Apple set to announce OS X 10.7 Lion and iOS 5

Developers and technology enthusiasts are looking forward to the forthcoming Worldwide Developers Conference this coming June after Apple confirmed its intentions to finally lift the lid on the latest version of its computer operating system, OS X Lion 10.7, and the upcoming announcement of its mobile phone operating system, iOS 5.

The WWDC has been a conference held every year at San Francisco’s Moscone Centre where the Californian technology giant embraces all things Apple related. In recent years it has become synonymous with the company announcing the latest versions of their hardware and software offerings.

In previous years, WWDC has been used to announce the introduction of the Mac Pro, the launch of the iLife suite of applications as well displaying progress on current or forthcoming versions of OS X. These developer conferences have also been the home to the now famous keynote speeches given by the company’s CEO, Steve Jobs.

The Apple iPhone will finally see its fifth major software update, though more eyes will be on whether the actual device will be refreshed yet again. Some customers have been left confused though, as the white iPhone 4 was only just recently released to customers after a 10 month delay in manufacturing.

Apple will also finally lift the lid on the much rumoured iCloud service. Technology blogs have rumoured that Apple has brokered a deal with the big four record labels, allowing users of iTunes the ability to stream any songs they have purchased to any of Apple’s devices absolutely free.

iCloud has also been rumoured to finally embrace the idea of keeping all of your data in the ‘cloud’, allowing you to access it whenever you want, wherever you want. Whether it’s on your iPhone whilst you’re on the train or on your iPad whist relaxing at home, the rumoured iCloud service would allow you to do this because of its tight integration with OS X and iOS.

OS X Lion looks set to finally bring the touchscreen enhancements used on Apple’s iDevices to the mainstream. The company has already previewed Mission Control, its amalgamation of the existing Exposé, Dashboard and Desktop interfaces. It also previewed a range of different enhancements to some of its system applications, bringing them in line with versions offered on iDevices.

One thing impatient apple enthusiasts know nothing about is how much OS X Lion will be priced at. Snow Leopard was priced at a ridiculously low price of £25, ground breaking at the time, as previous Apple updates had cost customers a whopping £125. Be sure to keep your eyes on the Moscone Centre this month to find out whether this does turn out to be true.