WWDC 2013 Rumor Roundup: iOS 7, OS X 10.9, iRadio, and New Macs

[haravikk]

I just want to say that I expect the "flat" iOS to not be much like Windows Mobile; I think what we'll see is less shine, and less complexity to icons, but still with gradients and other visual niceties to keep things visually interesting.
I'm also hoping we see apps that when pressed can provide a small pop-over/folder style widget as a lightweight means of getting snippets of info from the app; maybe even a way to keep this open all the time, e.g - by swapping a row of icons for an app widget, for example.

 

[deconstruct60]

Contradictory or not, it's true. Pandora isn't offering anything you can't get on any other Internet radio service. AND they are losing ALOT of money.

That establishes nothing about barriers to entry. One of those reasons for the loss is the contracts they set up. As I said getting a contract that will work is a barrier.

Those other competitors got past the barriers. That doesn't mean they don't exist.

Most of their listeners are freeloaders who either can't or won't pay up.

It isn't so much the freeloaders, it has just as much to do with advertisers not willing to pay because for ads because they know nobody is looking at and/or listening to them. It isn't just that they don't buy Pandora they don't buy anything else either. For example:

"... For streaming music service Pandora, advertising revenues haven’t kept up with increasing licensing costs, even causing the company to cap its free mobile service at 40 hours per month ... "
http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/5/40...ples-to-apples-with-traditional-radio-for-ads

Their ads aren't effective. That is primarily contributing to why they are having problems.

Pandora's problem is more so that they are trying to buy users. Chasing growth primarily for growth sake is a trap. They have ignored that their ads mechanism has problems and just plowed forward adding up folks. I think hoping that larger subscriber numbers will "save" the ad business. That is a bonehead move.

Thy cant survive that kind of cash bleeding. Apple on the other hand has rather deep pockets and the muscle & connections to not only survive, but profit.

Apple isn't going to do a loss leader. No way. If this doesn't generate money soon they will kill it.

Again, the only real service out there that offers content is Sirius. If Apple buys them out, they will virtually OWN the car market.

I think that may be part of the problem. For car market the ads all have to be primarily audio focused. Nobody is going to see anything while driving.

But Sirius vs. Pandora vs Spotify vs etc doesn't really matter as much to Apple as long as the player is either an iPod/iPhone and/or this is all hooked to a larger iTunes library somehow.

iRadio just guarantees there is a high integration with iTunes library and iCloud services.

 

[peterdevries]

iRadio? Who cares? I hate all radio. Pandora, etc. I shouldn't have to listen to music with advertisements. Radio is dead and has been dead for a while. Apple killed it with their iPod and they haven't even realized it yet? Jeez.

just because you hate it doesn't mean everyone else does too.

 

[drblank]

A new Mac Pro with a new OS X with power-user enhancements sounds really good to me.

Afraid it won't happen though…

Maybe Apple is waiting to integrate Thunderbolt 2 when Intel releases it later this year?

 

[Xcallibur]

Pandora is a good music discovery service. But There is zero barrier to do what Pandora does. The vast majority of Pandora's listeners are NOT paying subs. They are LOSING money hand over fist. They already have alot of competition, but with Apple entering the fray, its game over for Pandora. Apple will crush them.

Sirius wil be the only surviving competitor. They have the content and delivery system. If Apple were to buy SIRIUS with the huge pile of cash they have, Apple would OWN the car market....which lets face it is pretty much ground zero for radio these days.

Its not just people in cars who listen to the radio, think of the people travelling to work in the morning on the train/bus/tram, there are many more people listening to the radio than you think.

 

[spiderman0616]

You sound like an old geezer. Things change. Get used to it.

In the Napster era, people thought 'Why would anyone pay for music anymore?' iTunes changed all this.

The music industry is still in the middle of huge changes.

Yep. Apple killed the "buy a physical album" model and legitimized the "download the MP3" concept, but they have to stay competitive. They have the best music library there is, and the most customers that already have access to it. This is the next logical step, especially with an LTE enabled iPhone/iPad on the market that can handle the download speeds necessary to do it.

I don't love the idea of not owning my music either, which is why I haven't ponied up for any of these services yet. But I have a feeling Apple will be the company that finally causes me to take the leap. You can't argue with their selection!

 

[SmileyBlast!]

I hope they include a Widgets/Tiles API.
With a new way to arrange icons to display active tiles like Windows Phone 8.

 

[deconstruct60]

Depends, often resellers like Best Buy get the new models immediately, though in limited supply.

LOL. Like iMacs.... not. So limited that they are out of stock. But yes the bigger resellers typically get something. Whether they can keep it in stock is another question during the initial phases.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Its not just people in cars who listen to the radio, think of the people travelling to work in the morning on the train/bus/tram, there are many more people listening to the radio than you think.

Are they listening to radio or are they listening to their favorite songs in commercial-free playlists on their Apple devices?

Radio is OK but so loaded with commercials anymore that you hardly ever get to hear the music. When they do play a song, it seems to be the same handful over and over... as if the radio station buys 1 CD of "Now that's what I call music" when each of those comes out and just plays that mix of songs over and over. Even my kid gets fed up with the commercials and switches to the AUX option in the car for iPod playlists (commercial free).

While I think Radio used to be a great "new music discovery" source, IMO think that time has passed. I think it's now social, music placement in television shows & commercials and free sample plays of any song in the entire iTunes (and similar) stores.

Besides, as someone else wrote, we've had streaming radio stations in iTunes for many years now. When was the last time that we listened to any of those stations? How often do we regularly listen to them?

 

[gugy]

I hope they announce the MacPro even with a late launch date to get the new processors. Keeping it on the dark it is just sucks.
Also an ACD update would be welcomed.

 

[matty.p]

I think most people don't realize that a lot, A LOT, of people don't buy any music at all. They use Pandora for their radio and music discovery and when they want to listen to something specific they use youtube on their phones and listen to it that way.

If Apple can somehow make a competitive Pandora (less/no ads plus better skipping) it could be a huge hit with a big segment of the population. If they in the future can couple that with a subscription service it would be unbeatable.

 

[b33g33]

iRadio

I would pay for an all-you-can consume subscription to music like the one I currently have with MOG. I will not tolerate ads in my radio which is why I only listen to NPR these days.

I hope there will be an option to download the music for offline listening without having to buy it through iTunes though. I have about 10 B worth of offline music via MOG and simply download the albums I like when I like.

The only reason I would switch to iRadio would be better integration with my car stereo etc.

I doubt that it will be cheaper than spotify/Mog.

 

[ennerseed]

I have one wish...

A MacBook that I can use outside during the day.

 

[spacemanspifff]

Flat Eric

Has anyone else noticed that the coloured squares on the WWDC logo look a lot like iOS icon squares? I am now wondering if this is not a hint to what the new iOS 7 will look like!

Ser Johnny Ive could be getting rid of the current photographic icons and replacing them with these graduated coloured squares, perhaps with either text or a simple white icon on them and hopefully getting rid of the app names below them in the process.

It's always annoyed me that there is a name under the icon as it defeats the whole idea of having an icon in the first place. If the icon is well designed it shouldn't need the text underneath. There should at least be a preference to turn these off.

I think SJI would agree with me as he didn't put the word "Home" under the button on the front of the phone, just a simple white square which shows the shape of an app icon - brilliant.

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

 

[deconstruct60]

But will OS X.9 finally let me do something windows has been able to do now for ages, unplug a USB drive without freaking out about me "ejecting" it safely first !!

Never going to happen because it isn't safe. Windows complains also, just not as loudly. The file systems all keep a cached metadata and possibly file data. An explicit "unmount" process is necessary to make sure everything is flushed to where it is suppose to be on the disk and a sanity check to make sure aren't walking away with an open file.

It is a bad practice. There is very little long term upside in encouraging people to do that.

 

[studio¹³¹]

Has anyone else noticed that the coloured squares on the WWDC logo look a lot like iOS icon squares? I am now wondering if this is not a hint to what the new iOS 7 will look like!

Ser Johnny Ive could be getting rid of the current photographic icons and replacing them with these graduated coloured squares, perhaps with either text or a simple white icon on them and hopefully getting rid of the app names below them in the process.

It's always annoyed me that there is a name under the icon as it defeats the whole idea of having an icon in the first place. If the icon is well designed it shouldn't need the text underneath. There should at least be a preference to turn these off.

I think SJI would agree with me as he didn't put the word "Home" under the button on the front of the phone, just a simple white square which shows the shape of an app icon - brilliant.

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Welcome to the discussion.

 

[willcapellaro]

It has been 10 years so I am expecting Apple to at least prepare a video for the next Mac Pro design for the next 10 years.

It would be cool if they did something spectacular when they do update them.

 

[Walter White]

I'm waiting for system wide icon update. Folder and drive icons are dated.

 

[Sky Blue]

Has anyone else noticed that the coloured squares on the WWDC logo look a lot like iOS icon squares?

Yes. Everybody.

 

[jonnysods]

Lots to look forward to!!

 

[runeapple]

I think it's cool that MMXIII as well of roman numerals is also a list of everything to be announced.

M - Macbook Air
M - Macbook Pro
X - OSX
I - iOS iPhone/iPod
I - iOS iPad
I - iOS Apple TV

Now that is overlooking it to an extreme - in all seriousness I can't find any real hints from the banners

 

[patent10021]

If there's no blu-ray in the new MB I'm going medieval on someone's azz.

 

[840quadra]

No spoilerfree thread or notification when the keynote will be released?

That is in the works most likely, I will inquire with the site admins, however it is still a bit early, as the event isn't until next Monday .

 

[gto55]

will they update the apple TV ?

 

[Walter White]

But will OS X.9 finally let me do something windows has been able to do now for ages, unplug a USB drive without freaking out about me "ejecting" it safely first !!

Do your research first.