Apple?s WWDC 2012: iOS 6 And MacBook Pro Releases Are Likely, But No iPhone; What More Can We Expect?

Less than two hours after going live, passes for Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), which will be held at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco from June 11 to 15, have already sold out.

Since the introduction of App Store in 2008, popularity of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference has seen a steep upward slope. But this year's quick sellout has broken all the recent years' records. While the sellout took almost a week in 2010, it took only 11 hours last year. But this year, despite a bump in its price from last two year's $1,599 to $1,699 and Apple's newly imposed restrictions of ticket sales to registered iOS and Mac developers and limitation on the number of passes available per developer group, tickets were sold in such a short time.

Tickets are, however, non-refundable and non-transferable.

So, why this super-craze for this year's WWDC tickets? Various reports suggest that this year's event will see some major releases of hardware and software as Apple will launch its latest iOS 6 operating system, Mountain Lion, and will also extend the MacBook Pro lineup. Meanwhile, reports also suggest that Apple will not release its next generation iPhone in this June event.

As we all remember, iPhone 3GS was announced at WWDC 2009 and the iPhone 4 was announced at WWDC 2010, but Apple altered its own iPhone releasing cycle for iPhone 4S. The last iPhone was released in October 2011 and for that the Cupertino-based tech giant organized a separate event, Let's Talk iPhone. Some similar event is expected to be held for the launch of the next generation iPhone later this year. So the bottom line is, as per our prediction, iPhone will be a no-show in this year's WWDC.

Check out the list of probable Apple products that are to be released in July event:

iOS 6

After the launch of iPad 3 in March, Apple has not released anything big till now. Therefore, an iOS 6 announcement is highly probable in this June event.

Last year, Apple unveiled its iOS 5 developers version at the WWDC event and four months later, the company released iOS 5 Oct 12, 2011, and the iPhone 4S two days later Oct 14, 2011.

With iPad 3, the company has released an updated version of the existing iOS, iOS 5.1. The new OS, which took a three-and-a-half month's extensive investigation, however, did not bring revolutionary features with it. Rather, the list of new features of the latest iOS 5.1 largely consisted of bug fixes and interface tweaks.

MacBook Pro 2012

Apple's MacBook Pro line was launched in January 2006. Since then, the Cupertino-based company has never brought any major overhaul to the product. It was only four years ago that the company did design touchup for the MacBook Pro.

Therefore, some major changes in the design and functionality were due for the Pro. Some news sources had also reported that Apple was trying to bridge the gap between its MacBook Pros and lightweight MacBook Airs to a significant level with the new upgrade.

The device is expected to come with Intel's Ivy Bridge chip, Thunderbolt connector, LTE support, Retina display and improved battery with Power Management Technology.

Mac OS X Mountain Lion

In all probability, Mountain Lion will be released during the event. Why we are so sure? Well, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing, Philip Schiller said in a statement that We have a great WWDC planned this year and can't wait to share the latest news about iOS and OS X Mountain Lion with developers.

With the newest version of OS X, called Mountain Lion, Apple is bringing many iOS features to the Mac and the new iOS platform [h]as created an entirely new industry with fantastic opportunities for developers across the country and around the world, reported Schiller.