Here are some of my predictions wishes:

Clean

Initially people speculated about how iOS would have a “flat” design under Jony Ive”s supervision. However a more appropriate change is a “clean” design. A clean design means that UI elements and graphics provide obvious information about its functionality. Screen layouts should also be structured in a way to improve a user”s workflow, both average and advanced. By advanced users, I mean users who may use/depend a particular feature of an app more often than a regular user. For example the stand-alone Podcasts app is very frustrating and I wish Apple kept the ability to enjoy podcasts in the Music app (not that the music app has improved much - see this awesome concept). First of all, the navigation bars are always so crowded. Why is there a refresh button when Apple has its slick “pull to refresh” animation? Maybe because they needed to show off the Apple logo so that it matches their iBooks app. Also in the “Now Playing” view, it no longer shows detailed descriptions for an individual episode. And adding old episodes is extremely frustrating because tapping the button displays another tableview that one has to scroll down. Instead, it should scroll to the most recent episode that isn’t downloaded automatically.

Features

Here are the top three features I want to see:

Activator - This already exists as a jailbreak tweak. It allows one to create triggers such as triple Home button press, slide the statusbar, even pressing buttons on a headset. These then trigger a customizable event such as airplane mode, toggle playback, or launch an app. This will give users the option to customize their devices and make it a lot easier and faster to do repetitive tasks.

SpringBoard widgets - The homescreen has only changed slightly with the addition of a search page and folders. It would be really cool if Apple creates widgets that can run on SpringBoard and the lockscreen. Apple can also open it up to developers. Some sample widgets can include easy access to alarms, calendars, or songs. This might mean that apps are no longer arranged in strict grids, but more like the Windows 8 start screen where app icons may be in a few different sizes.

Improved Siri - When Apple first came out with Siri, there was nothing like it. However within months there were new services emerged. In fact Google Now is probably one of the best because it integrates nicely with the Android OS and pre-emptively provides information. Apple’s Siri has already been leapfrogged so there’s a lot it needs to improve. One example is local processing, which is especially beneficial given Apple’s flaky servers.

Other

Here are some other small suggestions:

  • Set individual alarm volume
  • Hold ".?123" while pressing backspace will delete words at a time
  • Podcasts still viewable from Music app if standalone app is installed
  • Newstand icon will not be shown if nothing purchased
  • Contacts app can be eliminated (same as Contacts tab in Phone app)
  • This app switcher would be nice - Auxo

Can’t wait for WWDC 2013!