When Apple Computer Inc’s World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) kicks off in San Jose on Monday May 7, longtime industry observers expect the company’s media software QuickTime to take center stage. With Apple stock on the upswing, perpetual interim CEO Steve Jobs may take the opportunity to demonstrate the shiny new release of QuickTime, version 4, in his keynote. He may even use the company’s as-yet-unreleased PowerBook laptops to do so.
Keen as Apple fans are to get their hands on it, the hotly anticipated iBook consumer laptop is not believed to be ready for prime time just yet. Instead, the company itself says that Jobs and Avie Tevanian will present an overview of Apple’s software roadmap, including an in-depth look at Apple’s next-generation operating system. Some analysts predict that Jobs will announce Mac OS 8.6 as a stopgap release until Mac OS X, now a server platform, is deemed ready for popular consumption.
