But then there are all the things that didn’t make it from rumour to reality. Sometimes, with a company as secretive and methodical as Apple, that can tell you nearly as much as the presentation itself. So what didn’t Apple announce?
Apple TV apps
Here’s one that we were especially looking forward to; an SDK that lets developers fill your Apple TV with glorious apps. No dice, though. So why keep the Apple TV so tightly locked up? If an Apple HDTV is actually in the pipeline and isn’t just a pervasive rumour that won’t die, Apple might feel that trotting off what’s likely to be shared software between the white whale and the set-top box would be too big of a reveal. Cupertino is also said to be chatting with three major movie studios and others for content partnerships, and those deals definitely take time.
All that being said, it’s still not entirely clear why Apple wouldn’t just open up an SDK for regular apps. Yesterday would have been the perfect time to announce it, considering WWDC is a conference for, you know, developers. Perhaps that’s an indication that Apple has far more work to do on the platform, so we might be left hanging on this one for a while.
Apple HDTV
See above! There has been no confirmed sighting of this Apple yeti, though Foxconn head Terry Gou supposedly confirmed that his factories were getting ready to start manufacturing an Apple HDTV (with Siri to boot!). He later backtracked on his statement. While this is a product that might actually be in the cards, it’s big enough that it would warrant its own event — and again, Apple can’t do anything until it’s got content providers on board. And as it goes with Apple, there’s usually quite a bit of smoke before the house actually burns down.
New iMacs
WWDC tends to be heavy on the computer reboots, and we did hear quiet chatter of new iMacs. The line’s definitely due for a tuneup — how long can it go without Intel’s shiny new Ivy Bridge processors? — and it’s bound to get one. Just not yet.
Citing a loose-lipped Apple exec, the NYT’s David Pogue blabbed post-keynote that we might see redesigned iMacs in 2013. And presumably a spec bump even sooner. Save your desktop eulogy for another time.
Mac Mini
This tale was told along with the whispers that just about every single damn Mac machine would get a refresh this week. But the Mac Mini was completely overhauled just last year, both inside and out, with three Thunderbolt ports baked in. That’s more than can be said for the slightly updated Mac Pro. Besides, at this point the Mac Mini is more of a niche product than ever, so even if it had gotten an update, it’s unlikely to have made the main presentation.
Street View Competitor
Apple showed off its own in-house Maps app yesterday, with lots of cool features like turn-by-turn navigation and 3D. But Google maintained a huge advantage when Apple didn’t reveal a Street View-type feature. That’s data that takes years and years to accumulate, and a feature that Apple and its customers are going to have to do without for some time.
Fixed Messages
Please, for the sake of everyone who’s sick of getting their iMessages days later, or not receiving them at all, can Apple just make this better? Instead of taking the lid off a better version, Apple pulled the beta from Messages. The app got some new features, sure, but we’d rather see the existing ones improved on first.
iPhone 5
Though iPhones have appeared at WWDC in the past, after last year’s delay, Apple seems to be on a fall (Australian spring) product refresh cycle. So hold tight for this one. There might be just a few months left to wait. With iOS 6, you’ve got a little something to tide you over — the lovely, powerful operating system it’ll be running on.
Apple's show and tell this year felt very flat. It seemed like that they had slowed down a fair bit, their iPhone seems to be releasing later along with their iPods. Maybe it's a build up to something big.
Street view is something I don't understand for mobile phones, I don't think it's really vital to have it on mobile phones either and this might be the line of thinking from Apple and other mobile phones. I've always thought of the Google Street view as a gimmick and nothing much more.
I guess you have never used Google Maps Navigation on Android... when you arrive at your destination it shows you a picture of the address from street view. In most cases (where it is not a new building), not having to read the tiny letterbox numbers or find numbers on buildings in the city (where they often are just not there) it is very very handy!
It is very handy.. for those who actually use their phones as a GPS.. for the rest of us who have a dedicated GPS unit installed or semi-installed in the car, it's not something that gets used a lot... I generally look at the streetview before I set out.. it's a habit I've been in for a long time.. so while I certainly have the capability of doing it with my Galaxy S2, I don't see myself doing it any time in the next 10 years.. :)
Like light487, I use a GPS unit when travelling in the car and the GPS (so far, fingers crossed) has always stopped me outside of the location that I require. the only time it has any problems is when the place I'm going to is new and hasn't been updated on the maps yet. I can see your point with the street view and I've never thought of this because I've never had a problem before but I have also found that Streetview isn't up to date either. In some cases, areas are two years old or more, so it's not always going to be 100% all the time. In the end it's a case of each to their own and if it works then keep doing it :-)
I hope google releases a google maps app (not google earth) for the iPhone. Street view is good to scope out parking restrictions and get a feel for how busy an area is, and helps with looking for certain landmarks while driving/riding/etc.
Actually I hope they DON'T release maps for ios. Screw apple and their users, they can have crappy maps 1.0.
" and a feature that Apple and its customers are going to have to do without for some time."
Indeed.. but do Apple users really care? I partly do because I use Streetview almost daily.. but never on a phone.... so not having it in an iPhone isn't of too great concern.. yet.
I use street view all the time on my iPhone. It's the perfect tool to get a real idea of 'lie of the land' when out and about going somewhere or where you want to be.
It's a big loss and one I'm not willing to do without so IOS5 it is for me until (the unlikely event that) Google produces a standalone Maps/Streetview app for IOS.
Honestly I don't think it's a big issue at all. And by the sounds of it after last weeks announcements, Google will have its own solution for iOS shortly. If anything, Apple dropping Google Maps may ultimately force Google's hand as far as improving support for the platform when it comes to mapping.
Street View is nice but I dont think its a killer feature. The turn by turn is far more important and the Fly By, while not a replacement for Street View may still assist to some extent with identifying landmarks.
Having an iPhone 4 so missing out anyway on some of the big ticket items in IOS 6 (Facetime over 3G, Siri, Flyover) I'm going to not go to IOS6 full stop given the absence of Streetview.
And I doubt Google will go to the effort of producing a standalone Maps/Streetview app for IOS users given this gives them a differentiator now for Android.
I care more about the lack of integrated public transport Thani do streetview (though it would be nice) and honestly, if gMaps ended up in the app store I would download it in an instant and set it back as the primary map tool.
I was hoping for an iMac update as I was looking to upgrade this year. This feels like the first year in a while that we have not seen a refresh to their desktop models.
It feels like Apple are positioning themselves to abandon desktop machines altogether. Their focus seems to be entirely on iPhone, iPad and laptops. Understandable I guess given the money they are making from them.
Apple announced in the keynote that there would be some ability for them to make use of transit apps in conjunction with the mapping solution, and that they would be promoting those apps.
Oops, responded to the wrong post
"Fixed Messages"
They were never going to come out and say the application is buggy. They discussed work happening with messages plenty of time during the keynote, so it's probably safe to say that if there are outstanding bugs that those have been worked on as well.
The lack of streetview is pretty close to a deal breaker for me. As a motorcyclist I use it all the time. I find it's quite dangerous to be floating around trying to figure out where to go once I arrive at a destination. It's much safer to know where you are and where you're going. Streetview makes that possible or at least much, much easier.
"With iOS 6, you’ve got a little something to tide you over — the lovely, powerful operating system it’ll be running on."
Except that iOS 6 won't be released until the new iPhone is, so it can hardly tide anybody over. Both are scheduled for release in our spring/US fall.
There's a fix for the problem with iMessages. It's called SMS and even works with non-iOS devices. If something is important enough that you need immediate delivery with confirmation of receipt there's this other thing called a phone call.
iMessages are just another form of IMs in permanent offline message mode. Treat it with the same level of reliability.