Decoding Apple's WWDC clues

Update 11:10 a.m. PDT: Thanks to News.com readers for pointing out the origins of two of the three icons I pointed out in this blog. Turns out this little game is only fun for those of us who don't use Leopard and aren't developers. I will now return to speculating about the upcoming features based on other, more telling factors, such as local temperature and humidity readings.

In the runup to any major Apple event, there's no end to the amount of guesswork about what Steve Jobs will pull out of his pocket (or manila envelope, as the case may be).

With the company's Worldwide Developers Conference around the corner, our intrepid photographer, James Martin, took a stroll past Moscone West and managed to snap these photos of banners hanging inside before the convention hall heavies came and shooed him away.

They depict lots of icons, which would fit with the expectation that at least one announcement will be the launch of the App Store, an online store through which people can buy and download approved third-party application for the iPhone.

Some of these icons are familiar, and some are new. Of the new ones, what new features do you suppose they might represent? Check the pictures out below and let us know what you think in the comments area below. We've uploaded them at the best resolution we can. Just click through each one to see a larger version and scan the icons for clues about what's around the corner.

Photo No. 1
This has two intriguing icons: the green X and the purple sphere. The green X is obviously the iPhone's new flux capacitor. That, or maybe it's just there to represent new games taking advantage of the device's existing accelerometer.

Click the image above to get a closer look.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET News.com)

Photo No. 2
In this photo, the small purple icon seems to be a pen and ink well--an indication of handwriting recognition perhaps?

Click the image above to get a closer look.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET News.com)

Photo No. 3
The mosaic eye, made up of dozens of miniature photos, caught our eye in this photo. Could it indicate a new Flickr-style app?

Click the image above to get a closer look.

(Credit: James Martin/CNET News.com)

What do you think? Do the icons on these signs give us an idea of what's to come?

Uh, #2 is simply the Pages icon changed to Purple (which I suppose could mean a new version of iWork on the way).

[davidwarren]

the pen and ink well is the icon for Pages

[monkphin]

The ink well is just pages. If im not mistaken the Eye icon is to do with the Apple TV, The purple sphere is Core Animation?

The 'flux capacitor is new to my eyes at least, but otherwise I can't see much thats too new of a quick cursery glance.

[BlistaBoy]

Isn't the inkwell in Photo 2 just the Pages icon from iWork?

[yogibear224]

As someone else has said, there is nothing new here except the green cross.

Purple sphere = Core Animation.
Inkwell = Pages
Eye picture mossaic = Quick Look

Green Cross is actually more of a + symbol made up of what looks like test tubes! Not sure what it is, but I suspect it might be an existing testing tool... But then again, perhaps not...

[KeanosMagicHat]

Why has no-one mentioned the speech bubble with the video camera inside on pic 2?

Surely this indicates video chat and the rumoured additional front facing camera on the new 3G model?

[mightythomas]

Dude, that's the iChat. Go and open iChat and that is the logo.

[DaveBinM]

That's just the standard iChat icon

[drumpat01]

Yea I'm glad someone who pays closer attention to Apple is reading this besides me. Thank you yogibear224.

Eye Mosaic = Quick Look, a feature in Mac OSX leopard
Inkwell and pen = a word processor called Pages available in the iWork suite.
Purple Sphere = Core animation, a developmental technology used to create smooth animation on the iPhone and in Leopard.

The green cross is the excellerometer symbol. It is two level finders put on top of each other. If you have ever seen a carpenters level device thats what it looks like. It allows you to see how off you are from being flat on the ground. Nothing new or revealing from any of these icons.

[waterskier2007]

are you kidding me, the pen and ink are not new, they are the Pages application icon. the purple sphere is not new, it is the icon for Core Animation. and the mosaic eye is the icon for Quick Look. before you write an article you might want to research

[sjbhatia]

Was gonna post the same thing - do these writers actually get paid to write this nonsense?! Flux capacitor? Ok Doc! It's called an accelerometer.

[JatoThed]

Does it occur to anyone else that these definately do not look like 'snapshots of banners' hanging in a convention hall at a distance? These photos mean nothing!

[JatoThed]

[tingleyj]

are you serious? Why would you report on this if you don't know the icon for Core or Pages or Quicklook when you see it? Do you use a mac?

[jonperez77]

[mdohrmann1]

You should really investigate a little more. The pen and inkwell icon is for Pages, Apple's word processing application...and it has been for 3 years...

[carlostg]

In photo #2 the frame with the "A" looks like a Tablet or a bigger iPod Touch device.

[jonperez77]

The purple sphere is the core animation icon. The purple Pen is the logo for Pages. An the eye is the logo for Quick look. These are all on Apple's website. This is disappointing from cnet.

[kevins77]

No doubt. The green cross is a level. Use it to put up shelves or whatever.

[caruso81]

Flux capacitor = Time Machine? (except it's not a "flux capacitor")

Possibly Time Machine will actually work now?

[Markus2008]

Time Machine works great for me

[sjbhatia]

Green cross = accelerometer icon.
Accelerometer = the technology in iphone that lets you pivot/rotate the phone into portrait vs. landscape positions.

[matthewadavid]

The green cross if the accelerometer (if I have spelled that correctly).

[Mr. Dee]

Looks like Spotlight is coming to the iPhone.