Home Technology Apple WWDC 2016: Final round of predictions and rumors

Apple WWDC 2016: Final round of predictions and rumors

Apple’s annual developer’s conference is all set to kick off in just about a few hours from now. While all eyes and ears are going to stick to WWDC 2016 as to what might yield, here is all that Apple is expected to announce during the event.

To begin with, as a developer’s conference, the focus naturally will be on the software side of the story. While there have been exceptions in the past, during the time of Steve Jobs when there usually were a few hardware devices introduced. With Tim Cook being at the helm of affairs, the conference has come to be focused almost entirely on software.

Apple might formally announce the much-anticipated iOS 10 during the event. However, with iOS 10, the focus again is expected to be less on bringing about visual changes to the interface than enhancing the efficiency of the platform as a whole. For instance, improving battery life without sacrificing performance could be the priority for iOS coders though the benefit of isn’t expected to mark a presence until Apple introduces the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.

Apple will possibly tweak the iOS look and feel a bit as rumors suggest the company is already working to offer a cleaner and simpler UI for several of its key apps i.e. Apple Music, Apple News, etc. Apple Music undoubtedly needs a bit of a fine tuning job to enhance its appeal further. The same thing applies to Apple News too

Apart from these developments, the App Store is undergoing some changes to reflect the changed subscription revenue split model, which will come into effect from the second year of user’s subscription.

In addition, the OS X might also see significant changes. The company might rename it to MacOS. That would make the notebook platform more in line with WatchOS, tvOS, and the likes.

Further, Siri, in all likelihood, could be making its debut on the Mac platform for the first time. However, here again, the Apple digital assistant isn’t expected to do much else than what it already offers on iOS. Developers though will have another platform to work on Siri integration, such as working on the code needed to make the most of Touch ID sensors that are likely to debut on Mac systems later this year.

Siri, meanwhile, is also expected to debut on the tvOS platform. Similarly, there might be a general update for the tvOS and watchOS, all aimed at enhancing the functionality of the respective platform. However, there isn’t anything revolutionary expected on either front.

In fact, that seems to be equally applicable on all of Apple platform as a whole with the focus likely to be on introducing minor changes to enhance the appeal of its systems and services without bringing about a quantum change in the way they perform.

As a result, it will also be interesting to see what Apple has in store on the other aspects current trending in the tech domain. Those include integration of artificial intelligence or bots into Apple’s services and areas where several of its competitors such as Google, Microsoft, and now Facebook are already having fun.