iPanel & Siri For iPads? Apple WWDC Event Monday Night

Apple’s big World Wide Developers Conference kicks off on Monday night and at this stage we doubt whether there will be an Apple TV announcement. What is expected are a lot of under the bonnet tweaks to software.One of those tweaks will be an upgrade to the current Apple TV offering with some tipping compatibility with iOS apps. There is also speculation that Apple will announce a new TV platform but not a TV.

According to a Jefferies & Company analyst, the much tipped Apple TV will sell for $1,250 and will be called iPanel; let’s wait and see.

The big threat for any TV vendor is that Apple will deliver a superior TV software experience than what is currently being offered by LG, Samsung and Panasonic.

For example a specific Apple TV store for apps could be introduced, this would allow Apple device owners to access TV content on an iPhone or iPad, it also sets Apple up to roll out a range of TVs that run their Apple software which I suspect will be sleek, efficient and easy to navigate compared to what is currently being dished up TV vendors.

OS X Mountain Lion

This is tipped to be a new software offering that takes the best of iOS and delivers it to Apple’s computing platform, we also suspect there will be a big dose of iCloud offerings wrapped around the new software along with a new ability to sync profiles across devices – between an iPad and MacBook Pro – similar to what Google Chrome already delivers.

New Display
Apple is set to show some new Retina Display offerings on a range of MacBook Pro devices including their 15″, 11″ and 13″ MacBook Air model.

These devices will also be shown running the new Ivy Bridge processor, new 3.0 USB port upgrades are also tipped.

iOS 6
What we do know is that Apple will release a new iOS 6 for the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch. There will also be a new 3D maps app that will take on the recently launched Google Maps offering.

An upgrade to Siri is also tipped with the voice software being extended to an iPad running iOS6 along with new Facebook integration.