WWDC Predictions Recap

Time to see how I did with my WWDC 2008 predictions. Here goes:

3G iPhone

Prediction: Although most "experts" seem to think this is a foregone conclusion, I can actually envision a reality where SJ does not give us new iPhone. For some reason, I just have this feeling that it's not going to happen. However, where there's smoke there's fire and there's an awful lot of smoke on this one. If I had to bet my house on it, I'd say it will happen, but I won't be surprised at all if it doesn't.

Result: The longer the keynote went on the more confident I was getting that we were not going to be blessed with the iPhone 3G. Ultimately, Steve gave everyone what they expected. I sort of hedged my bets in my prediction. I guess this one is a toss up.

Mac OS X 10.6 Preview

Prediction: Several stories popped up in the last couple weeks about the possible unveiling of Leopard's successor. Early reports indicated that no new features would be included, but rather that it would focus on optimization and drop PowerPC support. I think this sounds pretty plausible, but I'm going to do the rumor mill one better: I think Apple will announce that they're taking Darwin—the open source core of OS X—to the next level. When I say next level I mean run on generic X86 hardware. I'm not saying that they're going to start selling OS X for any old PC, but I think they've seen enough interest from the "scene" to be willing to meet half way. This one is crazy and has no chance of happening, but if it does you heard it here first.

Result: Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" was indeed introduced, but little was shared with the world. Details have started to leak out a bit, but for the most part, we don't know a whole lot about it. Of course, if they would have made as bold a move as I had predicted, word would have surely leaked by now. I guess this one is a toss up, too.

.Mac Refresh

Prediction: This really needs to happen if not tomorrow then as soon as humanly possible. Over the air syncing for iPhones should be the absolute minimum update to the service. If not, subscribers are going to drop .Mac really fast. I'd love to see a whole lot more, but, frankly, the service has never gotten the full attention of Apple at any time during its life and I'm afraid that's not going to change...yet. Hope I'm wrong on this one.

Result: Sure enough, Apple came through with a complete rebranding of .Mac named MobileMe. Over the air syncing for iPhones, Macs and PCs was part of the announcement, just like I had hoped. Honestly, it was more than I thought we would get. I can't wait for the service to be rolled out. I'll say I nailed this one.

Mystery Device

Prediction: Isn't this a rumor before every Stevenote? Uber-portable Macs have been predicted for almost as long as I've been alive. While I can see a hardware refresh or two, I can't see a completely new device announcement tomorrow; not at WWDC. Now, Macworld in January is a different story...

Result: No mystery device, as predicted. I fully expect something to be announced at MacWorld in January. I was right about this, but it was an easy call.

All in all, the keynote went about as I expected. I'm really excited about iPhone 3G and MobileMe and the AppStore. This summer should be a good one for Mac fan boys.