WWDC 2012 Preview: What has Apple been cooking up?

We?re just a few days away before Apple takes the stage at WWDC and announces updates to products that many of you have been drooling at the mouth over. While we may not see the new iPhone in the flesh ? or metal, we?re pretty sure we?re going to get a taste of iOS 6, and a few more products along the way.

iOS 6

Since we?re pretty Into Mobile, iOS 6 is by far the biggest thing we?re expecting to see out of the show. While we have a few ideas as to what Apple has up its sleeve, we?re more than aware that there?s much more that we don?t know.

iMaps

While we don?t know exactly what it will be called, we?re definitely expecting to see Apple introduce its own Maps application for iOS. We?ve seen leaks of said application already, so it?s pretty much a given. Further distancing itself from Google, Apple?s Maps solution should be easy on the eyes at very least, and possibly ready to go toe-to-toe with Google?s upcoming Earth and Maps updates for mobile.

To pre-empt Apple?s move, Google held their own event for its maps application. The event looks like it was thrown together quickly but not what was shown off. The big takeaways from Google?s event were that the Earth application will soon receive a 3D mapping solution that looked pretty stunning in the demos that were shown off. Google detailed how they achieved their 3D structures, and touched on the process to make Google Earth look as if the user is looking down on the world from a plane when navigating through the app.

Google also announced an offline mode for its Maps application on Android devices, which many were pleased to see.

Are Google?s efforts to keep the hype of Apple?s Maps application to a minimum going to pay off? We?ll just have to wait and see, but something tells us that Apple will have more than a few wow-ing features.

Siri Improvements

Love her or hate her, Siri is here to stay. Apple?s popular voice assistant may get some great improvements next week, which could allow for a better experience through and through. While voice recognition software isn?t really where it needs to be at this point in time for mobile, it can only improve and we may see just what Apple has been working on with Siri.

Facebook Integration

Apple may have snubbed Facebook by only allowing Twitter integration in iOS 5, but that doesn?t mean it couldn?t happen in the upcoming version of iOS. Facebook certainly isn?t going anywhere and it would just make sense to include this type of integration into iOS 6 without needing to use the still crappy Facebook application.

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Notification Bar Widget SDK

We wouldn?t be surprised if this ended up being absent from WWDC, but we?d love to see Apple open up the notification widgets to developers. While full-fledged widgets likely won?t be happening anytime soon in iOS, the option to have third-party widgets tucked away in your notification panel may indeed be a worthy?compromise.

Everything Else

We?re sure that Apple has a lot more to announce other than the latest version of iOS. That said, we?re going to keep it light since the rest is not as mobile as we?d like it to be.

Apple is likely to announce a Mac refresh. From the Air to iMac, Apple may set the world on fire with updated hardware across the board. Rumors are swirling around that the new MacBook line may be sporting Retina Displays, which would definitely be something to behold. Expect the products to retain their premium quality (and pricing), ?just like everything else Apple.

A possible whopper of an?announcement?could concern Apple TV. We?re not necessarily speaking of the actual TV that Apple is most definitely working on but more on the software side of things. Apple may introduce a TV SDK to developers, which would do nothing but put the late Google TV a few feet deeper into the already-dug grave plot its made for itself.

Another possible wow-ing announcement could be that Apple might finally announce the iPhone on T-Mobile.

What are some iOS features that you?d like to see from Apple?s latest and greatest? Sound off in the comments below!

About The Author

Blake Stimac

Blake was born in Beaumont, Texas, about 100 miles away from Houston. Even as a youngster, technology came to him very naturally, tinkering with anything he could. His passion of technology grew with mobile phones when he dreamed that the capabilities of phones would eventually make one's life much easier. Since then it's been his mission to advocate the push of mobile technology to anyone who will listen.

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