As you all know, this whole month has been occupied with the rumors of iOS 6. Some were confirmed from multiple sources, some are still in a mess and some are yet to be unveiled at WWDC 2012. Similar to last year, we might not see another iPhone at WWDC. But there are a lot more products which are expected to be announced in the conference. Talking about the software, Apple would give a sneak peek on upcoming features of iOS 6 and release date of Mountain Lion. Let’s dig out what we think could arrive in iOS 6 till now.
1) iCloud
After a tweet from an iOS developer, who accidentally opened iCloud beta site noticed that Apple had been testing out the Reminder, Notes on iCloud. Once the news went viral, Apple took down the site, so that no one else could access. But before the site was taken down, folks at 9to5Mac had already captured the screenshot. Hence, improved iCloud could be a feature of iOS 6.
2) 3D Maps Applications
The aggressive acquisition of several companies over the last few years clearly hinted that Apple was cooking its own Maps application on the iOS platform. However, it was not known when the application would arrive. Thanks to the leak from plenty of sources who have confirmed that this Maps application would be one of the feature of iOS 6. Alas! it’s time for Apple to shut down one of the revenue system for Google and take the ‘thermonuclear war’ forward.
3) Facebook Integration
At the D10 conference, Tim Cook said to ‘Stay Tuned’ when asked about the absence of Facebook system integration into iOS. We knew that it would happen some day. But that day would come so early was not predicted by me. Yes, deep Facebook integration is coming to iOS 6. And it would be great to see how Apple has solved the complexities of privacy settings while sharing Photos, location, safari links, etc in iOS. To find out more, we need to wait for two more days.
4) Overhaul of the UI in iBookStore, iTunes Store and App Store
Well, Apple acquisition of a company called Chomp which worked on improving the discoverability of the application on App Store could see its implementation in iOS 6. There’s a possibility that Apple has improved its search back-end in its three major stores – iBookStore, iTunes Store and App Store. Also, Apple has reportedly overhauled the UI that makes it more convenient for anyone to make purchase. Who knows that we won’t need to manually enter password every time while downloading applications on App Store?
5) Siri for iPad/ API for Developers
It was believed that Apple would push Siri for iPad in iOS 5 itself. But it never appeared. Perhaps, the reason could be the absence of applications such as Weather, Stocks etc. On iPhone 4S, some functionality of Siri is dependent on the software which is a hindrance. Now, it seems that Apple has figured out a way to port Siri on iDevices which doesn’t have this applications installed. Everything including the Weather, Stock, etc would be controlled from the severs only.
In addition to it, Apple could announce API for developers, so that they use the voice-assistant into their applications and come with wonderful applications.
6) A Navigation Application
While we have already told you about a 3D maps application which is almost confirmed to debut in iOS 6. Apple might surprise the world with yet another navigation application which would be an in-car GPS solution. After the criticism that Apple had been collecting the traffic data mysteriously without notifying the iDevices users, the data could have been used to built an independent navigation application. With the help of this data, Apple could have built their own ‘geocoder’ to convert the longitude and latitude into addresses.
7) Do not Disturb
Originally appeared in Mountain Lion, Apple might introduce the feature into the iOS 6 as well. Those who are not aware, this feature mainly shuts off all of your notifications, banners and alerts. This makes things very handy because you don’t need to turn off notification one by one for each application from the notification settings. Due to the fact that Mountain Lion would be released before iOS 6, Mac OS X users would be already aware of the feature before they go hands on with iOS 6.
8) Widgets?
Well some you folks must be wondering that Apple could introduce some more widgets into the notification center, we think that the probability is less. There’s not enough space in the notification center to accommodate too much widgets which ultimately makes the dragging down from the status bar slow. May be, we will be able to see one more, but then it’s very less likely.
9) Changes in Lockscreen, Homescreen or Revamp in the User Interface?
Even in this area, we are skeptical about the changes. Apple may not want to completely change the complete user interface in iOS 6. Their customers know their mobile operating system the best in its recent look and tweaking it could lead to different issues in future. Instead, they could render the layout of tabs and UI with a silver look which could be seen in WWDC 2012 application for developers. Again, we might be wrong. But we want to keep our fingers crossed on this one.
Well, this was the complete roundup of rumors of iOS 6. If we have missed out something, please let’s know in the comment section. Feel free to share your “Top 10 iOS 6 Wish-List”.
Image courtesy – 9to5Mac
