From WSJ, a little over 13 hours before the event:
Apple Polishes Software for iPhones, iPads
Next Version of iOS Will Feature New Look, Photo-Sharing Enhancements
This week, Apple Inc. AAPL +0.76% will try to regain its shine.
The company's annual developer conference, which begins Monday, looms as the latest crossroads as the technology icon struggles to maintain its trendsetter status since the death of Steve Jobs.
Apple's streak of game-changing devices has stalled and the iPhone and iPad seem stale, compared with new offerings from Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE -6.10% and others. Software blunders, like Apple's widely panned mapping app, have raised doubts about the company's ability to build cutting-edge mobile services. Rivals like Google Inc. GOOG +1.75% are colonizing the iPhone with their own software, bolstering use of their own rival offerings.
A thrust of Apple's counterattack on Monday is an overhauled mobile operating system for iPhones and iPads.
The next version of its iOS software—now overseen by Apple's longtime hardware-design guru, Jonathan Ive—will have a new look, according to people involved in its development. Apple is expected to give developers an early version of the software this week and release it to consumers in the coming months.
The new design abandons Apple's longtime approach of designing icons and apps to resemble real-life objects, like address books and fabric, in favor of plain solid backgrounds and more white space, these people said.
Mr. Jobs pushed the original look to help people understand how to use their iPhones when the device came out in 2007, said people involved in the decision at the time. Mr. Jobs died in October 2011. Internally, employees have for years worried that the iPhone's look has become outdated and has a growing number of inconsistencies.
The new iOS will also include new ways to share photos and videos with other iPhone users, as well as other enhancements, these people said. Apple is also expected to announce a long-expected streaming-music service, new laptops and an update to its Mac operating system. (Please see related article on page B4.)
Whether the announcements can give Apple the sizzle it has lost remains to be seen. Investors and customers are lusting for big new products, like a television, which is being held up by discussions with cable companies and TV networks, as well as content companies, said people close to the talks. Apple wants to be able to offer a new type of service with the device that relies on cooperation from the networks and cable operators.
The next iPhone isn't expected until the fall, with the latest model expected to look a lot like the current one, other people familiar with the matter said.
I hope we get the iOS 7 beta (we got the iOS 6 beta the night it was introduced). And OSX 10.9 better be a bigger upgrade than Mountain Lion was.
this isn't the kind of flat that I wanted.