At 1 pm Eastern on Monday, June 22, 2020, Apple will take the stage for its annual WWDC keynote. There are things going on the Apple world right that I find frustrating, but I still am pretty excited to see what happens at WWDC.

My Predictions

The keynote will be a combination of a “live,” on stage, presentation, and pre-recorded videos that explain or demo feature details.

I think Apple will want to have some overall structure that makes the presentation feel “normal.” This will involve Tim coming out on a stage in front of socially distanced people. There may be other presenters at various points, but I think a lot of the detailed discussions will be in the form of pre-recorded videos. I think this whole thing will have been recorded before 1:00 pm on Monday.

Macs will be transitioning to ARM.

I’m not going out on a limb with this one. It has been widely reported.

OS Improvements to Help with Working from Home.

The past few months of working from home have identified some issues that Apple could fix in software. For example, Apple could fix the problem of most webcams being terrible by making it easy to use your iPhone as an external camera for a video conference. Also, Apple could make it easier to video conference on your iPad while also taking notes in another application.

iPadOS Home Screen Improvements

This one almost made my “hoping for, but doubt it is going to happen” list, and I also hope that it comes to iOS. That said, I think a nice, middle of the road, prediction is that the iPad will get some improvements (widgets, ability to place folders or files on the home screen, etc.) in the upcoming iPadOS revision.

What I am hoping for, but that I doubt will happen:

• A statement that new ARM Macs will start shipping in 2020. (This feels too early.)
• Major improvements to the File management experience on iPad. (It’s the major thing that I still really find easier on my Mac.)
• Shortcuts on the Mac. (Shortcuts is how I do most of my automation now, and Apple adding it to the Mac would mean Apple is invested in continuing to develop it.)

Elyssa’s Predictions

For some added fun, I asked Elyssa if she had any predictions for what is going to get announced during the keynote. Here is what she said:

1. Apple will announce it is donating a substantial sum of money to charities associated with current movements (e.g., Black Lives Matter), and that it is making a concentrated effort to diversify its leadership.
2. Apple will announce that they are working on software to help you identify whether you may already have COVID-19 (similar to what may be found in the Oura rings.)
3. Apple will announce a new Apple Watch that will work with the above-mentioned software.

For someone who does not really follow Apple news (except when I blabber about it to her), I think those predictions are pretty good. Apple has already made a statement about its stance against racism, and WWDC would be a good place to say something further. I also think there is a good chance that Apple will have some software feature in one of its operating systems that relates to COVID-19. I am not sure it will be the Apple Watch, though. I also do not think it is likely Apple will release new Watch hardware in the summer, but it may do so in the fall.