WWDC 2005 Approaching

Apple's World Wide Developer's Conference 2005 is quickly approaching. The upcoming conference starts on June 6th and runs until June 10th in San Francisco.

The rumor mill has been notably quiet over the past few weeks. Few detailed rumors reflecting WWDC announcements have been leaked. Traditional sources have been silent.

Perpetual tablet and intel rumors have made their way to the surface again, but little additional substance has been offered.

In some ways, there may be less expected due to recent updates across the product line. The iBook remains the only product line that is overdue for an update -- clocking in 222 days since their last update, with a historic average of 158 days.

Some Mac users have questioned the lack of WWDC speculation amongst the Mac web, and a Macintouch letter from May 19th provides some insight into the workings of Apple and the mainstream Mac Web. (note: rumor sites are never sponsored or supported by Apple in any way)

In regards to the WWDC rumor question, it's a widely known "secret" that Apple pays for the silence of various Mac news web sites by having those sites advertise WWDC. They also post Apple-approved WWDC stories and, by signing contracts with Apple, guarantee they will not speculate about WWDC. The sites then get product from Apple based on the number of click-throughs they generate.

The product they get is not minor, either. Dual 2.5Gig G5's, Cinema Displays, Powerbooks, iMacs, etc., are all given out in quantity to the participating web sites.

You can see which sites are involved in this program by looking at their WWDC stories/advertising - they all have "websitename.html" so Apple can track their clickthroughs.

That being said, rumor sites have also been relatively silent.

Steve Jobs will kick off WWDC on June 6th with a keynote as usual. WWDC keynotes have not historically been webcast, and there have been no announcements or hints that things will be different this time.

As always, MacRumors will provide coverage.