Tomorrow, June 7th at 10 a.m. Pacific Time, 1 p.m. Eastern, Steve Jobs is going to launch the WWDC with his keynote. This year it seems less surprising when it comes to “what can we expect?”. The new iPhone has been leaked several times and we’ve also seen an official preview of the iPhone OS 4.0. Both product will officially be introduced and maybe launched tomorrow morning. But the WWDC is the most important event of the year for Apple, so we should be expecting a lot more. But what?
Maybe we should look in a direction most of us haven’t been looking at for quite some time. We’ve had updates of the MacBooks, the iPods and the iMacs. But what about the Mac mini? Well coincidentally, it looks like we can expect an update on the Mac mini. Although the WWDC is not the kind of place for a Mac mini update (since the event focusses on the iPhone instead, these last few years), Apple could still quietly update the Mac mini during the keynote. The DVI-output of the mini computer will probably be replaced by HDMI. It is not clear what more will be updated.
Another product with the potential to get an update is the Apple TV. Google will bring out the Google TV so it’s only logical Apple will come up with something for their TV product. Rumour goes that Apple TV will be running iPhone OS and will use online storage (in the cloud). Price? Only $99.
Okay then, the MacBook Pro deserves an update as well. I hear you thinking “huh? wasn’t the MacBook Pro updated recently?”. Yes, you’re right, but it can always need another update. The development of processor technology is rapidly rising and Apple could be introducing a new MacBook Pro with i7 and turbo boost. Intel is currently working on a 2,8 GHz Intel Core i7 processor capable of boosting the speed up to 3,46 GHz.
And what about the MacBook Air? That’s one of those products that just shouts for a new update. It’s been at least a year since the device got an update, but analyst Shaw Wu says an update for the MacBook Air can be expected in the second half of 2010, but not at WWDC.
The Mac Pro then? The last update dates back to March 2009. More than a year of chip technology development should be enough to offer some interesting new updates to the Mac Pro. Apple is likely going to use new Intel processors, based on 6-core Xeon-chips. These could be available for shipping in June.
What more can we expect? Ah yes, Apple seems to be working on a 27-inch LED Cinema Display. The product can be available for purchase in June and uses the same technology as the current 27-inch iMac. The looks of the display will be similar to the 24-inch LED Cinema Display Apple launched in 2008.
But we want more. MobileMe is expected to become a free service. People with an account for MobileMe suddenly saw the indication ‘Individual’ or ‘Family Pack’ change into ‘Full Member‘. A membership for MobileMe costs $99 per year. In return you can store up to 20GB of movies, music, files and other data. But Steve Jobs might have decided to make MobileMe a free service. The free service will have limited features and the full membership will include all features. Google offers almost all online services for free. CEO of Posterous says Apple needs to turn MobileMe into a free service to compete with Google.
And more. Mac Generation reports that Steve Jobs is likely to introduce Safari 5 and Mac OS X 10.6.4. The list below shows what will be included in Safari 5:
- Safari Reader: view articles on the web on a single, clutter-free page
- Improved performance. 25% faster Javascript, Better caching and DNS pre-fetching
- Bing Search Option
- Improved HTML 5 support
- Safari Developer Tools
- Smart Address field
- Tab settings
- Hardware acceleration for Windows
And more. A new iPhone. What?!?! That’s surprising. Not!!!! Since the first iPhone was launched back in 2007, Apple has released a new version of that product each year. And every time at the WWDC of that year. This year will be no different. The iPhone 4.0 (or HD or whatever) will be introduced tomorrow. We’ve even seen the new model several times. Apple “lost” it, they say. To me it feels like another way of marketing. The difference between this year and previous years is the fact that the new iPhone will have a different look. It might also be available right after the keynote on June 7th, says Mashable.
We’ve seen a preview of iPhone OS 4.0 several weeks ago, but we’ll probably see more of the new operating system at the WWDC. It’s also tradition to release a new version soon after the WWDC. I’m very curious to see what mighty Steve will show us. A while ago he said “you won’t be disappointed“.
