Apple’s weeklong Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) begins on June 13th at 10:00 AM PST this year. This annual conference will take place at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco and people are already buzzing about what we can expect to see and what they hope to see. So will it be new hardware, software, or features? We’ll see. We have a feeling we know what is (and isn’t) coming next.
First of all, it’s not looking good for new devices. Apple released the smaller iPhone and iPad Pro earlier this year in March. We have the new iPhone 7 and Apple Watch that probably won’t be here until the fall. So, what will the focus be instead this year? Software!
New features coming to Siri, iOS 10, OS X, and Watch OS.
Siri
If you haven’t already noticed, this seems to be the year of AI. Google, Facebook and Microsoft have been giving Apple a run for their money with their own smart voice-activated assistants. AI has been huge this year. We expect to see new features and revamping of Siri across all devices. They truly have some competition at this point. It would be great for Siri to really begin listening across all devices in order to respond and act. There has been talk of a Siri software development kit enabling Siri to connect to third party apps (think Amazon’s Alexa).
iOS 10: iPhones, iPads
The next version of Apple’s operating system for the iPhone will be called iOS 10. Many people are expecting improvements to iCloud, Apple Music and Apple Pay. These updates will also include some functional improvements to the App Store and Photos.
“The beta version of the software is expected to be opened up to developers in June, before being rolled out to the general public in the autumn, along with the release of the iPhone 7. Rumours suggest Apple’s virtual assistant Siri will be beefed up so that she can pick up your phone calls, explain to your friends why you can’t speak to them and then transcribe their voicemails. Apple is also expected to release an app called something like Home, which will serve as hub for all your smart home devices. There is also a rumour that iOS 10 may allow iPhone owners to remove Apple’s default apps from their Home screen.”
OS X 10.12
People are buzzing about Apple integrating Siri into operating system for Mac computers. This new software will feature a Siri microphone icon in the Menu Bar. It will supposedly work similarly to Microsoft’s Cortana in Windows 10. That is, when the Siri microphone icon is clicked, the voice assistant will launch.
Watch OS 3: Apple Watch
A new third version of Watch OS will most likely be previewed during the keynote. This version of Watch OS should see further revamps in design and speed including performance improvements. There is also a possibility for announcements related to Apple Watch 2.
We just a few days until WWDC 2016 kicks off. Are you already disappointed? Or you excited for some of these long awaited software updates? What do you think the announcements will be? How do you think they’ll be received in the tech community? Comment below!
