. Apple will announce an iCloud backend service to compete with Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure and Facebook Parse.
Product Announcements
While the focus of the event is expected to be software, like last year it is possible that Apple will unveil new products at this year’s WWDC as well. Apple could unveil the rumored 12-inch Retina MacBook Pro, the next generation Apple TV and the new Mac mini.
New Macs
Apple typically announces a number of new Macs at WWDC. This year, there are a number of Mac related rumors that claim Apple could release:
- A 12″ Retina MacBook Air which has a new trackpad design that doesn’t include the mechanical button, as we do on current MacBooks.
- New iMacs, with cheaper price points has been rumored, but was denied by well-sourced writer Jim Dalrymple.
- Mac Mini: Apple hasn’t updated the Mac Mini since October 2012, so it is possible that Apple will unveil the new Mac mini at the event. The new Mac Mini could come with Haswell processors with Iris integrated graphics and support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
- 4K Thunderbolt display: Apple added 4K support to OS X recently, and is rumored to release an updated Thunderbolt display with a 4K resolution.
New Apple TV
There have been rumors that Apple will unveil the next generation Apple TV in April, however according to the latest reports, the launch may have got delayed, and could be one of the new products showcased at the WWDC Keynote, and launched later in the year.
The new Apple TV set-top box is set to receive a refresh later this year, with theupdated device playing a “key role” in Apple’s ecosystem. The new device will include a plethora of innovative new features including motion control, which will allow users to interact with the device without the need for a remote control.
It could come with a “revamped OS” that’ll be able to run its own apps and games rather than relying on iPhones and iPads via AirPlay.
Mac Mini
Apple hasn’t updated the Mac Mini since October 2012, so it is possible that Apple will unveil the new Mac mini at the event. The new Mac Mini could come with Haswell processors with Iris integrated graphics and support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
iPhone 6, New iPads and iWatch
We don’t expect Apple to unveil the next generation iPhone, iPads at the WWDC 2014 so don’t get your hopes up. We expect Apple to unveil the new iPhones in September or October timeframe, the new iPads in October or November.
Apple is also expected to launch iWatch towards the end of the year, but there is a remote possibility that Apple will unveil the iWatch at the WWDC alongside Healthbook, which is expected to be one of the major new features of iOS 8.
Coverage
WWDC is scheduled from June 2nd to 6th, with Monday’s keynote scheduled to start at 10 AM PT (Here’s the start time in your own time zone). Apple will live stream the keynote to iOS devices and Macs. For instructions, check this post. We’ll of course have our own live blog, so keep checking iPhoneHacks.com and don’t forget to join our Facebook Fan page, follow us on Twitter, add us to your circles on Google+ or subscribe to our RSS feed for the latest updates.
Are you looking forward to this year’s WWDC? We would love to hear what’s on your wish list in the comments below.
