Instagram user spots signage for WWDC

Workers are beginning to put up signage for the forthcoming Apple Worldwide Developer's Conference, which opens next week at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. A sharp-eyed Instagram user, Nelson Wu, captured workers unfurling a banner with the slogan "Where great ideas go on to do great things." The banner (seen below) also features the same multi-colored design seen in previous signage, but now including a number of third-party app icons, including Facebook.

Closer integration with Facebook has been rumored to be one of the announcements developers may hear at the conference, since any new integration between the social giant and Apple would require developer notice so that the integration can be rolled into other apps. Neither Facebook nor Apple have said anything official, but Tim Cook did point to the company's relationship with Facebook and said "stay tuned on that one" at the recent AllThingsD conference, and at the recent Apple shareholder's conference.

Excitement about this year's developer conference has reached a fever pitch, with wide-ranging rumors covering almost every product Apple makes, with some disappointment bound to be seen if the company fails to match the high expectations. The WWDC has sometimes been used for product announcements but is generally more focused on software overall.

Among the more realistic expectations are announcements on the forthcoming iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion. Hardware announcements are widely expected (and likely to happen on or around the timeframe of the WWDC) but can't be confirmed. It would, however, be surprising if the conference closed with no debuts of hardware sporting Intel's latest Ivy Bridge chips, though what models and when they would actually ship may vary wildly from the current speculation.

by MacNN Staff