Follow along with WWDC Bingo.

Seriously, though, this is a pretty good representation of the major points we expect to be covered at WWDC this coming week. I’m not sure how we’ll know whether there’s a robot Steve Jobs or not, but it seemed prudent to put the possibility on the card regardless.

Keep this handy as a quick reference; we’ll have in-depth coverage this week all over the network. And maybe a prize or two?

WWDC is next week and the Internet gods are saying that there is a new iPhone coming. This screenshot from UK’s Carphone Warehouse hints that they might be right and the new iPhone will come in 16GB and 32GB flavors, with a white model available for both options.

The large UK retailer is an official iPhone reseller that might have access to this previledge info. Plus, this might mean that the iPhone V3 could see a mult-country launch soon.

Anyway, hold tight fanboys. Monday is just around the corner. Pre what?

We at CG love the Pre and I find it hard to believe that this will be a dog – but we have been wrong. Palm could fall into the traps that the other iPhone-alikes fell into: wonky OSes over slow UIs that turn a great experience into a good one. Here’s hoping we’re wrong.

The second reason reeks of hubris, albeit of the well-deserved variety. As we’ve seen, Palm is pretty proud of their work, as they should be. They went from zero to hero overnight and they owned CES 2009. So why not take on the biggest kid on the block? By launching two days before anything Apple is launching, they could own the news cycle. There is no concrete proof that Apple is doing anything but launching a new iPhone OS at WWDC – since Steve left it’s gotten infinitesimally easier to grab leaks out of Cupertino than it once was, which isn’t saying much. However, with something as big as new iPhone hardware you’d assume some strange Chinese site would have something on it. However: bupkus. So maybe Palm is planning to own that week.

The third and final possibility is the least likely one: Sprint ham-handed this launch for Palm and essentially ignored all outside factors and just wanted to get something out on a nice Saturday – note that they’re launching on a Saturday in order to ensure long lines and plenty of ink – in June. Carriers know how to sell commodity handsets but this is the first time Sprint has ever gotten a Handset of Desire (TM) akin to the iPhone. Maybe they just don’t know how to throw a party?

Whichever it is, the Palm Pre better be as amazing as I think it will be or else I’m totally getting rid of the Palm V I’m using now and buying an iPaq.

Fun fact: Did you know that Apple is really run by a spiritual energy field so bright and blinding that Apple engineers have to wear special “sensory suits” in order to enter the special lead-lined conference room in Cupertino where they present their new ideas to the “the one whose name is the death of stars and the giver of life to all that lives?”

Apple Worldwide Developers Conference to Kick Off with Keynote Address on Monday, June 8

CUPERTINO, California—May 13, 2009—Apple® will kick off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote address on Monday, June 8 at 10:00 a.m. A team of Apple executives, led by Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the keynote. WWDC will offer in-depth sessions on both iPhone™ OS 3.0, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, and Mac OS® X Snow Leopard™, an even more powerful and refined version of the world’s best desktop operating system and the foundation for future Mac® innovation.

“Last June, we gave developers an early look at the powerful new technologies that form the underpinnings of Mac OS X Snow Leopard,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “At WWDC, we will be giving our developers a final Developer Preview release so they can see the incredible progress we’ve made on Snow Leopard and work with us as we move toward its final release.”

Snow Leopard and Mac technical sessions will showcase hundreds of refinements to the operating system and dive deep into its new technologies including a 64-bit architecture, QuickTime® X, next-generation multicore and GPU processor support, and amazing new accessibility technologies. iPhone OS 3.0 technical sessions will cover introductory and advanced concepts to help developers get the most out of the iPhone OS 3.0 SDK and over 1,000 new APIs available for iPhone OS 3.0.

WWDC also offers attendees the unique opportunity to work side-by-side with Apple engineers to solve code-level issues, gain insight into development techniques and get expert advice on interface design.

Other activities at Apple’s WWDC 2009 include:

* more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers on a wide range of technology-specific topics for developing, deploying and integrating iPhone OS 3.0 and Mac OS X technologies;
* over 1,000 Apple engineers presenting the latest in Apple technologies and providing one-to-one direction in hands-on labs; and
* the opportunity to connect with thousands of fellow iPhone and Mac developers from around the world.

Visit the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2009 website for registration and more details at WWDC.

As Apple’s WWDC gets ever closer the rumors begin to hot up. Today’s drivel: the MacBook and MacBook Pro may see slight upgrades there. Apple may throw in built-in 3G support, along with the usual speed bumps; it may also make the battery more difficult to remove, in the interest of aesthetics.

And aside from those possible notebook upgrades, expect to see something happen to the company’s pro applications, like Logic and Final Cut Pro.

Nothing yet on that rumored Apple netbook, I’m afraid. Should it actually come out, I cannot wait for dozens of “what does this mean for Apple?” stories.

Obligatory zoomed in and super tilted photo: Flickr

Yup, WWDC will run from June 9-12, more or less as that one guy predicted a few weeks ago. It’s at that Moscone West place, where Apple usually likes to hold its big rally-round-the-flag meetings.

What will be see there? Presumably a lot more regarding iPhone firmware 3.0; presumably Snow Leopard, and maybe with its new UI; maybe Apple will show off something no one expects?

Presumably one or more of us will be there to get the scoop. (Although the word “scoop” implies information that no one else has, when, in fact, Moscone will be filled with tons of people all filing the same story at the same time.)

Here’s to a surprise! Presumably!

via Daring Fireball

Let’s say you don’t have the time to watch the entire WWDC keynote address. Let’s say you have a real job with real responsibilities, and only have a few free minutes each day. If that’s the case, then praise be to Mahalo, for the human-powered search engine team cut down Steve Jobs’ dog and pony show to a more reasonable 60 seconds. Every major announcement, everything you pretend to care about, yours to see right here. Great.

Somewhat lost in the iPhone 3G hype/madness yesterday was Apple’s announcement of the next version of Mac OS X, to be called Snow Leopard. The big news: rather than promise wiz-bang new features along the lines of Spotlight or Time Machine, Apple says it will focus on “enhanc[ing] the performance” of the operating system. Says an Apple senior vice president:

We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more. In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world’s most advanced operating system.

Still, there are a few new things to look forward to. Grand Central will supposedly make it easier to take advantage of today’s multi-core processors. There’s also native support for Microsoft Exchange 2007! If I were the IT guy of a Fortune 100 company, that’d probably excite me; MobileMe should take care of all my syncing issues.

Look for it in about a year.

Apple’s stock is about 4% lower (as of 3:45 PM on the east coast) than it started today after Steve Jobs’ keynote speech at Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference. Trading opened at $184.92 per share this morning and is currently floating around $178 per share, with a daily high of $184.94 and a daily low of $175.75, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Apple’s stock price could have dropped for a number of reasons. The new iPhone 3G that was announced will be available in 70 countries on July 11th and will carry a base price of  $199 everywhere, and the relatively low price and the fact that the device won’t be available until next month may be contributing factors to the stock’s value. The new iPhone’s low price is good for consumers but might be making investors a bit nervous, although the almost-worldwide release should help matters. The low price comes with a catch, however; you must sign a two-year contract with AT&T.

Apple’s online store has come back up and, although the 3G iPhone is featured on the main page, it’s not yet available for pre-order. There’s just a message saying “iPhone will be available in 8GB (black) and 16GB (black or white) models at Apple Retail Stores and AT&T Stores.”

The down and dirty blurb-ish text on the new iPhone is as follows:

Introducing iPhone 3G. With fast 3G wireless technology, GPS, support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, and the new App Store, iPhone 3G puts even more amazing features in your hands. And just like the original iPhone, it combines three products in one —a revolutionary phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device.

And here’s a picture of the white version. The iPhone 3G will be available on July 11th for $199 (8GB version) or $299 (16GB version). The white iPhone 3G will only be available in the 16GB capacity. Pricing for both models requires a two-year contract with AT&T, unfortunately.

Apple Store [store.apple.com]

The following is how TechCrunch’s Erik Schoenfeld interprets today’s announcement of the new .Mac, mobileme.

As was widely speculated before Steve Jobs’ keynote address today, Apple is relaunching its .Mac service as mobileme. The service syncs emails, photos, contacts, calendars, and other information between your iPhone and different computers. It works not only on Macs, but also on Windows. It will cost $99 a year, with 20 Gigabytes of online storage. The service, which will replace .Mac, will be available in early July.

Apple calls it “Exchange for the rest of us.” Interesting positioning. Usually Apple does not aspire to be like Microsoft. Video is below. [Well, on TechCrunch. Qik seems to be slow at the moment, so don't freak out if the video doesn't load immediately.]

Apple might be up to something today because the Apple store, she is down. I wonder why, though? J/K all the way, ROFL! Check out the downed store for yourself here!

Leave your guesses in the comments section as to what Apple might release today. I’m hoping for some sweet new stickers, apparel, and coffee mugs. I’d also like an Apple Netbook, an Apple Electric Car, and an Apple Theme Park.

An AT&T employee just informed us that AT&T store employees are currently receiving iPhone 2 training in preparation for WWDC-day. More as we get it.

Could developers be getting a sneak peak at Mac OS X 10.6 at next week’s WWDC? Maybe!

A little birdie told TUAW that Apple could well give developers an early build of 10.6 at the conference in San Francisco. It’s been suggested that 10.6 won’t bring much in the way of new features, but will instead focus on stability and security. That 10.6 could be the first Intel-only Mac OS has also been mentioned. How true any of that is, of course, no one knows for sure. Nor should it bother you, since the earliest it would be released is next January’s MacWorld.

We also don’t know the name for the new operating system. If Apple were to keep going with its “big cat” theme, there’s but a few of those left: cougar, lion (my favorite), lynx, and so on.

Could “Mobile Me” be the new name for .Mac? That’s what it looks like, at least according to what Blogging Robots (is that name a social statement?) has discovered. Strings in the iPhone 2.0 SDK reveal the name “Mobile Me” left, right and center, as pictured here.

More evidence: Apple trademarked the name in 2006.

So reasonable minds have concluded that, yes, Mobile Me is the new .Mac. Dotmac is fairly opaque and doesn’t really convey what it does, while Mobile Me, I think, is a little more descriptive.

via TUAW

Check this:

%@ is the new name of Apple’s online service (was .Mac)

This string, found deep within the code for iCal, makes it pretty clear that Apple plans to make some changes to .Mac, its online service, um, service. The $99/year service gives people e-mail, an easy way to share content, sync information between computers, etc. It’s sorta outdated, especially in today’s environment where Google Apps can some of the same stuff for free.

Some ideas that have been thrown around: over-the-air calendar, email and contact syncing; an all-around less expensive .Mac service, possibly with the purchase of an iPhone.

Personally, I never saw much use for .Mac, but maybe this new version will change my mind. We’ll find out for sure by WWDC.

Someone, or something, has confirmed to GIZMODO that the 3G iPhone will be released on June 9, the day of the WWDC keynote. (I guess Jobs will be all, “Available… now! Go! Buy, buy buy!”) That’s a more or less worldwide launch date this time, with carriers in other countries able to set the price of the phone and plan, maybe.

On a scale of 1-10, how excited are you? I’m a 10, easy, but just because I hope for the day when 3G iPhone rumors go away forever. Then the 4G rumors start.

AT&T Mobility

Vacation Schedules

To: All Employees

Last year at this time we asked that all vacations be scheduled before June 15 or after July 15, to ensure adequate store staffing and to give everyone an equal opportunity to benefit from an exciting product launch. Thanks to your hard work, we experienced excellent sales during the mid-summer period. This year, the numbers you produced in 2007 will be hard to beat; but as a business, we must rise to the challenge, and make every effort to exceed last year’s sales results. Your management team is counting on you!

We’ll meet the challenge “head-on” by providing an exciting Summer Promotional Launch to enable your sales to soar. We again anticipate heavier than normal customer traffic in our stores, providing an excellent earning opportunity for every front line retail sales consultant (RSC) in company owned retail stores.

To ensure proper staffing during this period, Sales personnel planning to take approved time off are encouraged to schedule their vacations before June 15 or after July 12 to participate in the heavy selling period

Previously approved vacation will be allowed where voluntary rescheduling is not feasible

No additional vacation will be approved for 6/15 – 7/12

If customer traffic is manageable, there may be an opportunity to approve vacation toward the end of the period. Managers will communicate updates as they become available.