WWDC ’08 Departure and Rumors

I’m about to depart to my first WWDC. It’s hard to sleep! The rumors have been exploding this past week. Jim Dalrymple from MacWorld magazine states that this will be the most significant WWDC to date. Steve Jobs’ Keynote will not be announced to just developers, but the entire mobile phone industry. Let’s recap what we may see:

The 3G iPhone: This is what I’m waiting for! There is almost no doubt that there will be an announcement. As Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone back at the MacWorld 2007 Keynote, he specified that Apple had plans for a “3G phone and all sorts of amazing things in the future.” We may see some new features such as GPS, video conferencing, a different case in this next-generation iPhone. AT&T has been a key player in this game as they’ve finished their 3G network rollout on schedule. Apple seems to have round up carriers from around the world for Japan, Spain, Hong Kong, Australia, and others.

SDK for iPhone/iPod Touch & Firmware v2.0 Update: Apple announced back at the March iPhone Software Roadmap event that iPhone 2.0 was on its way. The App Store is expected to be the focal point of the keynote presentation at this developer’s conference. Immediate availability of the software and the launch of 3rd party applications has been rumored despite Apple’s promise for delivery by the end of the month.

.Mac to be Revamped: I’ve never really used Apple’s .Mac service, so I don’t know much about this here. I do know that there has been some speculation on the service being renamed and rebuilt from the ground up. Let’s see what happens.

Mac OS X 10.6 ‘Snow Leopard’: We may see the next OS introduced at WWDC with a focus on security, stability, and performance. It’s been revealed that 10.6 is code-named “Snow Leopard” and also expects the software to be Intel-only and released in January 2009. (I guess I have until the end of the year to get a MacBook. The PowerBook’s had its run.) The timeframe also falls in line with comments by Steve Jobs regarding their plan to continue Mac OS X updates every 12-18 months.

You can find up-to-the-minute announcements of the Keynote and the event here@Central. I do have a feature page that will be covering my whole WWDC experience over each day. You can access it by clicking “Home” above and look to the menu on the right under “Features”. Here’s a link as well.

I will return on Saturday, June 14.