WWDC 2016: What to Expect, From the Certain to Certainly Not
Every year, Apple huddles its developers together to spin tales of software improvements to come. And while some of the announcements coming on Monday are pretty much a lock---hello, Siri!---other rumors seem a lot less likely. Here's what to expect, from the certain to the almost certainly not.
Siri Plays Nice With Third-Party Apps
Siri was early to the voice assistant party, but you wouldn't know it given its many limitations. This year's biggest WWDC focus looks to be opening up Siri to third-party developers, so that it can integrate with their apps, instead of just Apple software and a handful of selected partners. If Apple wants to keep up with Google and Amazon---whose Alexa assistant has over a thousand integrations since it launched in late 2014---it's going to need a little help from its friends.
AppleNew and Improved Apple Music
Apple Music isn't short on subscribers (it's got 13 million as of late April) or exclusives (Chance the Rapper, how could you!). It is, though, missing all kinds of polish. Reports from Bloomberg and 9to5Mac suggest an overhaul is coming to streamline the bloated streaming music interface. No mention so far of a Ping comeback, but there's always next year.
Apple
An iOS 10 Grab Bag
Siri and Music should be the biggest changes coming in iOS 10, but you can also expect a handful of other improvements large and small. Apple Pay, for instance may be coming to the mobile web, to spare you the annoyance of filling out payment forms. And it may offer person-to-person payments? (Sorry, Venmo!). Otherwise, the only update that really matters is maybe possibly being able to hide all those junk preloaded apps for the first time. A guy can dream.
AppleOS X? Try macOS.
There's not a lot of speculation out there about OS X specifics. It will probably have Siri now! But it will even more probably no longer be called OS X, emerging from its firmware cocoon to spread its wings as macOS, to fall in line with the naming convention Apple has used for all of its other product lines since the iPhone.
Apple
watchOS and tvOS... Something?
There's precious little to say about watchOS and tvOS going into WWDC this year. We may see custom Watch faces? Tweaks toward a more intuitive interface? Maybe signs of real commitment to Apple TV as a smart home hub? We'll see!
AppleiMessage for Android
A late-breaking rumor from MacDailyNews says that Apple will introduce a version of its popular iMessage app for Android users. That would be great for Android, and not really beneficial to Apple, since it would make switching off of iOS that much easier without offering much apparent upside. Let's hope that collecting a bunch more Apple IDs (and a determination to win the messaging war no matter what) is enough incentive to make this happen.
Lenovo
Improved iCloud Security
Apple improves its security every year, but one particular opportunity---especially in the wake of its recent showdown with the FBI---has been encrypting iCloud in a way that not even Apple can access it. That's almost certainly coming at some point, just maybe not in time for iOS 10.
AppleNew MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs
Does Apple need to update the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air? It does. Will Apple do that at WWDC? Probably not. The good news is, when Apple finally does give some update love to its laptops (probably this fall?), it may include a fancy OLED display bar to replace the function keys. And better specs and such. But mostly fancy OLED.
Josh Valcarcel/WIRED
