'Retina' App Appears in Mac App Store, But Developer Tamps Down WWDC Hype

With the WWDC Keynote only a few days away, the time for throwing caution to the wind and jumping on any scrap of information has begun. Today's firestorm of speculation starts with an app appearing the the Mac App store with support for Retina graphics.
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Retina display support? Not so fast says developer. Image: Mac App Store

With the WWDC Keynote only a few days away, the time for throwing caution to the wind and jumping on any scrap of provocative information has begun. Today's firestorm of speculation starts with an app with support for a Retina display appearing in the Mac App store.

Specifically, The Next Web found an app with new "Retina graphics" support in the Mac App store on Friday morning. The FolderWatch app was updated on June 8, according to its Mac App Store listing.

MacBooks with Retina displays have been rumored to make an appearance at WWDC. The loudest of these rumors concerns a 15-inch MacBook Pro with a thinner formfactor, a Retina display, USB 3.0, and the omission of an optical drive.

The Macbook Air and iMac are also rumored to receive the Retina display treatment at some point, but it's unclear whether they would appear at WWDC with the new screens.

At first glance, it would appear that the developer of FolderWatch has insider information about Apple's plans for Monday's keynote, but that's an unlikely proposition. According to a Twitter post in response to questions about the app's Retina graphics support, the developer of the app, Brother Roloff, posted this: "By "retina graphics" we're simply referring to HiDPI (a.k.a. @2x graphics). We don't know what Apple will show at WWDC."

Apple has had support for HiDPI displays in Lion, and has updated its own app icons to take advantage of the greater HiDPI pixel density, which is expected to double. Unfortunately, the support for HiDPI in Lion isn't user accessible, but could be unlocked if Apple decides to take the plunge and update the displays on its next generation of computers.

It's possible that Apple could brand HiDPI displays in new MacBooks and iMacs as Retina displays. But until Apple actually takes the stage and announces new hardware, we really won't know.