Apple's WWDC 2011 Discussion

Apple's WWDC Keynote kicks off at 10am PT, 1pm ET.

Apple's press release revealed their talking points: MacOSX 10.7 Lion, iOS5, and iCloud.

Apple has gone out of it's way to make sure people know this is a software focused event, and with the above to discuss, I'd be surprised if it's less than 2 hours.  There has been some speculation about a new TimeCapsue, which will integrate with whatever iCloud turns out to be, but this is all base rumour at this stage.

There hasn't been any announcement of a live stream of the keynote, but Apple doesn't typically give much notice.  So we may still see it in the next few hours [if at all].  Otherwise, I've typically found the best live-blogs to be:

http://www.macrumorslive.com/

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/06/wwdc-2011-liveblog-steve-jobs-talks-ios-5-os-x-lion-icloud-an/

I think it was a really strong showing from Apple across all their platforms.  Having iOS devices no longer tethered to a computer will surely thill a lot of people, and I think there are those for whom an iPad can now be their only computer.  Better notifications will make many very happy.

It will be interesting to see how the Mac AppStore only distribution of Lion works.  Surely there must be many people who live in rural or areas without high speed internet for whom a 4GB download will be nigh-impossible.  Few people should be able to argue with the $29.99 price though.

iCloud will hopefully fulfill the promise of MobileMe, with background, wireless synching of all your personal data.

Some will balk at the $24.99 price for iTunes Match, I'm sure.   Apple quoted some prices for the comprable services on Amazon and Google, and it doesn't look too out of line.  I'm betting MOST of the $24.99 goes to music publishers.  I seem to remember reading that Apple will give them a small payment on each song which was not purchased on iTunes.