By Prince McLean
Published: 02:00 PM EST
Apple Inc's annual developer gathering is currently scheduled to take place during the second week of June, nearly two months earlier than last year's event, AppleInsider has learned.
People familiar with the conference planning say the Cupertino-based Mac maker has reserved the dates of June 10th through the 15th for the event, with a keynote presentation by chief executive Steve Jobs slated for Monday the 11th.
As has been the case in recent years, the week-long conference will reportedly take place at the Moscone West convention center in downtown San Francisco. Dates, however, could shift ahead of Apple's formal announcement early next month.
WWDC 2007 is widely expected to represent the official coming out party of Apple's next-generation Leopard operating system, following full disclosure of its feature set during a separate event in the preceding months. Current company roadmaps also indicate that launch of at least one new Mac system will coincide with the developer conference.
Thus far, Apple has remained tight-lipped about a number of features it plans to roll out with Leopard. People familiar with the matter say the company intends to divulge additional details following the worldwide launch of Windows Vista from Redmond-based rival Microsoft Corp. later this month. Similar, Apple is reportedly withholding the introduction of its next-generation iLife and iWork software suits due to their contingencies on forthcoming Leopard technologies. During a recent conference call, members of the company's leadership told analysts to "
stay tuned" for information on a new iLife release, hinting at an announcement in the not-too-distant future.
Last year's World Wide Developers Conference took place during the
second week of August. It gave way to the first
public demonstration of Leopard, new
Xeon Xserves, and the quad-core
Mac Pro workstation.
