Apple's annual developer conference, WWDC (or, the World Wide Developers Conference) starts today at San Francisco with the first keynote slated for 10 am local time or 10.30 pm IST. Apple will be live streaming the event on multiple platforms. Here are some of the announcements expected from the Cupertino-based tech giant today.
iOS and OS X
There will not be any major changes in the current iPhone operating system right away but it is likely that Apple will release a beta preview of the upcoming iOS 10. According to one report more customization will be added for customers throughout the app. Apple might release their iMessage app on Android as well.
For desktop and Macs, OS X will be renamed as MacOS so as to have a name continuity with iOS, WatchOS, tvOS. After Google announced that the Android app would be able to run on Chrome, it was expected that Apple would follow suit by bringing iOS apps to Mac.
Siri
The chatbots are coming! And in this brave new era, Apple would like to make its voice assistant Siri smarter. One of the leaks suggests that when you ask Siri to open the settings in a Window it replies with a mention of 'Finder' which is only on Macs. Which means that after a long wait, Siri might finally be headed to the desktop. Apart from this, there are likely to be improvements in terms of intuitiveness and responsiveness. Apple will open the Siri API as well, for the developers to tweak around with its functionality.
Other announcements
It is unlikely that Apple will announce the launch of any hardware. TvOS and WatchOS will most likely receive only minor updates and tweaks. Apple music has been getting mixed reviews the world over. A major complaint is the app's navigation and design. Apple will overhaul the app with new skimmed UI and lyrics integration. Apple pay may get a huge update, with users being able to send and receive money from iMessage.
Developer stuff
WWDC is a developer's conference and Apple thrives on the apps that iOS developers make. The company will announce a new version of Xcode tool. Some days ago, App store's head Phil Schiller announced paid search ads as well as a new revenue share model which will give 85 percent cut of the sale made instead of 70 percent previously.
You can watch the event live streamed here. To be able to do this, you will need a Safari browser on your Mac or iPad. Or, if you are using Windows 10, you can watch it on Microsoft's edge browser.
Contact HuffPost India