Apple sends out invites for WWDC 2016: Here's what to expect

Apple has officially started sending out invites for its annual developer conference called WWDC. The event will take place on 13 June at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco and is expected to start at 10:30PM for viewers in India. The event as always, will also be streamed live around the globe. All of Apple’s first day activities and keynotes are expected to take place at the same venue. And while we have plenty of rumours about what Apple may reveal, there is always plenty more that begins to show up online as WWDC approaches closer. WWDC was always about software (WWDC 2013 was the only one that showcased redesigned Apple products) and Apple having moved to new platforms recently will have plenty to present indeed. Apart from device software, Apple is also expected to showcase something new with Siri – its digital assistant for devices. iOS 10 We begin with iOS 10 and while there was not much to talk about with its iOS 9 update last year, this year is expected to bring plenty of redesigns and revamps. Still then, don’t expect a sea change like that from iOS 6 to iOS 7. According to 9to5mac, Apple is planning a big App Store revamp. This is expected to include some major changes like those related to navigation and browsing and even introduce paid search results. This should resolve the Store’s longstanding problems with app search and discovery that are clearly not as accurate and powerful as Google Play Store on Android.  Apart from this, we also recently saw evidence to hide stock or native apps on the iPhone and iPad. The details come from iTunes metadata which indicates that apps will now be segregated into ‘first party apps’ and ‘first party hideable apps’. The same values had showed up back in April and apparently apply to every single app in Apple’s App Store. The new data showcases a new ability for users being able to remove default app like Stocks, Compass, Voice Messages and others. iOS 10 is also said to bring a revamped Apple Music with support for lyrics, massive artwork and is expected to go black and white instead of the current magenta colour and translucent theme. MacOS  Yes you read that correctly. While Apple has plans to change the Mac OS X name to MacOS , there could be other features that the company may reveal to usher in the change. These would include Siri its voice-assistant making it first appearance on the company’s Mac and MacBooks systems. Other updates coming to OS X 10.12 release will also include a new iTunes as Apple execs Eddy Cue and Craig Federighi pointed out in a recent interview. MacBook This could indeed be the second time in WWDC history that Apple decides to announce a couple of redesigned products. While Apple did update its MacBook lineup recently, the MacBook Air desperately needs an update and the same can be said about the MacBook Pro lineup. Turns out Apple is listening and an analyst stated that MacBook Pro is expected to get a major overhaul. This would include a thinner design again built of metal with injection molded hinges. Apple is also expected to dump the standard USB slots for USB Type C slots, which may see a few haters. [caption id=“attachment_318240” align=“aligncenter” width=“640”]  Image: CultofMac[/caption] Ming-Chi Kuo also added something rather unusual to the rumours surrounding the revamped MacBook line-up, stating that the function key row would be replaced by a dedicated OLED strip . The same was recently confirmed by CultofMac when they managed to get their hands on photos of a CNC machined keyboard frame that appears to pack just USB Type C ports and no cutouts for the standard MacBook function keys. Coming to everyone’s favourite the MacBook Air. There could be good news and bad news. Reports from TechRadar point out that Apple may introduce a slimmer and lighter MacBook Air in a 13-inch and 15-inch form factors. The bad news is that the ultra-portable 11-inch may get the boot. This is more so since Apple’s newest ultra-portable laptop the MacBook, starts from a 12-inch display hinting that a 13-inch display may be the new “small” when it comes to Apple’s laptops. Apple TV Apple TV at WWDC 2016 could be big for television, if Apple launches its own streaming service. the company has been hiring programming talent lately and should bring a much needed boost to Apple TV and tvOS. Siri  Apple is reportedly planning to make Siri available to third-party app developers. It plans to do the same by launching an SDK for Siri at this year’s WWDC. But that’s not all, as Apple has been eyeing Amazon and reportedly plans to launch an Echo-like voice assistant that may operate from a box in your living room. The news comes hot on the heels of Google’s annual developer conference, where the search giant announced Google Assistant , which combines the power of search and learning, as well as the new Google Home, an Amazon Echo alternative. This now makes more sense since Siri is expected to hop on to Apple’s computers as well with MacOS. Apple Pay Tim Cook visited India recently and on his four day tour also made time to visit the Reliance team. The CEO is said to have  pitched for Apple Pay in Reliance Retail Stores and the Reliance team seems to have agreed to evaluate the feasibility of doing the same. So we could have some update on this. Apart from India-related topics, Apple has could be working on something new in the form of person-to-person payments using Apple Pay. The same is expected to be secured by TouchID.