Apple to host WWDC in early June

Apple's annual developers conference is expected to focus on the iPhone and Mac OS X Snow Leopard this year.

(Credit: Screenshot by Tom Krazit/CNET)

Apple has set the dates for its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, to be held once again in San Francisco during June.

The company will host about 5,000 engineers in San Francisco's Moscone West convention center the week of June 8 through June 12, it confirmed Thursday. Some Apple developers were starting to get nervous that Apple had yet to confirm the dates in order for them to make travel plans.

Apple did not post any explicit information about whether there would be the usual opening keynote at WWDC this year, except for an offhand reference to the "WWDC Keynote Session" in a site section regarding attendance policies. Last year's event saw CEO Steve Jobs unveil the iPhone 3G, but this year, Jobs is supposed to be on medical leave through the end of June, which would likely preclude him from hosting the show.

That is, unless he plans to return early. It's hard to imagine that Apple would host a WWDC without plans for some sort of media event, which this year has been expected to focus on a combination of a new iPhone and the iPhone OS 3.0 software, as well as Mac OS X Snow Leopard, expected to arrive in the next few months.

A call to Apple representatives seeking more information about the keynote was not immediately returned.

[seven7dust]

"A call to Apple representatives seeking more information about the keynote was not immediately returned"
isn't that the case always !
why include that on every Apple article

[da_bombdiggidy]

It makes the article appear longer.

[ikramerica--2008]

With instant news like we have today, nobody is going to "immediately return" a call. Who has time? But it doesn't excuse journalists from reporting bad information just because they couldn't confirm it or have it corrected. Journalists seem to think "not immediately returned" gives them carte blanche to post any rumor they want to.

Not saying this really applies here, but it's bringing down the entire profession. Better to be first than accurate...

[DarkHawke]

But in this day and age of instantaneous, real-time, 24-7 information and access, why shouldn't PR people for large, multi-national corporations step up to the challenge, get with the 21st century and be available for comment virtually at a moment's notice? Even five years ago, that may have been a justifiably unreasonable expectation, but now? In our increasingly Twitter-fied world? When Comcast has a dedicated staff that monitors Twitter for bad service reviews and tries to make it right for their customers, the bar for corporate responsiveness has been hiked up significantly.

Then again, we ARE talking about Apple right here....

[Tom Krazit]

The point of including that sentence is to let everybody know that we did try to reach them, but that we don't expect them to be always sitting at their desks awaiting our call.

We didn't need Apple PR to confirm the actual news (posted on their site) that Apple was holding the event on those dates, we just were looking for an additional piece of information. There's no reason to hold the story for a tangential piece of info, especially since Apple (and every company) knows that we'll update the story if and when they get back to us.

[BogusBasin]

Soon to be announced: The Apple Netbook. $300. It will look like a laptop with a screen, trackpad and keyboard. The only thing inside will be a battery the full size of the book. It will connect to the iPhone and use the memory and processor from that. 48 hours battery life. Amen

[CyberBob859]

Gosh, I hope you're right because that is what I'm hoping for also. The concept is like a Palm Foleo, which I always thought was ahead of its time. It would solve the two biggest problems with the iPhone - lack of a full size, tactile keyboard for email composing and a bigger screen to see webpages more clearly. Plus, this won't take sales away from the MacBook or Air, which would be more full-featured, complete laptops The features designed into iPhone 3.0 could allow a "netbook" like this to be developed.

[Mr. Dee]

You are wrong about the price, add an extra 0 to that $300.

[BogusBasin]

Now that they have opened the dock connector up to developers. If Apple doesn't make one, maybe someone else will. Amen

[ikramerica--2008]

So, how do they name the iPhone 3G replacement, which is really the 2nd-Generation? Even in slang terms, iPods have been known as "1G, 2G, 3G" etc. but in this case, the iPhone 3G rev 2 would be the iPhone 3rd-Generation.

Anyway, as long as it has 32GB of memory and Spotlight, i'll finally get one. :)

[tcr071]

32GB and spotlight? I can understand wanting 32GB but spotlight is a downright irrelevant feature. I've had the beta installed over a week now and have not once actually used spotlight.

[seven7dust]

@tcr071
how can spotlight not be a Important feature ?
it's the only decent feature in the 3.0 update
instantly finding info may not be useful to you but the rest of the world needs it !

[ikramerica--2008]

I need to be able to search emails. I know there are now third party apps that do it, but Spotlight is integrated and much more than just that.

I assume you are a Windows user, tcr071? Because if you've lived with a Mac for a while and not realized how useful spotlight is, maybe you should start using it more.

Need to find a file? Dictionary definition? Open an app buried 3 layers deep? Play a movie? Play a song? Find an address? Find an appointment? All you need is to bring up Spotlight and begin to type part of the name, then hit return when it's found.

The iPhone will be far more usable if all you need to do to do anything on the phone is to bring up spotlight and tap in a few letters...

I hope they allow Spotlight to be assigned to either holding down the home button or double pressing it.

[ikramerica--2008]

And I would assume that if you use iPhoto and have photos tagged by face and location, when you search for a person's name on the iPhone, pictures of them will show up on the list too. Not confirmed, but I assumed that it will work with metadata like it does in OS X.

Things will be much, much faster using Spotlight. Much less tapping, much less waiting.

[sanjayb]

Spotlight will be a killer feature.

[tcr071]

$1300 plus all traveling expenses is too high for me. Everything included probably get close to $2,000. They sold out last year but with the way people are losing money they might have a harder problem this year.

[csoccer1]

small time devs aren't the ones usually at these events. the big, money making companies are. and the press, well they'll take up about 3/4's of all of the seating. press and big devs don't care how much money they are spending, cause they know they'll make more with whatever apple is releasing to them. by all means, i would never pay that much to see an event. i'll be just as happy by reading the liveblogs.

[iBuzz]

$1300 + airfare + taxis + meals + a week's stay in an over-priced San Francisco hotel and you'd easily be dropping $3000 for this event. That's a lot of $0.99 iPhone apps to sell to break even. Plus, for that money, I'd rather have a new MacBook Pro.

[CorwinB]

Perhaps they'll be announce how Snow Leopard wont be tied down to Mac hardware anymore. Oops did I let the cat out of the bag too early. Silly me.

[azzuro2006]

Software....already known. Hardware? Perhaps a thinner version with the screen being slightly bigger but overal device being the same size or smaller. 32Gb is for sure.

[jabberwolf]

Big WOW
Nothing to be nervous about.
1)Jobs = wont be there, he is dying ( but arent we all)
2)iPhone 3.0 = finally ability to do other functions that other phones have been able to do now for a couple years. IT still has issue with multitasking thus not making active sync any better or useful to business market.
3) They now have to compete with things like the Toshiba TG01 that can do everything, and fast, compared to the iphone.
4)Snowleopard still buggy and generally just a facelift with a new GUI
5) Developers for Apple products are zealots, and dont care that they get screwed out of royalties every time they make something for OSX.

So again, big WOW !!!