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Some of the biggest news in the Apple-focused blogosphere this week centers around Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) upcoming June 8 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).
There's the news, certainly, of what Apple said it'll deliver, and then there are the predictions of what might or might not show up -- a new iPhone, perhaps?
Plus, Apple updated Mac OS X to 10.5.7 and plugged a few holes in Safari. Then there's Sling Media, which delivered a new SlingPlayer Mobile app for the iPhone, and that picked up a surprising amount of steam.
Snow Leopard Plus iPhone 3.0 ... but No Jobs?
Apple announced that Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, will deliver the keynote address June 8 at the WWDC, together with some additional Apple execs. Of course, the developer-focused audience will be able to attend in-depth sessions on both the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
"Last June, we gave developers an early look at the powerful new technologies that form the underpinnings of Mac OS X Snow Leopard," noted Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of software engineering.
"At WWDC, we will be giving our developers a final developer preview release so they can see the incredible progress we've made on Snow Leopard and work with us as we move toward its final release," he added.
Obviously, Apple doesn't appear to be planning on publicly releasing Snow Leopard at the event, but developers will learn even more about its 64-bit architecture, QuickTime X, Apple's next-generation multicore and GPU processor support, as well as iPhone OS 3.0 -- technical sessions will cover over 1,000 new APIs available for the smartphone update. Interestingly, Apple says it'll have more than 1,000 Apple engineers presenting Apple tech topics at the event.
Of course, the apparent absence of Steve Jobs at the keynote sparked quite a few comments.
"At last we can see whether iPhone sales go really well without the appearance of Steve," commented Merkuryy on the MacRumors.com blog post on the subject.
"I was so much hoping to see Steve back at WWDC this year ... Schiller's of course not bad, but Steve is just 'the original,'" added FrerkLovesApple.
However, to villanova329, the person isn't as important as the product: "I'm starting to lose interest on who leads whatever keynote, I just care about whats being presented. A little disappointed because it feels as if Snow Leopard is even farther from where I had hoped it would be released," villanova329 noted.
No New iPhone Hardware - Wait, Are You Sure?
On Wednesday, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster was quoted on a Silicon Alley Insider article as saying, "While some investors may be expecting Apple to launch redesigned iPhones at WWDC, we do not anticipate the launch in early June. Rather, we expect Apple to host a special event in late June or early July to launch a family of iPhones."
Munster, of course, is one of the most prominent financial analysts to focus on Apple.
However, a different take was expressed by Daring Fireball's blogger John Gruber: "Last year's iPhone 3G was announced at WWDC in early June, so why wouldn't this year's? Plus, if there are any new hardware features -- like say a video camera or magnetometer -- that means new APIs, and if Apple wants to have WWDC sessions for the new hardware-specific APIs, they have to announce the hardware first."
Gruber even went so far as to type the underused "ignoramus."
"Munster is an analyst for Piper Jaffray who is supposedly an expert regarding Apple. But he's such an ignoramus that he isn't even expecting a new iPhone to be announced at WWDC -- probably the easiest and most obvious Apple prediction of the year," Gruber added.
The online debate, of course, raged in both directions, but the absence of Jobs seemed to come up again and again.
"I think it's time for Apple to show the world they can manage without Steve Jobs, to show people that Apple CAN work when Steve Jobs decides to leave, and I think this is a perfect opportunity to do that," noted slcossio on the AppleInsider.com post on the subject.
Big Combo Update
Of course, when Apple releases a big software update, many Mac users notice. The company released Mac OS X 10.5.7 this week, along with some updates to Safari.
"The Mac OS X 10.5.7 Update is one of the biggest Apple has ever released -- but there appears to be no major new features, just a bunch of bug and security fixes," noted Cult of Mac's Leander Kahney.
"It looks like Apple is putting the finishing touches to OS 10.5 before releasing Snow Leopard in the fall, which will have major code changes under the hood," he added.
Of course, a couple of readers immediately pointed out that the size of the update varies from Mac to Mac -- so it's not necessarily the biggest update ever.
Either way, will this be the last big update for Leopard?
"I wouldn't say this is the last update for the 10.5.x tree since we still see Tiger (10.4.x) updates occasionally," SvenOnTech.com blogger Sven Rafferty told MacNewsWorld.
"True, they're mainly security fixes, but one or two have sneaked in minor improvements. The long of it, though, is Snow Leopard is where the real meat will be," he added.
Sling This, AT&T (Please?)
"This is a painful review to write, because the SlingPlayer for iPhone had so much potential before AT&T (NYSE: T) decided to cripple it. One can understand the terror at the thought of a million SlingPlayers draining network bandwidth dry, but in fact, AT&T seems to [be] violating its own Terms of Service by allowing other smartphones to run SlingPlayer without interference," wrote The Unofficial Apple Weblog's Mel Martin.
Overall, most reviews seemed pretty pleased with the app, which basically lets iPhone owners watch television programs via the Internet and even remotely watch shows from the owner's DVR. Of course, you do need a SlingBox hardware device connected to your television system (and the Internet).
However, one irritation noted by reviewers time and again was that AT&T has apparently forbidden the SlingPlayer Mobile app for the iPhone the connect over a 3G-based AT&T Internet connection -- it's WiFi only. To some, that limitation cripples the app.
"Not worth the price for only having wi-fi capability. What a severe blow to what appeared to be a great product. So much for watching my Slingbox anywhere!" commented Nathan on the TUAW post on the subject.
"I think there is one calculation that AT&T failed to make. I agree that it would be a tax on an already taxed network. But from their excuse they made it sound like every iPhone customer owned a slingbox. First of all to make the app work you have to own a SlingBox, and then you have to fork out the $30 to buy the app. I think their estimation of the amount of actual customer that are going to use it are severely skewed," added Matt on the TUAW post.
Still, does AT&T have reason to worry? What about BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices -- they work over AT&T's 3G networks with SlingPlayer. So if other phones can do it, can AT&T really be worried about too much data being sent over its 3G network with iPhones?
"I bet they are -- and Apple may be using more bandwidth for Slingbox than RIM, for example, since RIM is highly optimized for transmission," said Ken Dulaney, a vice president and distinguished analyst of mobile and wireless for Gartner (NYSE: IT).
Are those concerns valid? Have there been any recent reports or failures over poor data services?
"I don't have any specific reports of failures," Dulaney told MacNewsWorld.
"I do see poor data services from time to time. I am sure AT&T are worried about how much bandwidth Apple uses. That is why initially they supplied free WiFi for Apple -- but now have expanded this for other devices -- in my opinion," Dulaney explained.
"I suspect one of the key features of the next iPhone will be highly optimized protocols to make more efficient use of bandwidth," he added.
