Appletell

Fueled by the recent snowballing of Mac sales and interest in the iPhone’s mobile WiFi platform, this year’s Apple World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) has sold out for the first time in history.  The exact number of spaces that were available was not put out by Apple, but soon after making the “sold out” announcement, they released the following statement. 

“Response to this year’s WWDC has been off the charts and we are delighted with the show of enthusiasm and support from the developer community for the new iPhone SDK. The conference is now sold out.”

There are many speculations as to what will happen at WWDC ‘08, ranging from 3G iPhones to Tablet Macs (the latter taken with quite a sizable grain of salt).  Based on past WWDC history, chances are slim that any new computer designs will be introduced, as those larger announcement are usually saved for MacWorld (small design updates for the Mac line up are more of a possibility).

Luckily for those who didn’t snag a seat at the conference, videos of the session will be on iTunes shortly after for purchase.

Read [Mac Megatsite]

Apple US Online Store - reads: “Ships: Currently Unavailable”

iPhones have been in high demand recently and the lack of stock in both US and UK Apple stores is not helping the problem. The iPhone is one of the most sought-after devices of the year and both retail and online stores are having their supplies dry up. Many believe this is due to Apple’s expected announcement of the 3G iPhone next month.

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There has been tons of rumors lately about what the new iPhone is going to look like and and what features it will have.  Sure, the iPhone is bound to be updated (or announced to be updated) in June at WWDC, but what about that little thing we call the iPod?  Can’t we give them a little loving?  What is the next iPod going to be like?  Unfortunately, it seems like this device has gotten lost in all the iPhone shuffle.  Well, let’s bring it back into the limelight, even if only for a little bit!  Keep in mind, I have no idea when they will be updated, but it’s always interesting to speculate on what they may look like and contain.

So, what do you think?  Is that old scroll wheel out of fashion?  Will they eventually all have wifi and Safari?  Are they all going to contain some sort of touch screen?  These are all good questions to ask, and with the way Apple keeps its secrets, any of those could be just as possible as the next.  I strongly believe they will all have some sort of advanced touch system, whether it be the actual screen or just adding multi-touch to the scroll wheel.  Apple has learned a lot from both the iPhone and iPod Touch about multi-touch displays, and the consumers seem to love them.  Furthermore, I think they will all be capable of wireless connectivity.  Even if it’s not Safari, Apple could possibly even add a more simplified iTunes Store to normal iPods.  This would be a great way for Apple to sell more songs and users to find even more music.

Now let’s talk more hardware.  With flash memory get cheaper everyday, will the new iPods move to flash?  I hope not.  Well, at least not now.  The Classic and its 160GB are great for people who have a ton of music as well as some movies, and I don’t believe hard drives are dead just yet.  Going along with my multi-touch theory, I also believe the new iPods will get larger screens to make them more able to support that feature.

What are your thoughts? Let them fly in the comments!

Graphic via [Gadget Reviews]

Developers should hurry up if they still want the early registration price as Apple has now extended this deadline until May 9th.  You can find the normal prices at Apple’s site.  This conference, the 2008 Worldwide Developer Conference, will have 150 hands-on labs and sessions, covering the three subjects of IT, Mac, and iPhone.  This event will be at the Moscone West in San Francisco from June 9th until the 13th.  Here’s what Apple says about it:

The groundbreaking innovations of Mac OS X Leopard and iPhone OS offer two revolutionary development platforms for developers and IT professionals. The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is the only place you can receive technical information on these sophisticated platforms from the engineers who created them. Bring your code to the labs and work one-to-one with Apple engineers, applying development methods and best-practices you gain from sessions to enhance your application.

Let us know if you plan on going or if you have any good stories from past experiences.  Sounds like you can learn a lot at these conferences, and I’m sure it’s a great time for all the Apple developers and fans.  Now go save some money!

La Repubblica, a well known Italian publication, is reporting, in Italian of course, that there will soon be a 3G iPhone in Italy.  However, this would be no normal release.  Supposedly there will be no carrier lock or two month agreement on the device whatsoever, it will just be sold at a higher retail price to begin with.  Telecom Italia Mobile will have the rights to sell the phone exclusively for the first few months, but customers will not have to use TIM as their carrier although it is estimated that 50% of Italian wireless customers use TIM anyways.

If this is the case, this would be a landmark deal for TIM.  Apple has been known to get whatever they want when it comes to deals about the iPhone.  If this rumor is true, Apple may have realized that in order for the phone to truly reach its potential, they need to make it more open.  It will be interesting to see how this unfolds as a 3G iPhone wasn’t expected to be even announced until WWDC in June.

Apple has announced WWDC 2008. It will be held June 9th-13th at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco, as usual.

The most anticipated part of WWDC by Apple fans is the keynote presentation which will be held. The keynote will be held on the 10th, as it is a Tuesday, and promises to be big. The invite image (above) features two Golden Gate bridges and the title: “A landmark event. In more ways than one.”

Last year’s WWDC keynote was generally agreed a major letdown. It was mainly Leopard focused, and they focused almost entirely on features they had previously demoed at Macworld 2007. No big “Top Secret” features that Steve had promised were unveiled, and overall, very little new stuff was shown compared to an average keynote.

With luck, Apple will live up to the bar-setting tagline of this month’s invitation and announce some really cool stuff. WWDC is usually the place where professional computers and software get updates. Consumer products are reserved for Macworld.

At last Monday’s WWDC keynote, Steve Jobs surprisingly released the Safari 3 beta to not only Mac users, but Windows users as well, in an attempt to increase the amount of Safari users in total on both platforms. In the presentation however, John Lily, of Mozilla, noticed that Steve basically indicated that he plans to wipe out all PC competitors to leave only Internet Explorer and Safari standing a chance.

“But make no mistake: this wasn’t a careless presentation, or an accidental omission of all the other browsers out there, or even a crummy marketing trick. Lots of words describe Steve & his “Stevenotes”, but ‘careless’ and ‘accidental’ do not. This is, essentially, the way they’re thinking about the problem, and shows the users they want to pick up,” says Lily.

In short, Jobs has made plans to knock out Firefox, Opera, and any other PC or Macintosh browser aside from Internet Explorer. Can it be done? Obviously Steve seems to be blinded by power, thinking that Safari for Windows will be a common application for consumer Windows users.

Read [ZDNet]

Parallels was spotted at WWDC this week giving a demo of a new product. Called Parallels Server for Mac, it is essentially virtualization software for server use. The team showed SuSe Enterprise, Windows 2003, Windows XP, Solaris 10 and FreeBSD 5 happily coexisting on a single XServe.

However, when asked why Mac OS X server was not running in a virtual machine, Ben Rudolph, director of Corporate Communications at Parallels stated that Apple requires its operating systems to run on physical Apple hardware. He further mentioned that “Apple has been a great partner to (them)” and they wouldn’t “want to jeopardize that relationship”.

Expect a beta build of Parallels Server in several months time.

Read [MacWorld]

Ars Technica has some exclusive coverage of the Delicious Generation WWDC party. Apparently, the place was packed full of developers from all over the world having a great time socializing, checking out the live demos and of course drinking at the open bar.

There were representives from big companies like Apple, YouTube, Parallels, Google and Microsoft present, not to mention members of the Mac media and press as well. Product demos that were shown include Nocturne, Skitch, Disco, Picturesque, Cha-ching and several others.

Unfortunately, some of the demos could not be shown because they ran exclusively on Leopard only. Check back later for video clips from the party.

Read [Ars Technica]

With WWDC kicked off and the stevenote over, there are many Mac Geeks gathering in San Francisco. Though many people will be spending their evenings checking out the city, there are also many that will be attending the biggest party of WWDC! The “Delicious Generation” will be holding a party on Wednesday, June 13th, from 8:00pm to 12:00am.

Once upon a time, a developer bestowed the name “Delicious Generation“ upon us because he saw us as creating all “sizzle, no steak“. We think this recent Wired article makes a good argument for what we’ve been doing. But honestly, all we want is for everyone to get along. So we’re throwing a party for developers at WWDC. And we think the party will have both style AND substance. Bring your cameras. It’s gonna be one helluva night.

There is a website set-up with directions and a place to RSVP. In order to attend you must RSVP to get your ticket (they will be checking at the door). With people attending from Apple, Macworld, and countless developers, this sounds like it will be one awesome party.

You won’t want to miss out on the biggest party of WWDC. Eat good food. Drink cold beer. Get a sweet Delicious Generation T-shirt. Chill with cool Mac devs. And see the next generation of Mac software.

That line from the website pretty well sums up the party will be like. It is definitely going to be a night you won’t want to miss if you are in the area. Space is limited as stated by Phill Ryu himself, so make sure you make your RSVP soon! If only I didn’t live on the complete opposite side of North America, I’d like to attend.

Read [Delicious Generation]