WWDC’s real news: Apple moves beyond iOS and OS X

At 10 a.m. Pacific time today, Apple will commence its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) dog-and-pony show announcing … well, only Apple knows for sure, as usual. Apple has managed to keep its show more secret than ever this year, perhaps as a result of the damaging “iPhone 5” mania last summer; it won’t even say whether CEO Tim Cook will speak (of course he will).

Still, there’s broad agreement on what Apple will announce today, given not insider information or magical powers but the deliberate hints Apple has dropped and its consistent history of product announcements.

[ See what Apple unveiled at WWDC: iOS 6’s features, new OS X Mountain Lion capabilities, Siri-enabled cars, and a thin MacBook Pro with Retina Display. ]

As I’ll explain shortly, the real significance of WWDC will not be any product news but Apple’s increased focus beyond OS X and iOS to common services for all Apple users. First, here are the likely product announcements:

• New maps service. A couple years ago, Apple advertised for developers experienced with geoinformation and navigation, a sign it would develop its own mapping and navigation technology. Rumors have been flying since winter that the fruit of those hires will be unveiled at WWDC, letting Apple jettison the Google Maps app and Web service used in iOS and OS X. Given the enmity between the two companies, it’s a sensible rumor, and it fits Apple’s desire to be the provider of key services on its devices.

• Expanded iCloud and Siri services. One of OS X Mountain Lion’s enhancements is iCloud Documents, which lets Mac apps (but only if sold through the Mac App Store) directly access the iCloud syncing and storage service to store and retrieve their documents. iOS apps already have that capability, so in many respects this is just OS X catching up to iOS. At the recent AllThingsD conference, Apple CEO Cook said the company was working on expanded services for its Siri voice-based personal assistant technology. That’s as close as Apple gets to a preannouncement, so expect to hear about new data sources for Siri and perhaps APIs to allow greater developer access in iOS and OS X (maybe). Even if Siri doesn’t yet go beyond the smartphone, its dictation capability — already in the third-generation iPad — makes sense to become part of OS X, especially because the Mac has long had speech recognition for controlling its user interface.
• Updated iWork suite. Apple’s alternative to Microsoft Office hasn’t been updated since 2009, and it shows. Certainly Pages, Numbers, and Keynote will gain iCloud Documents support in OS X — an omission that makes syncing between iWork on iOS devices and the Mac frustrating today. Less clear is whether Apple will fix some of the major flaws in Pages, such as lack of style sheet support and revisions tracking, that keep it from being a true Word replacement. Likewise, Numbers lacks key business capabilities such as linked spreadsheets and macro support. (Keynote is actually a better tool than PowerPoint.) In 1997, Apple got Microsoft to commit to keeping Office on the Mac, despite what was then deep skepticism the Mac would survive. Microsoft has honored that bargain, though with inferior versions. The Apple-Microsoft relationship is complicated, with strong competition in some areas but concerted efforts in others (such as fighting Google), and the persistent reports in the New York Times that Microsoft will offer Office for the iPad in November could mean Apple will refrain from making iWork too competitive, to ensure the iPad’s business support is better than Android’s.

That’s a lot to cover in a keynote session, even at Apple’s usual two-hour length, so I question whether Apple will also reveal the interminably rumored “iPhone 5” at WWDC, as is popularly blogged.

If you look at the list of what Apple is working on, you can see that most are independent — or could be — of either OS X or iOS.: iCloud, maps, Siri and dictation, sharing services, social integration, iTunes (which may also get a face-lift at WWDC, though its development schedule is less predictable than iOS’s and OS X’s), and iWork. That’s why I believe the real focus at WWDC after the curtain has been drawn on the keynote will be iCloud, Siri, and these other services.

Apple is creating a rich ecosystem of services that aren’t device-specific — though most are Apple-specific, which raises some concerns. It’s making that post-PC notion real, creating a federation of capabilities that work across devices in your hand (iPhone, iPod, and iPad), on your desk (Mac), in your TV (Apple TV), or perhaps in your car.

This story, “WWDC’s real news: Apple moves beyond iOS and OS X,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Get the first word on what the important tech news really means with the InfoWorld Tech Watch blog. For the latest developments in business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.