Apple announced that their yearly Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) will be held June 11-15 this year. The five day event is most well known for the keynote speech held on the opening day each year. Historically, the keynote (done by Steve Jobs every year until now) is where they would announce the newest iPhone model. Last year, it was all about iOS 5 (since the iPhone 4S was delayed until October for a variety of reasons). The keynote lasts about an hour, but the conference goes on for a total of 5 days.

The week long event gives an in-depth look at everything that’s new in iOS and OS X. There are many workshops for developers or aspiring developers. It is an opportunity to work with Apple’s own engineers and get questions answered and learn new techniques. It is also a great place to make new friends, meet other developer’s and build connections within the Apple development ecosystem. Aside from all the sessions and hands-on labs there will be speakers and events, a competition with the Apple experts and the WWDC bash.

There are two problems. The first is that tickets do not come cheap. Getting into the event will cost $1,599, which leads to problem number two - tickets sold out in just two hours this year. With each passing year, the event has been gaining popularity and tickets have been selling out in less itme. Two hours seems to be a record. 

It is interesting this year because there has been no announcement about a new version of iOS. Any speculation is based on prior years. More than likely, workshops will focus on Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. This will also be the first year for Tim Cook to kick off the event with the keynote address. Tim was panned for his announcement of the iPhone 4S only for the world to find out that Steve Jobs lay on his deathbed at the time, causing pundits to withhold judgment. He proved to be an engaging speaker at the announcement of the new iPad.

What will be announced at WWDC is anybody’s guess at the moment. If previous years are any indication, Apple’s slogan “It’s the week we’ve all been waiting for” will certainly hold true.

As many people are aware, Apple kicked off Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address this morning. Included in this year’s keynote were all the updates to the OS X in the forthcoming OS X 10.7 Lion, iOS 5, and the new iCloud. Much to the dismay (but not surprise) of consumers, there was no mention of a new iPhone.

The updates are plentiful and many weren’t even mentioned in the 2 hour address. To make sifting through the feature set easier, below is an aggregate list of all that was announced today.

Before that, here are some statistics delivered.

• There are 54 million Mac users worldwide.
• PCs lost 1% market share last quarter and Mac grew by 28%.
• Lion comes with 250 new features.
• Mac App Store has surpassed Best Buy and Amazon for software purchases.
• 200 million iOS devices sold.*
• 44+% of the mobile websurfing market.*
• iPad sold 15 million units in from launch to iPad 2. iPad 2 sold 10 million from launch to present.
• 90,000 apps created specifically for iPad.
• 1,500 new API calls in iOS 5.

• OS X 10.7 Lion

1. Multi-touch gesturing builg into the OS to take advantage of laptop trackpads or the Bluetooth ones for the desktop
2. Full screen apps get rid of menu bars and scroll bars (scroll bars present while actively scrolling). Better utilization of desktop space. While apps are in full screen, users can “swipe” between them. Momentum scrolling (similar to iPhone) is in effect.
3. “Mission Control” is a unification of Expose and Spaces allowing for better navigation and creation of spaces.
4. Mac App Store, launched in January, has updates such as in-app purchases.
5. Launchpad, accessed by a swipe, shows all apps on the computer, regardless of location in an iOS style layout.
6. Resume brings users back to the same place in an application that was last left off - such as page in a document, including highlighting, setting, palettes, etc.
7. Autosave protects in those instances where a crash or problem occurs between manual saves. Unlike Microsoft Word auto-recovery, Autosave in Lion creates a new file. Use Autosave menu to revert to last version, manually save upon recovery or turn it off altogether.
8. This paves the way for versioning. It is like OS X’s time Machine for files. Use it to scroll back and forth in time to find different revisions of same file.
9. Air Drop is like the Drop Box for Mac. Peer to peer file sharing. Drop a file into Air Drop to share with other users who will be prompted to accept.
10. Mail is totally redesigned with conversation view and a left hand email list, much like iPad in landscape orientation.
11. Lots of other small features such as a Windows Migration Assistant.
12. No more CDs. Lion is available for purchase through the Mac App Store for $29 and will be installable on all personally owned Macs for that price. Also, no reboot required, which is the first for an OS upgrade.

• iOS 5

1. Notifications totally revamped. No more popups mid-screen. Now, there is a small notification at the top a la Android that does not interrupt activity.
2. Newsstands gives users the ability to manage and read subscriptions to magazines and newspapers in one aggregate location. It will automatically update with new issues.
3. Total Twitter integration with single sign-on and use of camera, photos and other apps.
4. Safari has been given a full screen Safari reader, read it later option to mark pages and tabbed browsing. The tabs are the one interesting part of this.
5. Reminders are a native to-do list. Included is a feature to set reminders by time or location. Notifications given when GPS notes the user in a certain location. Husbands be warned… you can no longer forget to pick up the milk.
6. Camera received updates. It is available from the lock screen giving instant access. Users can take photos without inputting a passcode (if enabled on phone), but must input passcode to reach previously taken photos. Volume up button functions as a shutter button now. Holding a tap on a part of the photo exposes for that area. Photo editing has been included with items such as crop, rotate, red-eye reduction or a one-click enhancement.
7. Mail support rich-text formatting, indentation control, flagging and searching contents of a message now.
8. Slide both thumbs up on the keyboard to split it, giving half to each side. This makes it easier to type with just the thumbs - unless you have unusually long thumbs that can reach the middle of the iPad.
9. No more PC needed. New phones will be activated over the air (OTA). Also, iOS updates will be pushed OTA as well. All delta updates, which means only the changes come down, saving on data usage for those on non-unlimited plans.
10. Game Center now has friend and game recommendations, making it more social.
11. New messaging service gives delivery receipts, read receipts, and real-time typing notifications. BlackBerry Messenger beware. Also, messages can be delivered to iPad or iPod Touch using Apple identity (no phone number needed).
12. WiFi syncing with iTunes.
13. Flick between apps with a gesture.
14. iOS 5 due out this fall.

• iCloud

1. Sync photos, etc across all devices instantaneously.
2. Previously branded as MobileMe for $99, iCloud is a new service that will be free.
3. Once an app is purchased, it can be synched and downloaded to all devices. New devices will be propagated with all apps and settings using iCloud.
4. Music, books, photos, videos will be backed up to the cloud as well.
5. iCloud APIs will be made available, allowing third-party developeres to make use of this in other apps.
6. Photostream uses iCloud to showcase photos on other devices, including AppleTV.
7. To prevent data consumption, the last 1,000 photos will be displayed.
8. There are 3 ways to get non-purchased/ripped music from iTunes onto devices using iCloud. First is by synching new devices over wire or WiFi. Second is to repurchase all songs via iTunes. Last, for $25 per year iTunes Match will look at all songs on a computer (not bought via iTunes), find them in the iTunes library and attribute them to the users’s account.

Those are all the big things announced today. Stay tuned as iOS 5 filters out to developers and more features are found. Many people are disappointed with the lack of a hardware update and found this years keynote to be lackluster, at best. There were no bombshells and most that was announced was expected in some form. However, these updates are incredibly useful. Some are much needed. Others are unprecedented but fun and exciting.

The next iPhone is on the way. It is just a question of when. Without an announcement today, do not expect it in 2011. Enjoy all the new updates and features until then.

Rumors surfaced again today, citing the Verizon CFO as the source

Tons of speculation about WWDC and a new iPhone lately

I meant to have this out before the new year hit, but alas, the hectic schedule of the holiday season got the better of me.

1. 3D TVs have been all the rage lately, from the perspective of the manufacturer. The price of the TVs, price of the glasses, limited content and the fact that you even need glasses have put a damper on sales. The good news is that the proliferation of 3D TVs have driven down the price of standard LED TVs.
   Prediction: 3D disappears this year until the technology is more affordable, usable and universal.
2. Microsoft capitalizes on the success that is the Kinect (the motion based gaming style for the Xbox 360) and ushers in a new era of gaming (that the Nintendo Wii barely scratched the surface of). Sony releases the Move for the PS3 which gives users something to hold, like the Wii but it is more precise than the Kinect. Users of both platforms are going nuts for these (especially the Kinect, due to its freedom).
   Prediction: More Xbox games show up in the purple case and the entire gaming experience moves towards hands free. You do what? Hold a controller still? Oh, and Steve Ballmer keeps his job.
3. Users are not only playing with the Kinect; they are ripping it apart. Scores of videos are appearing all over the web showing new uses for the camera/sensor system. Some are recreating images in live 3D renderings and others have created Minority Report style interfaces.
   Prediction: Tom Cruise and a pre-cog run through your backyard while you effortless copy files to pieces of glass with your hands. Interactive displays become a reality.
4. Apple’s release of a desktop app store shows 1 million downloads in the first day. Their photo editing program, Aperture, sells for $80 as opposed to the $199 retail price on the shelf.
   Prediction: A desktop app store shows up for Windows as well. Software inventories in retail locations begin to thin like the hair on Ballmer’s head.
5. Tablets are everywhere. First it was the iPad, followed closely by a slew of Android based devices. The battle is now over platform, operating system, and size. 
   Prediction: Many Android based tablets disappear leaving only the cream of the crop. Apple releases iPad 2 in the spring of this year.
6. Every year since 2007 Apple has shown us a new iPhone. 2007 and 2010 were the 2 biggest iterations. It nearly goes without saying that iPhone 5 will be announced at Worldwide Developers Conference with the release to follow in late June or early July.
   Prediction: The jump in feature set is better than from 3G to 3GS but not nearly as rich as the jump between the 3GS and the iPhone 4.
7. We are generating more and more data on a consistent basis. Storing and securing that data is becoming more difficult, even with the huge hard drives. Everyone needs redundant backups and accessibility.
   Prediction: Companies and products like Drobo, Netgear ReadyNas and HP MediaSmart drop in price to give redundant RAID arrays for home users and websites like Mozy and Crash Plan become more popular around the web.
8. Facebook is trying to hold onto its key players. It has been giving out tons of private stock options. The SEC requires them to stay below a certain number of people and shares before forcing them to disclose more details about their finances. Facebook has been holding just below that number.
   Prediction: Facebook can’t afford to stay there anymore. They break the cap, disclose their info, hold an IPO.

On June 7th, Apple will kick off their annual WorldWide Developer’s Conference. This is the event in which Apple, historically, has announced the newest iPhone. All signs point to the fact that it’s going to happen again. Tech journalists have been watching the stories surrounding a new iPhone mature since roughly last November.

It started with a unique identifier for what seemed to be a new device popping up in the San Francisco area. This has since been possibly attributed to the iPad but we can’t be sure. Then there was the announcement of iPhone OS 4.0. The Gizmodo leak all but sealed the deal. AT&T employees have been denied vacation during the month of June. Apple stopped shipping the 3G version of the phone to AT&T stores. Now Walmart just dropped the price of the iPhone 3G S to $97. 

Each year as the new model comes out we see that previous generation drop within the $100 price range, as happened with the 3G upon arrival of the 3G S and with the 2G when the 3G showed up. The Walmart price point comes as a bit of a surprise this early since it is still just under 2 weeks until WWDC begins.

It was confirmed this morning that Apple will host a keynote on the opening day of the conference which will more than likely be centered around the iPhone and its OS. So much of the future of the device has been released after Gizmodo acquired one that was lost. We’ve seen a new form factor and front facing camera. A battery that is reportedly 19% bigger and an LED flash.

Will Apple release the new iPhone on the same day as the keynote? That is speculation amongst the tech elite but it is really anybody’s guess. Truth be told, nobody knows for sure if there will even be a phone. After the Gizmodo incident, Apple has been especially tight-lipped about a new product launch.

One anxious consumer emailed Steve Jobs wondering if there was any punch left in an announcement since most of the secrets about the next iPhone were spilled, thanks to Jason Chen of Gizmodo. Steve replied simply with, “You won’t be disappointed.”

Apple always has a trick up its sleeve and it is nearly impossible to tell what it is until it happens. If I had to speculate I would say that June 7th brings an announcement of the new iPhone, complete with OS 4, a new form factor (similar but not the same as the prototype model we all saw) and the bomb that will be dropped… it will be available that day. I will be watching the keynote with my shoes on and keys in hand waiting to head to the nearest AT&T store… just in case.