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The Business Insider is reporting that Apple will host a select group of iOS developers in California next week, beginning Tuesday and running for three days for a special developer summit. The source wasn’t very forthcoming with details, but the central thrust of the conference appears to be improving iOS app quality to better compete with Android.
Apple is supposed to release version 4.2 of iOS in November, so a summit prior to that update makes a lot of sense. For the first time, the iPad, the iPhone and the iPod touch will all share the same version of iOS. A huddle session with Apple’s biggest and brightest will help make sure the transition goes smoothly, and could help inject some fresh energy into the App Store, too.
So far, there’s no list of who’ll be in attendance, but I’m willing to place bets on some likely candidates. EA will almost certainly be present, as will ngmoco or its new parent company, DeNA. Apple will probably give preference to its biggest sellers, and to those smaller companies that have remained committed to developing only for the iOS platform.
What else might be on the agenda? Since Apple’s Mac App Store launch isn’t that far out, I suspect Cupertino might try to get some iOS devs interested in making the leap. That will likely mean demos of the new marketplace, and maybe even attempts to arrange greater cohesion behind company offerings across both iOS devices and the Mac.
Whatever the topics of discussion, it’s clear Apple wants to capitalize on the rapid growth of iOS and extend the capabilities of its devices further still. Hopefully, consumers will soon reap the benefits of this increased level of attention. We’ll keep you updated as more details come to light.
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