WWDC Preview: Will Jobs Unveil Apple’s Next Big Thing?
6/05/2010 01:16:00 PM
kenmouse
, Posted in
Apple
,
iPhone 4G
,
iPhone HD
,
Mobile News
,
Steve Jobs
,
Technology
,
0 Comments
Will Steve Jobs shock the world with another game-changing Apple product at next week’s Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco? That question has the tech press buzzing -- the WWDC is the biggest fixed keynote on Jobs’ calendar now that Apple has pulled out of the Macworld Expo.Jobs kicks off the WWDC Monday morning at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Here’s a roundup of some of the rumors circulating about just what the Apple CEO is planning.
Enter The iPhone 4G?
Pretty much everybody thinks Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple is going to launch a new version of its hugely popular smartphone at the WWDC. “The iPhone is widely expected to be the star of the show,” writes CNET, though there ought to be a lot of iPad love as well.
A clue to Apple’s iPhone 4G intentions may reside on its online store, where Apple has discontinued sales of the iPhone 3G, Bloomberg reports. “Apple has introduced a new version of the iPhone OS -- and a new iPhone -- every summer for the last three years,” Network World reminds us.
Will The New iPhone Look Like Gizmodo’s?
Apple was furious several weeks ago when the tech blog Gizmodo published images and video of what it said was a prototype iPhone 4G left by an Apple engineer in a Silicon Valley beer garden. The conventional wisdom, expressed by Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney, is that the Gizmodo-obtained prototype will “probably be more or less identical” to any new iPhone Apple unveils at the WWDC.
But some wonder if Apple may pull a fast one and release a new iPhone with a significantly larger touchscreen than the roughly 3.5-inch screen on the prototype, especially with bigger touchscreen devices like the HTC HD2 and Dell Streak hitting the market. Apple could mix it up and release new iPhones of varying display sizes, Dulaney opined.
Will Jobs Have An iPad-Level Reveal Up His Sleeve?
Jobs probably won’t unveil anything as earth-shattering as the iPad at the WWDC, believe most Apple watchers. After all, a few years passed between the launches of each of Apple’s three great consumer electronics products of recent vintage, the iPod, iPhone and iPad, the last of which came out just a couple months ago.
That will mean less pizzazz and more nuts-and-bolts focus on app development, which after all is the whole point of the WWDC, according to Apple guru Andy Ihnatko, in an interview with Appolicious.com.
“Apple can't generate the same level of excitement about the third rev of the iPhone as they could with the very first iPad, or the very first iPhone,” he said. “We've all seen iPhones. The mystery isn't there anymore. The initial puppy-dog phase of the relationship is long over and now we're just hoping that in 2010, the iPhone will stop leaving wet towels on the bathroom floor.”
Here's some more speculation about what Apple and Steve Jobs are planning for next week’s Worldwide Developer Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
Will Apple Attack The Competition?
At Google’s recent I/0 developer event, the search giant was very vocal about what it perceived were deficiencies in the iPhone operating system that it claimed were strengths in its own smartphone-friendly Android OS. And Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer just this week took some public jabs at Apple’s iPad and operating systems.
But Jobs is unlikely to return fire, Ihnatko told Appolicious.com. “I don't think Apple does anything in response to what any other company's doing, honestly. ... I think Apple would rather define themselves by making what they think are the right products,” he said.
One target of Jobs' ire that may get a tongue-lashing, if recent history is any indicator -- Adobe.
Will Jobs Address the Foxconn Worker Suicides
A string of worker suicides at Taiwanese contract components manufacturer Foxconn’s main China plant has cast a pall over many computer makers, including Apple, which do significant business with Foxconn. Jobs’ recent comments that the Foxconn facility's conditions were “pretty nice” didn’t exactly endear him to labor rights groups calling on Foxconn to clean up its act with regards to working conditions.
“[T]he WWDC would be a good opportunity for Jobs to announce more aggressive steps by Apple -- and, to be fair, by the rest of the tech industry -- to address the ongoing criticism of workplace conditions in Asian factories,” suggests PC World.
Perhaps, but we’d further advise that someone at Apple other than the CEO handle those duties. His genius aside, Jobs is not particularly good at publicly conveying concern for things beyond Apple’s products and the protection of its trade secrets. And when he tries, Jobs frequently seems to get testy and put his foot in his mouth, as per the “pretty nice” comment.
0 Response to "WWDC Preview: Will Jobs Unveil Apple’s Next Big Thing?"
Post a Comment
Leave Your Thoughts & We Will Discuss Together