Headline Feeds
It's official. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) on Monday announced that it will kick off its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) with a keynote preview of Mac OS X "Leopard" in August.
A team headed by Apple chief Steve Jobs -- including Philip Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide product marketing 
; Bertrand Serlet, senior vice president of software engineering; and Scott Forstall, vice president of platform experience -- will demo version 10.5 of the Macintosh operating system on August 7.
"This was expected. The developer conference is the natural place for Apple to talk about the next version of its operating system. I am sure there will be excitement among the developer community," JupiterResearch analyst Joe Wilcox told MacNewsWorld.
Beating the Competition
There is an underlying story here: Apple has once again one-upped Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT). The company has released a couple of new versions of its OS X operating system since Microsoft issued Windows XP. It is now taking advantage of its speed and Microsoft's delays to gain attention for Leopard while Windows users continue to wait for Vista.
"Microsoft would have had to complete the code and release Vista to manufacturing in August to have it ready for the holidays. Hype for Vista would have started this summer," Wilcox said, noting that Vista marketing efforts might have overshadowed Leopard. However, with no Vista in 2006, Apple can enjoy the full attention of the market, he said.
The five-day WWDC event, which runs from August 7 to August 11, will deliver more than 175 technical sessions and labs with new content designed to serve a wide range of Mac developers, including tracks that preview Leopard, as well as dozens of hands-on labs providing opportunities to work developer-to-developer with Apple engineers.
Leveraging Leopard
Throughout the conference, participants will receive detailed information and best practices on developing Universal applications that take advantage of the capabilities of Intel-based Macs, including special sessions on performance optimization using Apple software development tools.
"Apple wants to evangelize the developers and get them on the new platform as soon as possible. There are a lot of important little applications that are universal, but a couple of the big ones are still MIA, like products from Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) and Microsoft," Wilcox explained.
WWDC will also include presentation sessions led by engineers and experts delivering the technical information needed to take advantage of current technologies in Tiger, and get ready for what's coming in Leopard.
Hands-On Sessions
Developers will have access to hands-on sessions offering firsthand knowledge of Apple's best practices for leveraging technologies like Spotlight, Core Image, Xgrid, Core Data and Quartz Composer, as well as technology specific labs where they can work one-on-one with Apple engineers to solve problems and answer questions.
At this year's WWDC, Apple is putting an extra focus on digital media, system administration, game development and scientific computing communities.
The cost of the five-day conference is US$1,595 per attendee, with a $300 early registration discount that has been extended through July 7.
Talkback: 
