In case there was any doubt as to whether Steve Jobs would be in attendance at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Cupertino today released a statement clarifying that Jobs will indeed be delivering a keynote.
According to a press release, Jobs will kick off the event with a keynote address at 10:00 a.m. PT on June 7. The conference, which runs from June 7 – 11, sold out in a record eight days to over 5,000 developers.
Apple’s WWDC has traditionally provided a showcase for unveiling the latest iPhone and iPod iterations. In April, Apple previewed iPhone OS 4.0, which has many believing that WWDC will bring hardware upgrades to match the latest version of the platform.
Expectations for the event have grown in recent months, as high-profile leaks from Gizmodo and various sources in Viet Nam have exposed a couple of iPhone prototypes. An investigation into how Gizmodo obtained the iPhone prototype is ongoing.
A bevy of rumors have been circulating about what exactly Apple might have in store for WWDC. Tops on Apple lovers’ wish lists for the event are a new iPhone, an iPod touch with a camera and a CDMA version of the iPhone that would run on a carrier other than AT&T. Some speculate that the May 31 closing of Lala.com, Apple’s recently acquired cloud-based music service, could foretell of a streaming music addition to iTunes.
Apple is faced with the challenge of matching Google’s recent announcements from its annual developer conference, Google I/O. At the conference, which took place last week, Google announced Android support for tethering, Adobe Flash and Wi-Fi hotspot functionality, as well as a far-reaching digital TV service called Google TV.
Apple has launched updates to the iPhone in June for the past two years. The company unveiled the 3G and the 3G S in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
