With Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook due to take the stage at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) Monday at 1 p.m. Eastern to kick off the festivities, it has been expected that the focus of the conference this year would primarily revolve around software and services rather than on devices – though some new laptops are expected on the announcement agenda – which has fueled much speculation and ultimately expectation that Apple will use this forum to unveil the new iOS 7 to the developers in attendance.
But there has been even more speculation about what the new Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) mobile platform will be like, than there has been speculation about this announcement. It has pretty much been expected that iOS 7 would be announced, but it has been up in the air as to when we will actually see it on Apple devices – would it be in the fall, or might it be rolled out early next year?
While it might be tough to go quite that far, many indications are that iOS 7 will be a major design departure and is supposed to have a few new features 9 and perhaps a couple of innovations that may take the platform to a new level of usability. But here is what we might expect from iOS 7, considering the rumors and speculation. We do not know yet if Cook will be the one to go over the features of iOS 7 in his keynote, but everyone expects that the first day of the conference will not go past without details being revealed one way or the other.
Here is a sampling to what we can expect from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in this new OS.
* First, iOS 7 may have a delayed release. Ive has been spending a lot of time on the Calendar and Mail apps in the new OS, and that could either delay the whole release, or the OS may launch with the old apps and the updated ones may be sent out as an update later.
* iOS 7 will be flatter. Details like wooden shelves in the Newsstand or other textual, three-dimensional features will be shunned for a flat, black-and-white look that won’t have much (if any) shadowing or highlighting. It could look similar in that sense to the Windows 8 tiling in the new Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) platform.
* Notifications and Messages, which have been a couple of bug-a-boos for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will apparently have more prominent placement among the icons. There were some complaints that they weren’t more obvious.
* A unnamed “killer app” that will be added. There is some speculation that this could be the iRadio app that has been rumored, but there has been no definite hint about this.
* An easy-to-access Settings screen and panoramic images in the background as wallpaper. A feature that is on Android devices currently, users could swipe across the screen and the background image seems to pan.
* FaceTime will stand alone, and reports are that Flickr and Vimeo will also have native apps built in this time around.
What are your thoughts? Let us know about this new Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) platform in the comments section below.
DISCLOSURE: None
