NEWS / GENERAL

Apple, Microsoft June 6 Conferences Clash - What Could This Mean?

01 Jun, 2011, 5:45 pm IST | by Shayne Rana | General

As WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) and E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), two big events in their own rights draw closer, speculation is running rampant throughout the industry. A rather interesting bit of news has just come to light with regards to Microsoft and Apple. It seems that Microsoft has their E3 conference scheduled on  June 06 at around the same as WWDC would be running. Tech enthusiasts are sure to be in a quandary about which event to attend. Talk about Sophie’s choice.

With the likes of Sony hinting at a PS4 and NGP that will most assuredly be very visible at E3 and the Nintendo Wii 2, one tends to wonder just what Microsoft will have up its sleeve. It’s highly unlikely that they would simply be sitting on some firmware update to their good old Xbox 360. The rumor doing the rounds is that Microsoft could be gearing up to announce a next-gen console that’s been dubbed the Xbox 720. Frank X. Shaw, corporate VP of Corporate Communications at Microsoft, who, although remaining quite ambiguous, posted on the offcial Microsoft Blog a statement that could have been hinting at a possible new Xbox console. Let’s not forget it was at this time last year that the Xbox Slim and Kinect made it out.

It's on now Steve!

It's on now Steve!

 


The company has been mum about it on an official level but I have to admit Shaw’s quote i.e. – ‘For the last 10 years at Microsoft, we’ve been turning up the heat on how we think about Xbox, and next week at E3 you will get a chance to see how far we’ve come’ - does have that slight undertone that would lead one to believe that something is definitely up their sleeve.

Here’s my own little ‘conspiracy theory’ – let’s hypothesize that Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer does announce a next-gen console on the same day and at the same time as Apple’s Steve Jobs is announcing their (ho-hum) software, and let’s also presume that the two hosting their individual conferences at the same time, within driving distance from each other is no coincidence. It’ll be Steve versus Steve! But a hardware launch does somehow seem a little more ‘limelight’ worthy than mere software, as great as they could be. If the timings are also no coincidence then it’s quite likely Apple would in no way want to share the limelight with anyone, least of all arch rival Microsoft.  This could mean a hardware launch of their own, say… I don’t know… an all new iPhone perhaps. Now that would most certainly steal the show.

This is, like I said, highly speculative and neither company has made any kind of direct remarks regarding a possible hardware launch on June 6. Seeing as it’s just around the corner though, it’s not going to be a long wait, but it is certainly going to be an anxious one.

Tags: WWDC 2011 , E3 2011 , Apple , Microsoft , Apple iPhone 4S , iPhone 4S , iPhone 5 , Xbox 720 , Microsoft Xbox 360 , Steve Jobs , Steve Ballmer , Apple Keynote , E3

RELATED STORIES

WWDC 2011: The iOS 5 - An OS that was Great is Now Better

WWDC 2011: The iOS 5 - An OS that was Great is Now Better

Now with deep Twitter integration, iMessage and plenty other features, this is a major revamp from their previous versions.

Are Sequels Killing The Gaming Industry?

Halo Anniversary To Support Kinect

Far Cry 3 Wish List

Why I Don't Care About E3 Anymore

Best of E3 2011

E3 2011: Nintendo Presents the Wii U

Apple - 2011 WWDC Keynote Address

08 Jun, 2011, 05:03 am IST

Apple - 2011 WWDC Keynote Address

Apple WWDC 2011 Steve Jobs Presentation 6/6/2011

09 Jun, 2011, 06:33 am IST

Apple WWDC 2011 Steve Jobs Presentation ...

Song A Day #887: WWDC 2011_ The Musical

07 Jun, 2011, 09:22 pm IST

Song A Day #887: WWDC 2011_ The Musical

 

OPINIONS

Padmini Harchandrai

The latest "should they-shouldn't they" event with Facebook is the lift of the minimu...

MORE OPINIONS

Leaked Images, Availability, Pricing,
Specs, Pre-order

features

Top 5 potential Gmail alternatives

Top 5 potential Gmail alternatives

Google’s Gmail service is arguably the most advanced and feature-packed...

By Naina Khedekar

The Future of Broadband - views from industry leaders

The Future of Broadband - views from industry leaders

One of the other events that took place at the same venue as the recent...

By Rossi Fernandes

Tech2 goes around the World IT Show 2012, Seoul

Tech2 goes around the World IT Show 2012, Seoul

Tech2 was part of an entourage that was invited for the Korea IT Show and...

By Rossi Fernandes

MORE FEATURES

Beetel GD 777 touchscreen mobile phone for Rs.5,499

Vaibhav Dewada

Sun May 27, 18:01:15

Samsung launches ES8000 Smart TV series in India

Anand Jomde

Sun May 27, 17:54:30

PS Vita officially launched in India

Asif Qadri

Sun May 27, 12:27:05

MORE DISCUSSIONS