Apple Inc is to launch its developers’ summit today, which is to focus on software for the company’s iPhones, iPads, iPods and Macintosh computers, dampening expectations of the tech giant’s next big thing.
In trademark style, the US firm has remained mum about what it will unveil at the keynote presentation opening a sold-out Apple World Wide Developers Conference devoted to tailoring applications or services for the company’s devices.
As is usually the case leading up to Apple events, rumors about what the California-based company may be planning have ricocheted across the Internet.
Comments by Apple chief executive Tim Cook that the company will weigh into a new product category by the end of this year have fueled speculation about a smartwatch or a system for using iPhones or iPads to control door locks, security systems and other computer-enlighted devices in smart homes.
“I think we will see bells and whistles from the developer perspective, but otherwise a low-key event,” Gartner Inc analyst Van Baker said of this year’s conference in San Francisco, California.
Apple will be keen to spotlight capabilities added to the operating systems powering its mobile devices and Macintosh computers, according to analysts.
Apple, Microsoft Corp and Google Inc vie for devotion of third-party developers whose hip, fun or functional applications are essential to the popularity of smartphones or tablet computers.
Software features that Apple might crow about could include a mobile payments platform to challenge Google Wallet on smartphones running its rival’s Android system, analysts say.
Apple might also expand Passbook capabilities for storing and using digital airline tickets, movie passes and gift cards to include health-related information in a move that could tie to an “iWatch.”
“While we might see some interesting extensions of iPhone, I am skeptical we are going to see anything groundbreaking,” Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett said. “Think of this as their event for evolving the existing things they have — new software, but no important new hardware.”
Apple could upgrade its Macintosh computers, while touting its next-generation operating system since it has consistently preferred to spotlight big new products at stand-alone events surrounded by ample buzz.
The keynote speech, which will be Webcast, is likely to include cameos by music industry legend Jimmy Iovine and rapper Dr Dre, cofounders of Beats Music, which Apple bought last week in a deal valued at US$3 billion.
Apple’s biggest-ever acquisition includes the maker of high-end audio equipment and a streaming music service, but more importantly, the talent of Beats brains Dr Dre and Iovine.
The wild card in the deal could be Iovine, 61, a Brooklyn, New York, native and son of a longshoreman who started in the business by cleaning studios. Iovine was then a recording engineer for John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen before becoming a producer.
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