2021 - WWDC Predictions

OK, predictions might be a stretch. But here are a few things that I’d like to see in the WWDC happening this week!

iOS Predictions

Last year was the year of the widgets in iOS. They were a hit for being customizable, being able to do certain tasks that would present information to you. This year, I think its time to take that next step in the evolution and have them become much more interactive. This is a pretty natural evolution and one that I don’t think will shock anyone when it happens.

iPad OS Predictions

With the M1 coming to the iPad Pro, many have predicted that we’ll start seeing more of a merging of MacOS on the iPad. While this seems like something that would be pretty cool for a Mac guy like myself to see MacOS running on an iPad Pro, I don’t think it will happen. Or at least not in the way that people want it to happen.

The iPad is this middle piece of the puzzle. The people that love the iPad love it FOR its simplicity. Being able to focus on a few tasks at a time. For the Mac people, they see it as limiting because it can only do a certain task at a time.

I think we’ll see the lines blur more with the iPad Pro software. I think with the M1, we’ll see better multi application support happening. I don’t think we’ll get a true windowing on the iPad yet…but I think more options will be possible to truly unleash the power of the devices that are very powerful under the hood.

WatchOS Predictions

I think its finally time, custom 3rd party watch faces.

Hardware

Yes, I know that this event is mainly focused on software. But I think we’ll see the new macbooks (14 and 16 inch) with the new displays and 32GB of ram and the next generation M# series.

Store Updates

I don’t expect anything here. But a stretch might be to see across the board a cut in the fees that Apple charges. The timing might be right for them to go to a 15% cut to simplify the fee structure and make some regulators happy.

Final Thoughts

So there you have it. Its been an interesting ride for Apple these past few months. There are some tensions with developers, some anti-trust concerns in various places in the world. It will be interesting to see if they even mention some of those or not. The keynote is just a few hours away, what are you excited to see?