Steve Jobs may not be scheduled to unveil advancements around the
iPhone, the new Snow Leopard Mac operating system or other Apple
technologies at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San
Francisco today, but Apple is likely to have plenty of news in store
for its loyal followers about those technologies.
And WWDC is something that resellers and solution providers will likely
watch more carefully than ever before, given the rising business
interest in the Mac platform and the iPhone for business.
Among the more likely expected announcements at the conference are
hardware updates to the next version of the iPhone, including a faster
processor, more RAM and storage, a built-in compass and a 3-megapixel
camera with autofocus and video recording capability, says Toni
Sacconaghi, senior analyst at Bernstein Research, which released a
brief report this morning listing some of the more likely rumors and
expected announcements at the event.
Other likely announcements include the following:
- Apple is expected to provide more detail about its new Snow Leopard Mac OS and iPhone OS 3.0.
- The company may reveal plans to expand its iPhone further to more geographies such as China.
- Price cuts on iPhone hardware and/or services may be among the announcements.
Less likely at WWDC is a surprise presentation by Apple’s leader, Steve
Jobs, says Sacconaghi. That’s because Apple has said Jobs will return
in late June and an earlier return could further undermine the
company’s credibility with regard to statements about Jobs’ health,
says Sacconaghi. In addition, the company needs to establish the
precedent of doing successful product and technology launches and
presentations without Jobs.