We already knew that Apple’s WWDC would be held June 11-15 but the company has officially set the keynote for 10 a.m. PST on that first day. This will likely be our first official taste of the next generation of iOS.
There’s a slim chance we may get the next iPhone during the keynote but I would expect Apple to hold that off until the Fall. Instead, I think the company will spend its developer conference focusing on software. The Mountain Lion desktop OS is already in beta, so expect to get a final price, release date and more insight on its features.
While Mountain Lion is fun, the most appealing part for us is getting a glimpse at iOS 6. We expect the latest version of the platform to have a lot of major new features.
It appears like we’ll be getting 3D Maps from Apple in iOS 6 and it appears like this could remove Google Maps from the Apple handsets. Apple has purchased multiple mapping companies over the years to prepare for this move but Google Maps is pretty damn good, so it had better be more than just a few pretty 3D maps. There’s also the possibility that these new maps will use Open Street Maps as its main data with an Apple overlay and that could provide a good experience.
It may also be time for iOS to get a bit of a visual overhaul but I wouldn’t hold my breath for widgets. If we’re getting into wishing territory, I’d also hope that Apple and Facebook squashed their beef and integrate Facebook into iOS in the same way that Twitter is hooked in.
We’ll know soon enough, so what do you want from iOS 6?