Recently departed (but still friend of the site!) Mark Gurman went on the Jay and Farhad Show podcast this evening and gave his predictions for WWDC 2016 and beyond. Most of the conversation material was either posted previously on 9to5Mac or elsewhere but there were certainly some new “whispers”…
The biggest news about WWDC is that it won’t likely have hardware product announcements. Jordan reported that yesterday and it was reiterated on the podcast. But there would be some announcements across the four Apple operating systems (yes, three are iOS-based but marketing-wise there is iOS, MacOS, tvOS, watchOS).
MacOS will get Siri which will come to the top right corner and was covered at length back in February plus the new MacOS name which we’ve noted previously. Photos will see upgrades.
Changes on iOS which all fall in line with expectations with the possible exception of what Gurman called a whisper or something that isn’t 100% and shouldn’t be reported as fact: iMessages money transfer via Apple Pay. While Google has had this for quite some time, this would be a big shift for Apple users and has been rumored since last year.
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Changes on iOS:
- iOS design refresh. More colors. Notifications will change. Tweaks in operating system.
- Big enhancements to Photos. System-wide feature like Mail Markup sketches. Snapchat/Skitch-y. More pro editing options in Photos.
- Apple Music app. More Spotify-ish. A lot more black. More album art. User interface refresh but not low level. Main menu change.
- Siri is going to be a big part of the keynote (used to control music, text, calls, email, etc). On iPhone, Siri SDK will be released. The reason why it is taking so long is privacy concerns. Will apps have to be approved to be part of the SDK?
- iMessage to get financial transfers via Apple Pay?
- New encryption software?
On Later this year and beyond:
- MacBooks will get Touch ID and an OLED screen above keyboard (as reported by KGI two weeks ago)
- Next iPhone: Not three year cycle, one year cycle. Simplifies antenna lines. Removal of headphone jack plus waterproofing.
- iPhone 2017 will be bigger screen with no bezels. Touch ID behind the screen (reported on Daring Fireball).
- “Is Apple exciting? The car project is.”
We’ll have a lot more on WWDC as the event gets closer. Stay tuned!
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