Before I kick things off with my customary predictions for this years WWDC Keynote from Steve Jobs, I wanted to let you know about my 'Mac & Gadget Show'. We had a successful show yesterday, where we talked about what might be coming from Apple this year. Many thanks to all who participated.
I am running a special edition of the 'Mac & Gadget Show', tonight at 6:00pm (GMT) or 1:00pm (EDT) to cover the WWDC keynote as it happens. Pulling in news from all over the internet, using various news feeds, expect to hear a great overview of Steve Jobs Keynote speech. Point your browser here to join in, or to listen as things happen. I will try and bring in callers when I can (if you would like to talk live on the show), but please accept my apologies in advance if I rabbit on and miss you. I will try to accommodate your views and questions where possible.
Now, onto my predictions for this years WWDC.
iPhone 2.0 (or 3G)
It seems like a forgone conclusion that we will see the new iPhone launch, or at least announcement of features. If we don't, there will be a lot of disappointed people across the world. The new iPhone is predicted to include 3G technology for faster data transfers, GPS and ho knows, maybe even some sort of partnership with the likes of TomTom or Garmin to bring us true in-car or on-foot navigation.
iPhone 2.0 (or 3G) part 2
There have been images floating around showing a front facing camera on the new iPhone. Whether these are real or not, many 3G mobile handsets offer video calls, so why not Apple's iPhone. With OS X built into this little box of technology, iChatAV is an obvious progression for the device. I think that this new feature, coupled with upgrades to the .Mac service could well round up the iPhone announcements today.
Mac Mini Version 2
For quite a while now, it has been predicted that the Mac Mini will face the chop. Well, CrunchGear have posted these rather tasty (if somewhat blurry) images of Mac Fusion. A new even slimmer miniature Mac. This all-aluminum enclosure certainly looks tasty and if we see a slight ramp up from current Mac Mini specs, along with a slight price drop, then hurrah for Apple... I will buy one for sure.
Why might we not see this? Well, it would hurt sales of both the current Mac Mini (if they keep this line going) and also the AppleTV.
iPhone Goes Large
Over the past few weeks there have been loads of mini laptops (or sub-notebooks) announced from the likes of Acer, Asus, HP, MSI and Dell (to name just a few). Apple must be sitting up and taking notice of this, after all, they would be stupid not to. People love to communicate whilst 0n-the-move nowadays, and the likes of these new devices really do fit the bill. For example the MSI Wind, you get a nice keyboard, Intel Atom CPU, 10-inch screen, 80GB hard drive, all for around £300. The only downside is that it runs Linux or Windows XP.
Apple can do this product right, with the all important Mac OS X operating system. Give us a tablet computer, based around the iPhone, but twice the size. Add onto this a real keyboard, maybe a wireless unit that can sit separate or snap onto the screen and wow, they will sell truck-loads.
Mac OS X 10.6 'Snow Leopard'
I don't think we will see this, as Leopard in its current 10.5.3 guise is just too new. Maybe I will be totally wrong on this one.
An exciting day for us all. Join me on Talkshoe for the Mac & Gadget Show for the news as it happens.