WWDC do?

It will soon be time for consultants, coders, hobbyists, ethical hackers, IT technicians and basically anyone who cares about technology to gather round their devices to watch Apple's WWDC live event. This is the place where Apple have continued to wow their customers as well as present their effortlessly cool new products and software to the public.

But a simple IT conference, this is not. This is the closest thing geeks like us at Maven have got to a Festival. There's live music, seminars, tactile workshops and of course - keynote speeches.

Apple have continuously been at the forefront of bringing tech announcements into the mainstream. Wherein the past, there would have been a digital announcement by the CEO of a company, now we see the creators themselves getting to stand up front and deliver impassioned and engaging talks about the things they helped create.

We now live in a world where people will queue for days to walk into an Apple store and purchase the latest and greatest item on sale.

But we have to ask, is it worth it? Is all this hype really justified?

Whilst rumours abound as to what is going to be announced, it is safe to assume that it'll be software based at the WWDC, with new hardware usually released later on in the year. Siri seems to be powering the rumour mill for 2016 with upgrades expected to integrate Siri with desktop computers as well as allowing integration with non-Apple applications for the first time. This could be a huge step forward in making Siri an essential component of Apple software rather than the quirky, luxury it is currently.

Almost certainly on the agenda will be Apple's promotion of the latest versions of OS and iOS software with OS X likely to be reincarnated as macOS to fall into the current continuity of tvOS, watchOS and iOS. Siri should be integrated into this new system alongside Apple Pay becoming available through your web-browser (possibly!).

Aside from those things, it will be your usual updates, tweaks and aesthetics that we've grown accustomed to, but far from bored with! The decision to split the conference over two venues allows Apple to focus on both the design side of things over at the specialist concert venue; Bill Graham Civic Auditorium as much as the tech-heavy developer workshops that will be taking place in Moscone.

One aesthetic change that I am personally excited about (which probably means it won't happen!) is a rumoured skin change from Apple's whitewash style (introduced in iOS 7) to a more light-on-dark interface which, whilst changing nothing of note, would make a huge difference to user enjoyment - I believe for the better! Although I'm sure users will still have the choice to choose what floats their boat!

Will this WWDC be the most pioneering yet? Unlikely.
Will this WWDC revolutionise the way we interact with our technology? Probably not.
Will this WWDC give us all childish thrills of excitement, further development of already innovative tech and plenty of 'that-is-awesome' moments? Definitely.