With this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2016) just around the corner now, we understand that both developers and non-developer tech fans from the community are going to be wondering what to expect from the opening keynote of Apple at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco on June 13th. Without any fuss or additional waiting, we’re going to jump right into what we think Apple will announce at this year’s keynote event based on recent speculations, rumors and conjecture.
iOS 10
One of the almost guaranteed unveilings at this year’s WWDC will be the next iteration of Apple’s mobile platform, or iOS 10. Apple has been extremely busy over the last few months, pushing out point updates to iOS 9 that introduce a number of fixes and improvements, but now, it’s the turn of iOS 10 to take center stage. As part of that reveal, Apple is expected to introduce a number of new additions to the firmware, including a revamped Apple Music experience with a renewed focus on design and user interaction. There should also be the addition of a new universal HomeKit app that will ship as part of Apple’s suite of iOS applications, as well as a revamp of the stock Photos app.
Interestingly, Apple is also expected to introduce an extension of the Apple Pay service that will allow transactions to be made online via websites as well as to pay individuals via iMessage with immediate payments.
If that’s not enough, developers should also get access to a Siri-based SDK. A developer and public beta seed will be made available immediately after the keynote, with a final public release due alongside the iPhone 7 in the fall.
OS X 10.12 (MacOS?)
The introduction of OS X 10.12 will be an interesting one. It’s definitely going to happen during this year’s WWDC, but it’s whether or not we will see it unveiled as OS X 10.12 or MacOS, that is the big question. There’s been a number of hints suggesting that a more unified naming change will be happening sooner rather than later. Whatever it’s called, we also expect Apple to introduce a desktop platform with support for Siri, as well as Touch ID authentication via an iPhone or iPad to unlock a Mac using the same Apple ID on the network.
If all of that isn’t enough to whet your whistle, then the native OS X / MacOS Photos app is expected to get a little overhaul to bring back some of those missing iPhoto features, and we could “potentially” see an integration of the Night Shift feature that came to iOS recently.
watchOS 3
The development of watchOS is an interesting conversation. It’s clearly one of Apple’s most immature platforms – alongside tvOS – based purely on how long it has actually been out in the world. It’s also obvious that Apple is still learning about the user-base and what they want / don’t want from the platform. With that in mind, there’s not been a great deal of leaks about what to expect from version 3.0 of the platform.
From a purely speculative and selfish perspective, if there’s one thing we want Apple to add in watchOS 3, it would be the ability to create and add third-party custom watch faces for total personalization.
tvOS 10
Like watchOS, Apple’s tvOS, which powers the fourth-generation Apple TV, is an extremely immature and constantly progressing platform. The Cupertino-based company simply doesn’t have the user-base that it has for iOS and OS X in order to learn quickly from its mistakes and to see instantly what consumers want and would benefit from. Like the early days of iOS, there is a little bit of trial and error and learning by the sword involved in the progression of tvOS.
In addition to a revamped Remote app that adds full support for Siri control on the Apple TV, we’d also like to see picture-in-picture for video, as well as Siri integration for searching deep within third-party apps.
If the rumor mill is to be believed, this year’s WWDC will be all about software. So yes, that means, no new MacBook Pros, Apple Watch 2, or Thunderbolt Display at this year’s event.
Of course, Apple might have a few surprises up its sleeves, but if this year’s event ended up being all about software updates, what would you like to see Apple introduce to your favorite platform? Share your WWDC wish-list with us in the comments section below.
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