Could it be? Is this it? iOS 5?! I honestly have absolutely no clue. But it certainly seems like it at least could have the right idea.
Tomorrow morning, Apple is set to preview iOS 5 for the first time during the WWDC keynote. It’s likely that developers will get access to the initial build as well, so they can start working on updating their apps to take advantage of all the new features/functionality. But some select developers are believed to have already seen iOS 5 (notably those who are likely to present on stage tomorrow). And while not a lot has leaked out, we have heard a few things supposedly coming: widgets, Twitter integration, and revamped notifications.
The last two are particularly interesting given the image above. Again, no clue if it’s actually real or not, but the idea might be right. Notifications that come down from the top bar could be how Apple ends up doing things in iOS 5. After all, this would mimic already existing functionality — when tethering, a blue strip appears along the top; when on the phone, it’s a green strip. Might notifications (or at least Twitter notifications) produce a gray strip?
If so, when clicked on, what happens? Does it launch the Twitter app? Or are you taken to a notifications page to show you all the notifications you’ve missed? Or does it actually copy the Android idea, where you pull down this menu to display all your notifications?
This concept isn’t quite as slick as some of the mock-ups we’ve seen over the past couple of years. Nor is it as slick as some of the jailbroken ones — which actually led to a new Apple hire. But again, it does fit in with the current iOS workflow. That may or may not matter at all. Regardless, this way of doing things would be much better than the current pop-up method for Push Notifications.
Before you go yelling “fake” on the obvious things, a couple notes. First of all, yes, 11:54 PM is in the future — in the United States. But if the Weather app is to be believed, this is clearly a European version of iOS (note the 23 degrees Celsius in the icon instead of 72 degree Fahrenheit as you would see in the U.S.). Second, the Camera app icon is totally different, and looks a little odd being all-black, but who knows, maybe it’s changing. The icons are in the “correct” default order. Finally, if the talk of deep Twitter integration into iOS 5 is to be believed (we heard a bit, others have heard a bit more), it’s entirely possible that these new-style Twitter notifications could be working in iOS 5 right out of the box.
But again, who knows — no one outside of a handful of people before tomorrow morning. Well, and the guy below.
Update: At the very least, we’re hearing “right idea”.