Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference is nearing, and the company has revealed some of the major focal points for the keynote speech on Monday. Seems that iCloud will be the headliner of the day, with the first information regarding Apple's plans to allow users to upload media files and stream them from anywhere over an internet connection. In a somewhat surprise move, Steve Jobs will be taking a break from medical leave to deliver the keynote, which is scheduled for Monday, June 6, at 10am PST.
In addition to iCloud, the keynote will focus on Apple's two big OS updates: iOS 5.0 for mobile devices, and Lion, the next version of OSX.
Both will probably have plenty of improvements, but it's iOS 5.0 that has me most curious. Specifically I'm wondering whether there are any plans to update Game Center with new features to help it expand into a more robust gaming platform. There's also talk of adding Widgets to iOS, which would all you to see basic information like weather and sports scores right on the home screen without opening an app.
A significant facet of iOS 5.0 would have to involve iCloud, though, as the functionality to stream media from an iTunes library over WiFi doesn't currently exist on the iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. At present, you have to be sharing the same WiFi network to access that media. In theory, the iCloud will allow users to stream the media from anywhere to anywhere.
The timing of the keynote is a bit unfortunately for tech enthusiasts, as it's happening at precisely the same time as Microsoft's E3 press conference, which will make for some pretty feverish page reloading. On the bright side, both conferences will be streaming online (though Apple's will likely require an Apple-made device to stream), so you can follow along with both screens at once. That's how Elvis would've done it.