Apple today announced they will be revealing iOS 5, the next generation of software for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, along with iCloud, Apple’s upcoming cloud service, The new software will be announced on Monday, June 6, at 10:00 am PT during the keynote of its Worldwide Developers Conference. CEO Steve Jobs will deliver the keynote and will be joined onstage by a team of Apple executives. Apple will also introduce Lion, the next version of its OSX software for Macs.
Apple’s press release serves as the first official confirmation of iCloud, a service that is rumored to let users stream their iTunes music library from a server without having to upload each song. Instead, Apple will scan user’s iTunes library to confirm ownership of music, then allow for high-quality streaming of that music. The lack of the need to upload gigabytes of music to online “lockers” is what will differentiate iCloud from similar announced services, Amazon’s Cloud Player and Google’s Music Beta.
One rumored feature of Apple’s iOS 5 is a new deeply integrated voice command interface that stems from Apple’s acquisition last year of Siri, a voice-commanded personal assistant service (and awesome iPhone app). The new interface could allow users to launch and close apps and input text inside of apps without the need for use of the touchscreen.
Other rumored features for iOS 5 include a redesigned notifications system and widgets, according to sources speaking to Techcrunch.
The announcement of iOS 5 at this time of year seems to confirm that the next iPhone will arrive in the fall. Apple has previously announced the next-generation of iPhone software several months before the release of new iPhone hardware in order to give developers time to plan for and get acquainted with the new OS. For example, iOS4 was announced in April 2010, with the iPhone 4 arriving a few months later on June 24, 2010.
