WWDC 2007 predictions

· 2 minute read · via Masoni Raves About

Things are heating up in the Apple world before WWDC 2007. Rumors are swirling every which-way concerning new releases and cancellations of various products (namely the Mac mini). I’ve seen rumors about a new MacBook Pro release, which seems likely due to the recent update of the MacBook line, a new and completely redesigned iMac, which has been coming for a while, and, perhaps most surprising, the release of a beta Leopard with a possible (?) redesigned GUI to replace the current Aqua. Now some of my predictions are purely wishful thinking, but most of them have grounds in the thousands of rumors surrounding this WWDC. Here are my personal predictions:

  1. iPhone will be released (as known before) and Jobs will showcase a slew of new and exciting features.1
  2. A new, widescreen, touch-screen 6G iPod using the new touch-screen gadgetry tech from the iPhone.2
  3. The release of a completely redesigned iMac, maybe including a black model and maybe featuring touch-screen/multi-touch technology?3
  4. Cool new Leopard features, including multi-touch support and a completely redesigned GUI codenamed “Illuminous.” This new interface will incorporate the new interface elements from iTunes 7 and will look sort of like the Effects palette in iPhoto 6. I got this rumor from Apple Gazette. In my opinion, Apple will probably make some minor refinements and small style changes in regards to GUI with v10.5, like in the previous OS X releases. Aqua’s much too famous and recognizable to completely replace; rather, if Apple wants a new look, they’ll gradually nudge in the right direction.4
  5. New releases of iLife ‘07 (maybe with iTunes HD—iTunes Store with HD content?) and iWork ‘07 (new spreadsheet program?).5
  6. Cancellation of the Mac mini line (probably not announced with much fanfare).6
  7. Release of a “MacBook Mini,” a new ultra-portable notebook (maybe a smaller MB Pro model so Apple doesn’t have to create a third product line?).7

Those are my predictions, and, while obviously not all of them can occur this year, I believe that these products/releases support general direction in which Apple is steering itself. After WWDC I’ll add another post to compare my ideas with the actual results.

All bracketed footnotes below are from August 6, 2008. How true some of these predictions turned out to be…

  1. Now known to be true. ↩︎

  2. Now known as iPod touch. ↩︎

  3. Redesign happened, no touch abilities. ↩︎

  4. Came sort of true, in the sense that Leopard has a universal GUI separate from Tiger. ↩︎

  5. Came true, called iWork ‘08 with Numbers. ↩︎

  6. Eh… very wrong. ↩︎

  7. Now known as MacBook Air. ↩︎

Posts mentioning this one