The WWDC Eve Wishlist

 

 

Monday is the kickoff to Apple’s 2011 WWDC, and as always there are rumours about what to expect. Apple has already confirmed the existence of iCloud, we’ve heard rumours of a $25/year fee for iCloud, mistakenly leaked previews of Automatic Downloads, and even a ‘leaked’ iOS 5 screenshot.

We do know that iCloud will feature music streaming since Apple has signed deals with all major record labels. What else will Apple offer? We don’t know exactly as the company has been extremely tight-lipped (more so than before, which isn’t surprising after last year’s iPhone 4 leak).

So what will Apple introduce tomorrow? Your guess is as good as mine. One thing that is certain is iCloud will change the way we sync our devices and unify the iOS experience.

Let’s look at some existing parts of iOS that badly require updating, and also features that could come tomorrow to radically eliminate the need to jailbreak–as this continues to be a costly headache for Apple.

In no particular order:

  • Mail: this hasn’t been changed, and I would like to see better integration with Gmail, and easier and faster navigation between multiple accounts. There needs to be a faster way to compose emails.
  • Notifications: this has remained the same almost since forever–and it’s going to change drastically tomorrow. I’d like to see a seamless and intuitive way to access and dismiss notifications. The days of closing multiple messages and other notifications need to go away.
  • Further text tone choices, in particular ones that are more subtle.
  • Text messaging: reply options similar to BiteSMS.
  • Settings: Ability to make custom shortcuts for popular settings (WiFi, Bluetooth, etc), just like SBSettings.
  • A native RSS reader.
  • iChat: Apple’s upcoming BBM killer. Integration with FaceTime, plus the introduction of group video chat. Find my Friends. Share pictures, videos, audio, location.
  • Google Maps: Turn by Turn GPS?
  • Lockscreen: Apple needs to take advantage of this vacant real estate.
  • App Updates: Automatic Updates are coming as rumoured.
  • Camera: filters, photobooth; launch camera via double tapping a volume button
  • iOS 5 release date: June 20th (two weeks after, just like last year); will support iPhone 4, limited features on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G/iPhone shut out.
  • The one more thing (a longshot)…iPhone 4S/iPhone 5 with A5, higher megapixel camera

We’ll have extensive coverage of all WWDC announcements tomorrow. What would you like to see come out of WWDC?

BTW – people are already waiting in line for tomorrow’s keynote (via @ravenme):

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