But WWDC has become so much more than that, and this year's conference looks to be a bigger deal than usual. Not only does it allow Cook to highlight Apple's direction for the next year, but also lets him showcase new hardware, talk up and the next version of iOS and get developers enthused about the company's development platform.

Fueled by the increasing popularity of the iPhone, and Apple's laptop line-up, WWDC has become a hot ticket. Every year, the limited-capacity event fills even faster. , it sold out in eight days. Last year, it and scalpers pushed ticket prices to $4,600. This year, WWDC tickets .

That shouldn't be a surprise: Apple's enormous user base continues to expand and those customers are eager to get their hands on the next great app -- and the hardware on which it runs. Apps like Angry Birds, Instagram and Instapaper all originated on Apple's platform. In fact, Flurry Analytics reports that are designed for iOS. Developers follow the money, and, as of January, Apple had paid out a cool $4 billion to iOS developers. So it's no wonder there's strong demand for the chance to work with Apple engineers on developer issues.

This year's event, of course, is also the first without Apple's co-founder and longtime CEO Steve Jobs, who died in October, not long after relinquishing the title of CEO. While not the first Apple event run by Cook -- he most recently -- this year's WWDC has expectations running high, given how long it's been since Apple updated a number of its hardware products.

Here's a rundown of what Cook's expected to roll out and what it means for Apple.