• by Thom Forbes  @tforbes, June 8, 2015

Like songs leaked on music-sharing site before their official release, the big news of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) opening today has already been out there for days: It’s launching its own streaming music service, reportedly called Apple Music. Then Sunday, during a q&a session at Billboard's Midem Music Industry Festival conference in Cannes, Sony Music chairman/CEO Doug Morris put the outro on the rumors. “It’s happening tomorrow,” he said.

According to Morris, Apple’s entry into streaming is a tipping point — in a positive way — the music industry after a decade of decline.

“With Jimmy [Iovine], Apple has the best music person you could ever meet, so he brings incredible knowledge to them, and what they have that gives them an advantage is $178 billion in the bank and 800 million credit cards, and Spotify doesn't really advertise because they're still not profitable,” he said, writesBillboard’s Jem Aswad. “My guess is Apple will advertise, that they'll make a big splash. I think the result of this will have a halo effect on the streaming business. All the companies will benefit, a rising tide lifts all ships.”

That’s not the only forthcoming news that’s out there for the gleaning.

“Apple will preview the update to its mobile operating system, iOS, at WWDC, showcasing many new features that will appear on the new iPhone — and be available for current and past iPhones as well,” writes Jefferson Graham for USA Today. Among them are faster operations, with the iOS actually taking up less space on the device. There will also be improvements to its notifications for its Calendar, Contacts and Passbook apps.

Apple Watch, which has been on sale for six weeks now, is getting a Software Development Kit (SDK) “that will allow third party developers to run their apps natively on the watch,” Parmy Olson writes for Forbes. “Till now third-party Watch apps have had to wait for the wearable to send data from its heart rate sensor, gyroscope and accelerometer to the iPhone via bluetooth.”

“Developers will be able to launch their updated Watch apps in the autumn,” writes Olson, with health and fitness apps such as Runtastic and Nike+ Running being “obvious beneficiaries.”

What purportedly won’t be announced at the conference has also been making headlines: a new box for Apple TV apparently is not ready for prime time (whatever that was).

“One much ballyhooed device will be absent from the conference: a new Apple TV, Apple’s set-top box for televisions,” Brian X. Chen wrote last week for the New York Times. “The company planned as recently as mid-May to use the event to spotlight new Apple TV hardware, along with an improved remote control and a tool kit for developers to make apps for the entertainment device. But those plans were postponed partly because the product was not ready, according to two people briefed on the product.”

Meanwhile, Showtime last week announced that it would launch a standalone streaming service, as HBO has done, with Apple as its first partner. It will cost $11 a month as opposed to HBO Now’s $15.

“The launch of Showtime's app will coincide with the new seasons of ‘Ray Donovan’ and ‘Masters of Sex’ on July 12. iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple TV users will be able to subscribe anywhere in the U.S., but the company said more platforms and providers will be announced soon,” Joan E. Solsman reported for Cnet.

In another development, Apple CEO told Mashable’s Christina Warren yesterday that not only would women be more visible at WWDC than is usual at tech industry events but also that the company is making efforts to create more female role models.

“I think it's our fault — 'our' meaning the whole tech community,” Cook told Warren at a WWDC Scholarship Program orientation session at the Four Seasons in San Francisco, where he made a surprise visit. “I think in general we haven't done enough to reach out and show young women that it's cool to do it and how much fun it can be.”

To correct that, he said, Apple is reaching out to junior high, high school and college women, and is “spending a lot more time with historically black colleges” as well.

Will Tim Cook & Co. mange to pull off any surprises today? If you want to see for yourself, live streaming begins on http://www.apple.com/live/ at 1 p.m. EDT, 10 a.m. PDT.