Apple's second-biggest event of the year, its Worldwide Developers Conference, is drawing near. That means it's time for the tech media's traditional heap of speculation and wishful thinking, hammered into the constraints of a numbered list. So with no further ado, here is Wired.com's list of the top events to expect at WWDC 2008, June 9-13 in San Francisco.
What's that you say? You'd like to go? Hope you already bought your tickets, because WWDC is already sold out. Fortunately, you can see the future right here on Gadget Lab.
Disclaimer: ninety percent of what is written below (or on any gadget blog) will turn out to be far from the mark or just plain wrong, but hey, if we don't make a guess, we won't get anything right.
1. 3G iPhone
We expect this one at least to come true. The stock of current iPhones has dried up. Even the Mothership has run out, and orders are being filled with by a combination of rationing (AT&T is limiting orders to one per customer) and recycling (AT&T is selling reconditioned handsets). The rumors are whirling around us like trailer park dogs in a twister, and seemingly every telco in the world is announcing deals with Apple, bringing the potential market of the iPhone to 500 million.
What to expect? Well, 3G is all but certain. GPS would be nice, although it isn't a standard part of the Infineon chip (pdf) expected to power the iPhone 2.0. The software we mostly know about because the SDK is out there in use and leaking new information almost daily. A proper camera is essential: The crappy 2 megapixel camera in the current iPhone is not much more than an afterthought; the new one should at least have video.
A month ago we asked you what you would like to see and you came up with some crackers: Radio (never), Bluetooth for headphones (maybe), MicroSD slot (yeah, right) and a real keyboard (never!)
Expect the 3G iPhone to become available right around June 15, which is when AT&T employees have been told not to take a vacation (presumably, to deal with the iPhone demand).
Likelihood: 10/10
2. Proper New MacBook Pro
Up until we broke the news of the MacBook Air (one day before it first slid from a manilla envelope), many people were predicting a new 12" MacBook Pro to replace the beloved 12" PowerBook of old. Apple refreshed the aging pro notebook line in February, but apart from some multi touch love under the hood, there wasn't much change. In fact, the MacBook Pro is almost exactly the same in looks as the original PowerBook G4, announced back in January 2001. It's time for a change.
We expect a big multi touch trackpad, the new chiclet-style keyboard, an almost bezel-less screen (which should bring the overall size down despite still having a 15" screen) and perhaps some 3G connectivity (Apple has so many deals with cellphone networks now that an international rollout of an always-on connection is feasible). We'll probably see a version without an optical drive, too, perhaps with a second hard drive filing the space. And after all the whining about the MacBook Air being a little wussy in its specs, it could be time for Apple to drive home a powerful, well endowed twelve-incher.
Likelihood: 8/10
3. Aluminum MacBook
This rumor has been drifting in the background for a while. If true, expect nothing more than a new case and a multi touch trackpad. White plastic used to be the marker that set the consumer goods apart from the pro gear, but ever since the iMac went all brushed aluminum and the iPod lost its iconic white case, that's no longer so.
Likelihood: 4/10
4. Internet Tablet
Steve Jobs said that Apple would never make a Tablet Mac. He also said there would never be a video iPod. A Kindle-sized iPod Touch would certainly be a great toy, but would anybody buy it? The iPod Touch is popular because it is a regular sized iPod with a slew of killer features, and people are used to the size. But a MacBook Touch would be a whole new product: too big to fit in a pocket and too small to do any real work (not to mention the lack of a real keyboard). But then, if anybody can take a flailing (read: all current tablet PCs) category and make it attractive, it's Apple. Remember the iPod?
Likelihood: 1/10
5. Touch Screen Nano
Why not? Ever since Apple got all touchy-feely with the iPhone, touch is showing up everywhere. We don't expect a full on mini iPod Touch, but an iPod of the current Nano's size which is all screen on one face is certainly possible. Apple could leave out email and Maps (and the Stocks application – who ever uses that apart from Jobs himself?), but Wi-Fi would be likely, if only for buying tracks from the iTunes Store.
Likelihood: 5/10
