Apple iCloud, iOS 5, and OS X Lion features will be highlight of WWDC

Apple iCloud, iOS 5, and OS X Lion are going to dominate Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) next week.

Despite Steve Jobs still officially being on medical leave, he will make a special appearance as the keynote speaker to present Apple’s new services and software.

Unlike Apple’s usual nature of secrecy, the company made an early announcement in a press release of what will take place at WWDC that will take place during June 6-10 at Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif.

“Apple will unveil its next generation software - Lion, the eighth major release of Mac OS® X; iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s advanced mobile operating system which powers the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch; and iCloud, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering,” the company said in a press release on Tuesday.

Though Apple is not expected to unveil iPhone 5 at this conference, the excitement of Apple fans cannot be contained.

Here are some of things to look for next Monday:

How is music streaming going to work?

Possibly the most interesting aspect of Apple iCloud at the moment would be its music streaming service, which will potentially allow Apple users to play their songs on any device using cloud computing technology without having to transfer them manually.

Apple’s rival Google and Amazon had already started their online music service. However, Apple’s has a head start on them because the company has already closed deals with major music record labels. According to speculations, manual uploading of the songs may not be necessary in iCloud, because it may automatically mirror existing iTunes library.

However, it is not clear whether iCloud will allow songs purchased from anywhere other than iTunes to play at the moment. We shall find out about that soon.

What will be included in iOS 5?

Turn-to-turn navigation? Better notification system? More customization, including widgets in unlock screen?

iOS 5 is most likely going to be the operating platform for the next generation iPhone – dubbed iPhone 5, thus drawing a lot of interest from smart phone users. Can the new software help the next generation iPhone beat Android-based smart phones? We have to wait and watch for that.

How much will be the iCloud service?

According to a report in CNET, Apple could make the service free initially but annual subscription fee will be introduced later. Apple users could enjoy the new cloud service for a while at no cost, but not forever.

The rumored price range from as little as $20 to as much as $99 (which is the same amount one has to pay for MobileMe now), but Apple hasn’t officially announced anything yet. Rumors also suggest that upgrading to OS X Lion could make it cheaper, or even make it free.

Would people be willing to pay extra for hearing the music they rightly own? Or is it just a tactic to make people get the new OS X Lion system?

OS X Lion not revolutionary but interesting nonetheless

Although OS X Lion for Mac may not be revolutionary, yet it will have interesting features. According to a preview page in Apple's website, the new OS X will be more App-friendly (including Launchpad and full-screen apps) and will boast of features such as multi-touch gestures on touchpad mouse, AirDrop, and Lion Server to name a few.