Put this firmly in the rumor file for right now, but Macsimum News is reporting that a live streaming version of iTunes will debut at this year’s WWDC, building upon Apple’s December purchase of online streaming service Lala.
One wouldn’t ordinarily mention “scalpers” and “Apple developers” in the same sentence, but this time it seems appropriate. The World Wide Developers Conference has sold out the 5,000-seat San Francisco, Calif. venue in just eight days. This, despite a series of limitations Apple imposed on this year’s event.
First, the Cupertino, Calif. company hiked the ticket price from $1295 to $1599. Then the June 7-11 dates were announced a month later than usual. Apple also froze out the Mac, focusing on the iPhone OS 4 and awarding only designers of iPhone and iPad apps.
When Apple acquired music streaming service Lala year, almost everyone assumed that iTunes’ tenth iteration would find Apple’s music syncing software re-envisioned as a service which allowed users to stream their tunes from anywhere without actually having their musics locally stored.
That’s still a safe bet , especially as Apple phases out their older iPod models and shrinks down the footprint of 3G SIM cards to be installable in even the smallest chassis. But it did raise a question: would existing Lala customers be left high and dry by the Apple buyout?
No, as it turns out. While Lala has just announced that their service will be shutting down on May 31st for good, with no new users accepted. Lala’s going the extra mile by converting any money spent on streaming music into iTunes credit. That counts even if you have unused Lala credit. How generous.
Apple’s annual World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) will be June 7 through June 11 in San Francisco, Calif.’s Mascone Center, the Cupertino, Calif. consumer electronics firm announced Wednesday. The event could also serve to introduce the iPhone 4G, Apple’s next-generation handset which Gizmodo unofficially announced earlier this month.
Historically, the WWDC has been used to unveil new Apple products. The iPhone 3GS was introduced at last year’s conference, which ran June 8 through June 12. Some analysts believe the leak of a prototype iPhone 4G would force Apple to introduce a new handset earlier than planned, as Cult of Mac reported Tuesday.
Last week, we got our first sneak peek at iPhone OS 4.0, and if history’s any guide, we shouldn’t expect to see Steve Jobs strut back on stage until WWDC in June to introduce the fourth generation iPhone and iPod Touch models.
What day should you block out? According to ModMYI, June 22nd, on which date Apple has once again booked the Yerba Buena Center for Arts at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Needless to say, Cult of Mac will be collectively turning our nostril hairs white as we tensely live blog the announcements.
It’s about two weeks later than Apple usually holds its WWDC event, but if you’re waiting to pick up a video-conferencing iPhone HD packing an A4 CPU, history suggests you can expect it within a couple of weeks of June 22nd.
Lengthily discussing Apple’s heroic focus on iPhone OS 4.0 for the past few month’s, Daring Fireball says not to expect the next version of Apple’s other operating system until at least 2011.
Gruber writes:
A few months ago, I heard suggestions that Apple had tentative plans to release a developer beta of Mac OS X 10.7 at WWDC this June. That is no longer the case. Mac OS X 10.7 development continues, but with a reduced team and an unknown schedule. It’s my educated guess that there will be no 10.7 news at WWDC this year, and probably none until WWDC 2011.
Frankly, this doesn’t concern me too much. Snow Leopard was a solid effort that deep cleaned and tightened the bolts on an already excellent operating system. Short of the addition of multitouch or the addition of deeper integration with the iPhone OS, I’m hard pressed to think of any new features I would really like to see in OS X… although knowing Apple, they’ve thought of some I have not.
Either way, even in 2011, OS X 10.7 won’t be overdue: Snow Leopard’s barely been out for eight months, and it took thirty months to see Tiger transition to Leopard. The real question is whether or not the proud and noble Bornean Clouded Leopard (pictured) can gain enough support in the next two years to get the nod as 10.7 spirit cat.
Mark your calendars. It looks like we have a date for next year’s World Wide Developer’s Conference.
Thanks to an update to the Moscone Center’s summer schedule, it now looks like this year’s WWDC will be held from Monday, June 28th, 2010 to Friday, July 2nd, 2010. There’s no official confirmation just yet, but the Moscone Center has blocked off those dates for a “Corporate Event.”
That can really only be one thing. It overlaps nicely with the third anniversary of the iPhone’s release… and, not so coincidentally, the presumed lapse of AT&T’s exclusivity deal. Even if Apple doesn’t reveal a new iPhone model at WWDC this year (and they will, if only to bump screen resolution to be competitive with the likes of HTC Droid and the Nexus One Android smartphones), I imagine we will all be happy to hear the announcement of new carrier choices. God knows we need the option.
[via Macrumors]
Trust Apple to deliver scintillating graphic evidence of just how revolutionary and amazing its impact is at events such as the Worldwide Developers Conference taking place this week at San Francisco’s Moscone Center West.
The company is drawing raves for the massive ‘hyperwall’ it has erected in the conference hall, made from twenty 30″ Cinema Displays showcasing the icons of 20,000 of the most popular applications on the iTunes App Store. The icons pulse and send a light wave rippling outward every time an app is downloaded from the store, creating a stunning visual depiction of just how in-demand are the services of developers attending the show.
Apple has said 3.000 apps are downloaded every minute and is giving conference attendees quite an eyeful of what that can look like this week.
Sebastiaan de With, a Dutch artist from Groningen, The Netherlands goes by the username Icon Designer on Flickr. He’s in San Francisco this week for WWDC and has promised to do a give away on his blog while he’s in town for Apple’s hit developer’s conference.
Definitely a distinctive entry in the ever-popular ‘exploded’ graphic design style.
Apple fans are generally pleased with Snow Leopard and the new iPhone 3GS but are disappointed Steve Jobs didn’t make a surprise appearance at WWDC.
“Despite Snow Leopard, OS 3.0 and the new iPhone 3GS, what i really wanted to see was Steve Jobs healthy and onstage,” tweeted AppsAddicts.
“Dammmn, We miss Steve Jobs. This keynote sucked,” said mumph.
Steve Jobs’ absence prompted many to wonder about his health, and whether he would return to Apple at the end of the month as the comapny has indicated. One Apple fan compared Jobs to the elusive Osama Bin Laden.
“Where’s Steve Jobs? Keeping his death a secret like bin Laden?” tweeted brokenalice.
Fans also complained about the lack of a forward-facing camera on the new iPhone, which had been widely rumored, and no iTablet.