Michal Ždanský The Worldwide Developer Conference is slowly approaching and it's time to speculate about what might emerge. The conference is primarily intended for developers, however, the first day will be dedicated to the presentation of new products. So what could Apple have prepared for us?
Since 2007, Apple has presented a new iPhone at WWDC, but this tradition was interrupted last year, when the presentation was postponed until the beginning of September. This term usually belonged to a music keynote focusing on iPods, but they have taken a back seat and profits from them are still falling. Although they will continue to have a place in Apple's portfolio, less and less space will be devoted to them. After all, iPods weren't even updated last year, just discounted, and the iPod nano got a new software version.
Thus, the September date remained free - thanks to this, Apple could postpone the presentation of the iPhone, and only software will be presented at WWDC, which is appropriate given the focus of the conference. So now the iPad and iPhone have separate introductions, Macs are updated without a keynote, and there's a worldwide developer conference dedicated to the software. So the question remains what kind of software Apple will introduce this year.
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
If we are sure of anything, it is the introduction of the new Mountain Lion operating system. We probably won't have many surprises, we already know the most important things from developer preview, which Apple introduced already in mid-February. OS X 10.8 continues the trend already started by Lion, i.e. the transfer of elements from iOS to OS X. The biggest attractions are the Notification Center, iMessage integration, AirPlay Mirroring, Game Center, Gatekeeper to improve security or new applications linked to their counterparts on iOS ( Notes, Comments, …)
Mountain Lion will likely present Phil Shiller with the classic 10 biggest feature poke as he did at private presentation to John Gruber. Mountain Lion will be available for download in the Mac App Store during the summer, but it is not yet clear what the price will be. It will certainly not be more than €23,99, rather it is speculated whether the amount will be reduced due to the transition to an annual update cycle.
iOS 6
Another system that will probably be introduced at WWDC is the sixth version of iOS. Even at last year's event, Apple introduced the new Lion operating system together with iOS 5, and there is no reason why it cannot be the same this year. A lot is expected from the new version. In previous iterations, the original iOS was essentially only supplemented with new functions that were desperately missing (Copy & Paste, Multitasking, Notifications, Folders) and thus packed several layers on top of each other, which resulted in some illogicality and other errors in the user interface (only in the Notification Center, which should otherwise be the "bottom layer" of the system, file system, ...). According to many, it is therefore easy for Apple to overhaul the system from the ground up.
No one except Apple management and Scott Forstall's team, who is the head of development, knows what iOS 6 will look like and what it will bring, so far there are only lists of speculations, after all we produced one too. The most talked about is the redesign of the file system, which would allow applications to work with them better, furthermore, many would appreciate easy access to turn off/on certain functions (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G, Tethering, ...) or perhaps dynamic icons/widgets that would display information without the need to launch the application. Although Apple nixed this possibility in the notification center, it is still not enough.
iWork
The wait for the new office suite from Apple is slow as if for mercy. From 2005-2007, iWork was updated every year, then it took two years for the '09 version. The last major version was released in January 2009 and there have been only a few minor updates since then. After 3,5 long years, iWork '12 or '13 could finally appear, depending on what Apple calls it.
While the iOS version of the office suite looks quite modern, even if it has limited functions, especially in the spreadsheet Numbers, the desktop counterpart is starting to look like outdated software that is slowly running out of steam. Office 2011 for Mac has done quite well, and thanks to the huge delay between major versions of iWork, it could win over many users of Apple's office suite who are tired of waiting forever for Godot.
There is really a lot of room for improvement. Above all, Apple should ensure seamless synchronization of documents via iCloud, which Mountain Lion should also partially address. It is all the more illogical to cancel the iWork.com service, even though it was only used to share documents. Apple, on the other hand, should push more office applications to the cloud and create something like Google Docs, so that the user can edit his documents on a Mac, iOS device or browser without having to worry about their synchronization.
iLife '13
The iLife package is also a possible candidate for an update. It was updated every year until 2007, then there was a two-year wait for version '09, and a year later iLife '11 was released. Let's leave the obscure numbering aside for now. If the longest waiting time for a new package was two years, iLife '13 should appear this year, and WWDC is the best opportunity.
iWeb and iDVD will probably disappear for good from the package, which, thanks to the cancellation of MobileMe and the shift away from optical media, no longer make sense. After all, iLife '09 and '11 saw only cosmetic changes and bug fixes. The main focus will thus be on the trio of iMovie, iPhoto and Garageband. Above all, the second-named application has a lot to catch up on. In the current version, for example, the possibility of cooperation with iOS applications is completely missing, moreover, it is one of the slowest applications from Apple, especially on machines with a classic disk (iPhoto is almost unusable on my MacBook Pro 13” mid-2010).
iMovie and Garageband, on the other hand, could get some more advanced features from their more professional cousins, i.e. Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro. Garageband could definitely use more tools, better RAM usage when playing processed tracks, expanded post-production capabilities, or more tutorial options that come with Garageband. iMovie, on the other hand, would need better work with subtitles, more detailed work with audio tracks and a few other additional elements that would bring the videos to life.
Logic Pro X
While the new version of Final Cut X was released last year, although it met with great criticism from professionals, the Logic Pro music studio is still waiting for its new version. The update cycle for both applications is roughly two years. In the case of Final Cut, this cycle was followed, but the last major version of Logic Studio was released in mid-2009, and the only major update, 9.1, came out in January 2010. In particular, it brought full support for 64-bit architecture and cut out PowerPC processors. Then in December 2011, Apple canceled the boxed version, the lightweight Express version disappeared, and Logic Studio 9 moved to the Mac App Store at a significantly reduced price of $199. In particular, it offered MainStage 2 for live performance, which was previously included in the boxed version.
Logic Studio X should primarily bring a redesigned user interface that will be much more intuitive, especially for new users who have only used Garageband so far. Hopefully this change will turn out better than Final Cut X. There will also be more virtual instruments, synthesizers, guitar machines and Apple Loops. The new redesigned version of MainStage is also handy.
I don't understand why they release the axis every time
lion is still not patched, a bunch of applications have an error and hla! we already have a new version...
io6 and rewritten?! sure, just remember how long we have to wait for itunes to be overwritten
and what have we achieved? nothing
if they added something like sbsettings to the system, which is possible with a jailbreak, then for me the jailbreak would probably really lose its charm and I would keep the original loaded system just as the apple engineers released it
as for iwork, I'm still satisfied with it, it's simple and won over win office, because it's so overcombined that I don't understand it anymore...
I also notice it with ilife - the apps are quite slow
I don't use logic studio, so I won't talk about it
anyway, I think the new iTunes SHOULD be introduced
I'm really looking forward to the new Logic.
What do you still have against flax? So I think it is better if the system is uniform than divided into layers :/
so that it doesn't become android iOS I like it the way it is... change a little yes... but be careful
What do you think, will the new iPhone be introduced? I would like to buy an iPhone 4S, but if a new one is introduced, I will definitely wait. I know you won't tell me exactly, but there are definitely some preliminary reports, and I somehow don't follow them.
Did you read the whole article?
Or Aperture.. in the context of the new Ligthroom it would make sense.