Last Minute Thoughts on iCloud, iOS 5 as Keynote Line Begins

On the night before the 2011 WWDC Keynote, things have been relatively quiet. Those attending WWDC are naturally excited by the prospect of Apple's announcements and everyone is speculating about what Apple could announce. The first person got in line for the WWDC keynote at 1pm Sunday, while everyone else seems to be debating exactly how early to get in line. At present there seem to be about 30 people in line (photo) as of 11pm Pacific.

The image above is what we believe to simply be a mockup of what iOS 5's notifications may look like. It was posted by TechCrunch who later said that they've heard it's the "right idea".

DaringFireball's John Gruber has posted his thoughts about Monday's event but seems to know very little for certain. The most tantalizing quote he offers, but also one that he describes as fourth hand information is as follows:

Don’t think of iCloud as the new MobileMe; think of iCloud as the new iTunes.

Gruber describes the possibility where instead of taking an iOS device and syncing it to your computer, all the data is synced to iCloud. This would finally relinquish the need for a PC/Mac sync for new iOS devices. He goes on with other wishes for iOS but admits its not based on any inside knowledge.

Interestingly, we've heard that a few Apple employees have been genuinely excited about tomorrow's announcements. The keynote kicks off at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern on Monday and we'll provide live coverage here.