[smackfu]

The thing is that the previous years of invites haven't really had any deeper meaning, going back to 2010 or so. They've just been getting more and more stylish in representing "a lot of apps".

2010: Tube tiled with app icons

2011: Apple logo "window" into space tiled with app icons

2012: Apple logo made up of translucent round rects (stylized app icons) of various colors.

2013: Translucent round rects stacked on top of each other

[jordn]

I was thinking of an exception but it turns out it was instead a poster they put on the outside of the Yerba Buena Center [http://www.macrumors.com/2012/09/09/yerba-buena-stretched-ic...] - the background was a load of stretched iPhone apps - hinting at them 'stretching' the iPhone to create iPhone 5.

[joshuamerrill]

That's been the case as far as WWDC, but other press events have had strong hints in the invitation. It could be that this is one such invitation—or maybe not? That's the fun of watching Apple. :)

[NamTaf]

There has been, to an extent, with other Apple events. The 'Let's talk iPhone' event [1] showed 4 app icons which basically said the date, time, location and the fact that it was to do with the phone itself.

[1]: http://arstechnica.com/apple/2011/09/apple-sends-invites-for...