Friday, May 4, 2012

iOS 6 beta - what is Apple likely to give us at WWDC


Ever since Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone nearly five years ago, the user interface of iOS has remained about the same. Nearly everyone can use an iPad, iPod, or iPhone without any trouble at all. If it ain't broke don't fix it, thats Apples motto. So aside from all rather drastic changes people are predicting, lets take a moment and think of what Apple is actually likely to do.
Here are the features that people have been wanting in iOS 6:
1. Siri support for all devices
While this one is possible, I don't know how likely it is. It was the main selling point for the iPhone 4S over the iPhone 4. Apple will never bring support for older devices, so that leaves the iPad 3rd generation as the only currently available option. If the iPad gets it at the WWDC with the release of iOS 6 it would be safe to assume that the iPod touch will get it also when its released in the fall.
2. Widgets for Notification Center
This is one of the more likely rumors out there. Android type widgets will never happen – thats not Apple. If you look a few years back when the iPhone was first released, it had stock apps and that was it. The following year the AppStore was released and millions of third party apps came to our devices. Similar to that, with iOS 6 apple had a few stock widgets so expecting third party widgets would not be too far fetched.
3. Facebook Integration
You would think that this one should have already happened with iOS 5, but it didn't. Facebook has about nearly 900 million active users worldwide, thats 3X the population of the United States. There is some talk of things not working at the business end of things. That is probably why we didn't see it in iOS 5 but its now nearly a year later and those are hopefully settled by now and we can enjoy native Facebook support.
4. IM Support in iMessages
This one probably isn't happening, there's no reason for it. iMessage is Apples thing, if you need an IM app there are plenty on the AppStore right now.
5. iPhone/iPod Touch Multitask Gestures
This one isn't going to happen, The screen just isn't big enough. If you have ever tried to do this on a jailbroken device you'll know that this doesn't really make things easier at all. Apple doesn't add features just because, they do it to make things better. They will never do anything that isn't more or less perfect.
6. Better native apps
This one is almost a given. Apple always improves its native apps. This year I'd like to see turn-by-turn directions in maps. I do not believe all the apps will be updated, just the ones Apple feels it could do better.
I hope that helps clear things up for you on what you can actually expect with iOS 6. Don't forget to get your UDID activated with at iOSUDIDs.com so you can use the iOS 6 beta!