Apple (looking ahead)

HEART BEATS, HOME BEATS: While the first day of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco didn't include an announcement of Beats—and remember, the acquisition still awaits regulatory approval and isn't expected to be completed until September—there were some tantalizing hints of future possibilities for both electronics and streaming. Apple's HomeKit and HealthKit suites, for example, are designed to make mobile devices "remote controls for life." So as developers are making apps talk to each other, so that "Siri, wake me up at 6" powers on lights, coffee maker and thermostat at a set time, why not a Beats Music morning playlist as well? And as the iPhone's function at the gym includes tools for heart and respiration monitoring and other health metrics, how might future wearable tech from Beats improve their accuracy and ease of use? Not to mention supplying you with motivating jams, of course. Regardless of what's said or unsaid about streaming and headphones this week, read between the lines for all the places music and wearable gear might fit into Apple's larger schemes. (6/3a)