It seems like the night before an Apple event, somebody somewhere leaks some kind of photo about a product or update that’s about to be announced. In keeping with tradition, late Sunday night an image surfaced that shows a pretty good concept for how notifications might work in iOS 5.

TechCrunch posted the image seen here late Sunday, which shows a Twitter notification bar that’s clearly new to the iPhone. The website makes the obvious assumption that it may be a sneak peek at iOS 5, which Apple is expected to preview at today’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) that kicks off with a keynote by CEO Steve Jobs and other executives at 10am PST (that’s 1pm EST for you on the opposite coast).

Needless to say, the image could just as easily be a fake -- although it does appear to keep the same style currently used by iOS 4 for background notifications. “If so, when clicked on, what happens?” TechCrunch queries. “Does it launch the Twitter app? Or are you taken to a notifications page to show you all the notifications you’ve missed? Or does it actually copy the Android idea, where you pull down this menu to display all your notifications?”

The current iOS notification system has been the bane of many users since it was introduced with the first iPhone in 2007, and only made worse when Apple opened the floodgates to third-party developers. It’s really the one key area of the iOS experience that Apple has largely ignored thus far, which is why iOS 5 is widely expected to address the problem at long last.

TechCrunch also notes that the Camera app icon in the image seen here is also different, having gone from grey to all black -- which could also be a sign that this may be the real deal. The website says their sources claim “at the very least, we’re hearing ‘right idea’,” so there’s a good chance we’ll see something like this unveiled soon enough.

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(Image courtesy of TechCrunch)