Last Call for WAGs: WWDC08 Approaches; Coverage Roundup

by Eric March on June 6, 2008 at 6:33 pm

The day we have all been waiting for is almost here. June 9th. The start of the 2008 Worldwide Developer Conference and the widely anticipated keynote that will kick it — and hopefully a few other things — off. That’s just three days away, so if you’re going to make any more wild-assed guesses or spread any more rumours, now’s the time to do it.

Here’s what we know so far — inasmuch as we can be sure of anything without direct confirmation from The Steve himself:

It will have 3G
It will have GPS
It will have a slightly different form factor

And here’s what we aren’t sure of but have speculated wildly about:

Size: I am in the “slightly larger” camp myself, because I can’t see how they’ll fit a 3G radio, a GPS, and a larger battery to power it all into a smaller form factor. Nonetheless there are rumours that it could be up to 22% thinner. Weak rumours, but rumours still.
Shell: Glossy black plastic replacing the familiar aluminum with plastic antenna cover? Could be, could be.
Storage: 32GB version coming? It’s possible, but encroaching on the iPod Touch’s territory isn’t the soundest business strategy unless there is a similar bump in capacity for the Touch in September — and even then the overlap could cause the iPhone to steal Touch sales as people realize it’s worth it to pony up the extra Benjamin to get the same capacity, but with Bluetooth, a camera, an external speaker, a phone, and free firmware updates instead of having to pay that damned SOX-act “fair market value” premium.
Bluetooth: 2.0+EDR? I can has A2DP plz?
Carrier subsidies: Cheaper iPhones with long-term contracts? It would definitely make it much more attractive to fence sitters, especially since every other phone is subsidized.
Better display: OLED? Yeah, that one’s going back a ways — I’m really doubting this. However, might we see a bit of an improvement in the overall quality?
Better touchscreen: One of the latest rumours suggests a “projected capacitance touchscreen” that will not be prone to desensitizing over time.

As we enter the home stretch, no doubt the last ditch rumours and “leaks” will show up very shortly, but we are just a few short days away from the Big Reveal — hopefully — so we will finally be able to separate the wheat from teh chaff once and for all.

We will be covering all the news that’s fit to print during the WWDC08 coverage, so stay tuned. For those that would like to wear their F5 key out watching live blog coverage, here are links to the big bloggers who will be in attendance and furiously pounding out updates as they come:

Gizmodo’s Live Coverage Announcement
Engadget’s Live Coverage (updates will be posted here when the show starts)

The keynote starts at 10:00AM PST, 1:00PM EST. Video of the event is expected to turn up later in the evening or the next day.

I feel like a kid at Christmas.