Next-Gen iPhone Preview: Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference '08Next-Gen iPhone Preview: Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference '08

Apple developers will flock to WWDC08 in San Francisco June 9 - 13 to learn about writing software for Mac devices and hear Steve Jobs introduce new products, including an upgraded iPhone, and possible new versions of Mac OS X and the .Mac service.

Unlike the other big annual Mac event -- Macworld in January -- WWDC08 is a more narrowly focused conference. It's also closed to the press, except for Monday's keynote address. It's the traditional venue for Apple to unveil major announcements, though not as big as the launches at January's Macworld. If Macworld is Scooby-Doo, then WWDC is Scrappy-Doo.

This year, we can expect to see Jobs unveil a new iPhone, with faster wireless networking and improved location services, along with a new version of the iPhone OS with support for third-party applications.

He'll also likely deliver a preview of Mac OS X, due to arrive in users' hands next year. And he might also announce an upgrade to the .Mac service for synching and backing up multiple devices over the Internet.

Next-Generation iPhone

The next-generation iPhone, which will be available June 18, will be the centerpiece of Monday's announcement. The new version will support 3G, for much quicker throughput, along with GPS.

The price could be surprisingly low. Fortune reported in April that the new version of the iPhone will be priced at a startlingly reduced $199 -- the existing versions are $399 and $499 -- however, our own Eric Zeman says that's not bloody likely, as does Nielsen analyst Roger Entner, who told RCRWireless News, "There's no need to upgrade the device's capabilities and lower its cost at the same time." AT&T Mobility will want to keep the price high, at first, to throttle demand on their network, Entner says.

AT&T upgraded its 3G network in preparation for the next-gen iPhone. It can now reach speeds of 700 Kbps to 1.7 Mbps on the downlink and 500 Kbps to 1.2 Mbps while uploading, a 20% increase.

I'm particularly excited about GPS. I like my Garmin Nuvi 350 GPS, but I think the Google Maps application on the iPhone has a much friendlier user interface. One potential problem for using the iPhone as a GPS device: The speaker on the current iPhone is pretty weak, it's hard to make out what people are saying more than a few inches away. A GPS-enabled iPhone would require an adapter to pipe output through your car speakers, so you can hear directions over screaming kids in the car.

Real GPS To Replace iPhone's Current Location Technology

I really like the idea of using a GPS-enabled iPhone for directions while walking, especially on city streets. Neither the current iPhone nor the Garmin are well-suited to that. The iPhone's current location-detective technology is ingenious -- it triangulates on the location of nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi hotspots -- but not precise enough for walking distance. And the Garmin Nuvi is bulky and awkward, holding it in my hand while walking makes me feel like I'm a Trekkie pretending to be Mr. Spock looking at his tricorder ("Sensors indicate a Starbucks on this planet, Captain!")

With a GPS iPhone, I can envision walking down the street happily listening to music or talking on the phone on my earbuds, occasionally being interrupted by walking directions (and, as long as I'm fantasizing, the walking directions will be delivered in Ann-Margret's voice).

The other major element in the upgraded iPhone will be support for iPhone 2.0 software, which for the first time provide an Apple-sanctioned way of installing native third-party apps on the iPhone.

Until now, you could get two kinds of apps for the iPhone: You could use apps built into Mobile Safari, which are basically AJAX Web pages and bookmarklets optimized for the tiny browser. Or you could download and install "jailbreak" software to install native apps, but that option was unsupported by Apple.

Apple started shipping preliminary versions of the iPhone 2.0 software and accompanying software development kit in March, allowing developers to start writing native iPhone apps. Developers are required to sell the apps through iTunes, and pay $99 for the SDK. Apple will take a 30% cut of the price of the software although it won't charge anything for free apps.

Apple's tight control over the application environment for the iPhone is controversial. Some developers complained about the steep cut that Apple is taking from revenue, and ambiguous rules about what types of software will be permitted. For instance: Will Apple permit unlocking software to use the phone with non-AT&T networks? Will Apple permit streaming audio software, which could cut into music sales? On the other hand, some developers, including Jon Gruber, author of the blog Daring Fireball, praised the plan: The iPhone Apps Store will automate distribution, payment, and registration for developers, who won't need to worry about all those hassles and can instead focus on building apps. And the $99, while a hassle for students, will serve as a "bozo filter" to keep garbage apps away from users.

And Apple is making the iPhone friendly to IT, adding Microsoft Exchange support for push e-mail, calendaring, contacts, and global address lists, plus the ability to remotely delete data -- important for enterprises if a company-issued iPhone is lost or stolen with proprietary data on it.

Mac OS X Upgrade: "Snow Leopard"

Jobs will announce the next version of Mac OS X that runs only on Intel-based Macs, and start distributing initial seeds to developers at WWDC, according to a story broken by The Unofficial Apple Weblog. The software will be named "Snow Leopard," according to Ars Technica.

TUAW ran a poll of possible operating system names; suggestions included lynx and lion, as well as the more whimsical lolcat and Garfield. Also suggested: "Cougar," which is appropriate because Mac OS is a very mature operating system; perhaps the new version of Mac OS X will hang out in singles bars chasing after studly young OSes like Ubuntu Linux.

The OS will be focused on stability and performance, without any big new features. It'll ship in January, at Macworld Expo. The last version of Mac OS X to ship was Leopard, in October, and Jobs told the New York Times that he wants to stick to a 12 to 18-month update cycle for Mac OS X, and a January ship date would fit that plan.

"In short, if you've ever wished that Apple would spend more time focusing on making existing parts of the OS work better rather than adding new features, this is going to be the release for you. Sounds great to me," Gruber says.

The version number for Snow Leopard is uncertain. Gruber explains that 10.5.5 would imply it's a minor bug fix and 10.6 would imply it's a major upgrade with big new features, and Snow Leopard will be something in between. He added:

Pricing is unknown. Leopard, which shipped in October, was a $129 upgrade, and Gruber says that seems high, while a free upgrade would be too good to be true, he said. He says his gut feeling is that Snow Leopard will cost about $29.

Apple also appears to be poised to upgrade its .Mac service for synchronizing and backing up multiple devices over the Internet, along with giving it a new name. Gruber notes that the name .Mac is hard-coded into the software for the existing iPhones, but now it's a localizable string, indicating an upcoming name change. Apple trademarked the name "Mobile Me" in January 2006, and Gruber speculates that might be the new name for .Mac.

I love the idea of updating .Mac. The service is unreliable, and its capacity is limited -- only 30 GB, just a small fraction of, for example, the 250 GB hard drives available on the low-end iMac. The online backup service Mozy offers unlimited storage for $5 per month; it is past time for Apple to catch up.

I'm hoping Apple uses the newly-branded .Mac to allow for backing up and synching your iPhone with your PC over the Internet. You'd never have to connect your iPhone to your PC, either by cable or by Bluetooth, changes over one will be reflected on the other using EDGE, Bluetooth, or 3G, whether the iPhone or PC are in the same room or on different continents.

WWDC is one of the most exciting events of the Apple year, and we're all stressed out waiting to see what will actually happen. What can you do to calm your nerves? Well, you can read information's Apple coverage.

Or you can pour yourself a beer and get ready for WWDC 2008 Keynote Bingo. That's what I plan to do.