Blog Index
We’ve gone social
Wed, August 31, 2011
Are you an early adopter?
Thu, July 21, 2011
Not full-screen after all
Thu, June 16, 2011
Some thoughts on church websites
Thu, June 09, 2011
So how did I go?
Tue, June 07, 2011
My predictions for Monday
Fri, June 03, 2011
Waterfalls and Wildlife
Tue, May 31, 2011
Looks like a good deal
Wed, May 18, 2011
The Cardboard Archive
Sun, May 15, 2011
Launch of the new Crossfade Media website
Sat, May 07, 2011
My predictions for Monday
by Lloyd McLean on Fri, June 03, 2011
On Monday (early Tuesday morning in Australia) Steve Jobs will kick off the annual WWDC with a keynote address focusing on three main things:
1. OS X Lion
2. iOS 5
3. iCloud
Normally around this time, the rumour mills are abuzz with the possible announcements to be made. But if anything, things have been unanimously quiet on the prospects of any major announcements, at least on the hardware side of things. It is pretty much taken for granted that there will not be the release of the iPhone 5 or the iPad 3. This is to be a purely software-focused keynote.
Another strange thing about WWDC this year is that Apple have been surprisingly forthcoming about the content of the keynote, outlining the three elements above, effectively doing something that Apple also does not normally do - announcing a product before it’s officially launched.
One prediction is that Steve Jobs is not going to introduce iCloud to the oohs and aahs of an unsuspecting audience. That cat is already out of the bag. So either Apple is supremely confident (which they usually are) that what they have with iCloud is exciting enough, that they can pre-announce it before the keynote, or (and I truly hope this isn’t the case) they realise that the event at which they have introduced things such as the iPhone and the App Store in the past is looking slim this year, and they want to release this mystery product beforehand to garner interest.
Realistically, the keynote is not so much about those developers and media who have already booked their sold-out seats at the conference. They are already on-board the Apple wagon. It is the millions-wide web audience of potential developers and customers that they want to use it to reach out towards. Convincing them why they should develop for and commit to Apple products.
And the level of interest in OS X Lion and iOS 5 alone, is not that great. There is no hint that either of these software updates is going to be revolutionary, and this is where I believe (or maybe “hope”) that iCloud comes into the mix. What Apple need (and they know this) is to link the success of the mobile iOS platforms (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) with their notebook/desktop platforms. They have clearly indicated that OS X Lion is an attempt to do this in terms of bringing some of the technologies developed in iOS back to OS X. But the truth is that it is more than the technologies they want to bring. They also want to bring the customers!
iCloud could be that link, encouraging the millions of iOS users out there to see the combination of OS X Lion, iOS5 and iCloud as a reason to stay within the Apple ecosystem for all of their digital lifestyle needs.
Top three predictions:
1. Steve Jobs will receive applause that causes him to say (or motion) “thank you” at least three times before even starting the presentation
2. Steve Jobs will use the phrase (or similar), “The reason we do this is so you can create great apps and get them in the hands of users”
3. There will be no mention of the recent issues of malware or app developers being sued as part of the keynote
Let’s see how I go with those!
