Techies, June will be the most amazing month EVER
Save your greenbacks now. During these thirty days you'll hear about lots of innovative and imitative products coming for the holidays. There's no coal in Santa's stocking this year, just too much tech to fit your gift list.
Not since the late 1990s, when seemingly every day some vendor announced a new PC that was ever-so-better than the one you bought the week before, is there so much new tech coming so close together. The cloud connected-device era ushers in a storm of tech. Save up now so you don't break the bank account or exceed credit card limits later.
Computex. Microsoft kicked off this amazing June early, by issuing days ahead of schedule Windows 8 Release Preview. The new operating system foreshadows lots of new an exciting PC and slate designs. You'll hear about some of them during Comutex in Taiwan, which runs from June 5-9. Sure, Windows 8 won't ship for yet another three or four months, but development is far enough along for OEMs to announce hot, new models for the holidays. Some of the most innovative products will run Windows RT.
E3. There's no need to wait until Tuesday. Later today, 6pm EDT, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announces details about the Wii U ahead of the formal E3 video game expo June 5 keynote. There's more: Microsoft is expected to make big noise June 4 at Noon EDT, while Sony preps PlayStation 4 news at 9 pm EDT. These are among the big, pre-show announcements; E3 officially runs from June 5-7 in Los Angeles.
Google Maps. On June 6, Google will announce the next-generation of Maps, in what promises to be an out-Appling Apple. The iPhone maker often steals competitors' thunder by way of big announcement or unofficial leak around the same time as their news. Google gives Apple a little goose, ahead of rumors that Maps is out and home-grown replacement in upcoming in iOS 6.
WWDC. Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference runs from June 11-15, with the big keynote planned for Day One. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company already unveiled next OS X version Mountain Lion, which is expected to get a big, splashy coming-out party. In February, Apple said that Mountain Lion would ship this summer, which by the calendar could be anywhere from June 20 to September 22. My guess: Mountain Lion will come concurrently with rumored, higher-resolution MacBook Pros.
Meanwhile, iOS 6 is sure to debut, ahead of the next iPhone's release, when WWDC 2012 commences in San Francisco. I don't expect Apple to launch iPhone 5, although doing so would steal thunder from hot, new Androids, like HTC One X or Samsung Galaxy S III. Much of the S3 innovation is about software. Apple has opportunity with iOS 6 to snatch back mindshare.
Galaxy S III. Speaking of Samsung's hot, new smartphone, expect June 20 launch on these shores. A S3 variant with 2GB of RAM is confirmed for Canada, while US counterparts have started sneaking through the FCC approval process (AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon). Sure, Samsung launched Galaxy S III in 28 countries last month, racking up 9 million preorders, but North America is the leading market for smartphones (it's not China yet). There is definite demand.
Google I/O. The month caps off June 27-29 with the Google I/O developer conference. There the search and information giant is rumored to announce an Asus-manufactured, 7-inch quad-core Nexus tablet and next Android version Jellybean. Given Google's renewed emphasis on cross-integrating products and services, anniversary launch of Google+ (also this month) and increasing emphasis on social search, the event promises much. That's without considering Chrome, which StatCounter claims beat out Internet Explorer as top-used browser in May, or Chrome OS, supported by new Chromebook models and Chromebox launched this past week.
There is much to look forward to this month, and I've only hit on the obvious stuff. Expect loads more, as vendors prepare some truly exciting tech for summer and autumn release, stacking up the goodies for holiday 2012.
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