The rumour mill has been very busy once again this week with speculation on things we may see at this years WWDC set to start on June 11th. The interesting part is, with these seemingly unconnected event may actually give a sniff of what may come at the WWDC .
First, let start by the rumoured refresh of the MacBook and iMac lines.
Rumors surfaced this week with claims that not only the MacBook Pro family but also the iMac line is set to gain ultra high-resolution "Retina" displays.
The laptop will see the introduction of the “Mac Retina Display,” which is said to have a very high resolution. Many have assumed that Apple will follow the model used in the iPhone and iPad, doubling the resolution in each dimension with a screen carrying four times the pixels of its predecessor. That specific suggestion has already been made in regards to a rumoured 15-inch MacBook Pro with 2880x1800 display compared to the 1440x900 display in the current model.
To help bring these rumours to he forefront were discounts on existing inventory. Discounts on existing Mac hardware usually come as retailers prepare for new models, so the timing here is not unexpected. And keep in mind that reseller inventory of some Macs has already been dwindling. I have said before that Apple would likely wait until around June to roll out its entire line of Ivy Bridge Macs. And with WWDC 2012 coming up in just a few weeks, Apple could be waiting until the keynote on June 11 to announce an entirely updated Mac line.
Mountain Lion
Released to developers in February of this year, recent weeks have seen rapidly-paced releases of new point upgrades to OS X, driving speculation of an imminent release. With Apple recruiting new AppleCare support staff to man the OS X support lines, also hint the company's OS cat's getting ready to be unleashed. If Apple keeps to the established pace and seeds one more preview to developers -- Lion offered four last year, then a so-called "gold master" build before hitting the Mac App Store -- Mountain Lion would go on sale June 25, with the gold master ready June 6."
If we skip the diary dates, it also make sense for Apple to widen its developer pre-release seeding by making a stable version of the OS available at its show, followed up by public release a few weeks later.
Free the lions?
Will Mountain Lion be a free upgrade? Rumours popped up this week that it would be a free upgrade and there's some signs this is possible. The company recently began offering MobileMe users free Snow Leopard upgrades in order to promote the move to iCloud.
Also interesting, as previously reported, the company recently began accounting for a portion of Mac sales revenues on a subscription basis, as it does with some iPhone revenue. iOS upgrades are free updates, paid for by that portion of revenue Apple files on this basis. So why would Apple move to free OS upgrades? A few thoughts:
- to ensure ensure the adoption of the new OS, as Apple moves to make iCloud a central part of its multi-device computing experiences.
- to put the "smack-down" on Microsoft, which will ship its fee-based Windows 8 upgrade later this year.
- to promote rapid Mac replacement -- after all, in most cases, Apple ends OS support after two iterations, in order to run a secure system and to benefit from new system features, Mac users are therefore 'encouraged' to upgrade their Macs every two to three years.
WWDC opens its doors June 11 and I will be watching to see if that's when the Mountain Lion OS will be coming.
Apple traditionally patches the exploits that jailbreakers use with major iOS releases, but it often leaves them open with smaller updates. That’s certainly the case with iOS 5.1.1
