Apple WWDC summary, iOS5 shipping ‘this fall’
Posted Tuesday, June 7, 2011 at 5:41 am by Jason Cartwright
Below is a summary of the events from Apple’s WWDC conference this morning. The story is still developing, so stay tuned for updates. With the cross over in time with Microsoft’s E3 keynote, it’s been one of the most insane morning in tech I can remember. So here it is.
Mac OS X Lion
Available only via the Mac App Store, a developer preview will be available today, with the public release in July. The price.. a mere US$29.99. That’s pretty low, considering Apple says it’s a major release containing more than 250 new features.
iOS5
The next version of iOS will feature a number of important updates.
Notifications
Rather than interrupt you and demand your attention, notifications have been redone. Working much more like Android or WP7 notifications, they simply pop down from the top of the screen. Tapping on the notification takes you to more detail.
Lock Screen
Now surfaces useful info to the lock screen. This is really just catching up with other platforms.
Mail
Now supports Flagging messages, searching entire message content, draggable addresses, rich text formatting.
Camera update
You can now take photos using the volume up button. This can be done even when the phone is locked.. an idea “borrowed” from Windows Phone. Cropping, red-eye reduction, quick enhance all supported.
Updates/Sync OTA
Now delivered over the air. Now delta updates. This should mean incremental updates, not 500MB+.. finally !
Unified messaging across iOS devices
Group messaging services pretty much just died. Apple are providing a messaging platform across all iOS devices. Wi-Fi and 3G are both supported.
iPad to TV wireless
Stream the entire UI to your TV, without wires. No explanation, but clearly requires Apple TV.
News Stand
iBooks for Magazines and Newspapers
Availability
Available to developers today, released some time ‘this fall’.
iCloud
Sync Contacts, Calendar, Mail, Apps, Photos, synced across devices, for free. Mobile Me is now free.
Purchase History
Finally you can see the apps you’ve purchased before, no word on wether music has this feature. It badly needs it.
Backup
Get a new device, plug in your Apple credentials and all your content will be synced.
Photo stream
You can draw photos from the cloud. Integrates with the photos app on iOS devices, even includes Apple TV. On Windows, they integrate with the Photos Library – will be interesting to see how this plays out.
iTunes in the cloud
Download any track you have already bought from iTunes for free.
iTunes Match
Pairs your non-iTunes music, with iTunes music. Takes just minutes to match and give you permission to that music. US$24.99 per year. Saves you from uploading all the music like Amazon and Google. “An industry leading offer”.
Price
iCloud is free.
Availability
iTunes in the cloud available today, the rest when iOS5 ships.
Image credit: ThisIsMyNext
Apple WWDC: Jobs talking MacOS Lion, iOS5 and explain iCloud
Posted Monday, June 6, 2011 at 7:51 pm by Jason Cartwright
As if there wasn’t enough going on already, Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs will take the stage at the Moscone West Centre in San Francisco tomorrow for WWDC. On this year’s agenda is a preview of Mac OS X Lion, iOS5, explain just what the hell iCloud is and maybe a look at iPhone 5. It’d be great to get some firm release dates for iPhone5, but this is Apple, so nothing is assured.
Speculation online suggests that Apple have all 4 major music studios on-board to launch a subscription service. While this may have been on the roadmap anyway, there’s little doubt Amazon and Google’s half-baked offerings have sped things up. What I’d like to see is Apple exert it international penetration and launch their subscription service around the globe. This would highlight Microsoft’s inability to get the deals done with what is a fantastic service – Zune. Competition is a wonderful thing, with the winner being consumers.
The action starts tomorrow at 3AM AEST, for the first time, Engadget will have an official live stream. As with the E3 event, all the action will be discussed intently on twitter. If you miss it live, be sure to check techAU tomorrow morning for a summary of the mind bending action from Mr Jobs.
Apple iPhone 4, WWDC 10 wrapup
Posted Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at 3:00 am by Jason Cartwright
Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference has just begun (3am AEST). I’ll be posting the main announcements as they happen, right here so stay tuned. As more details emerge this post will be updated. It’s expected that Steve Jobs will announce the 4th generation iPhone which is said to be called the iPhone HD. Given the developer focus of the conference and the recent launch of the iPad expect Apple to be giving lots of incentives for developers to create dedicated iPad applications. We may even see iPhone OS 4.0 software for the iPad released, stay tuned.
Update
Apple have just gone live with their official iPhone 4 site featuring a new gallery and video.
Event details:
- Over 5,200 attendees
- 57 countries
- Sold out in 8 days!
iPad details:
- 2 Million sold (One every 3 seconds)
- iPad specific apps are up to 8,500.
- 35 Million iPad apps downloaded (17 apps per iPad)
- 5 Million iBooks downloaded (2.5 books per iPad)
Apps:
- iBooks will now support PDF, coming to the iPhone (with wireless sync)
- Netflix for iPhone (US only)
- Farmville coming to the iPhone
- Guitar Hero for the iPhone
- Apple have paid One Billion Dollars to developers (and taken 30%)
Image source: GDGT
iPhone 4 announced
- New industrial design – ‘Really gorgeous, really thin’
- 9.3mm thick – ‘thinnest smartphone on the plannet’
- Front facing camera with LED flash
- 326 ppi resolution display, 960 x 640 resolution, 800:1 contrast ratio (4x the res of the iPhone 3G/3GS)
- Same A4 processor as the iPad
- Up to 32GB of storage
- Moving to the Micro SIM
- Improved Battery life – 3G talk (7hrs), Browsing on WiFi (10hrs), Video (10hrs), Music (40hrs), Standby (300hrs)
- Includes Gyroscope
- 5 Megapixel camera with a back side illuminated sensor [samples]
- Records HD video (1280×720 @ 30fps)
- iMovie for iPhone announced (US$4.99), export in 360p, 540p 720p.
iPhone OS renamed to iOS4
- 1500 new features including multitasking
- Bing added as a search option
- iOS4 Gold Master coming to developers today
Image source: Engadget
FaceTime
- Ridiculous name
- Video calling using the front facing camera
- Wi-Fi only in 2010, Apple working with carriers.
Availability
iPhone 4 will be available in 2 colors, black and white. Price is $199 in the US for the 16GB model, and US$299 for the 32GB model. 3G discontinued, 3GS will drop in price.
Pre-orders (may be US-only) start June 15th.
The release of iPhone 4 will be in 5 countries initially on June 24th 2010 – US, France, Germany, UK, Japan. In July 2010, they release in 24 more countries including Australia.
iOS4 arrives June 21st, available for free to iPhone and iPod touch owners. Some features (multitasking) won’t be supported on older versions.
More @ Apple
iTunes Movies, TV Shows, Music video downloads in iPhone 3.0 gallery
Posted Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 11:29 am by Jason Cartwright
Mac OS X Snow Leopard upgrade for just A$14.95 !
Posted Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 5:44 am by Jason Cartwright
Despite the keynote indicating the Snow Leopard upgrade would cost US$29, on the Australia Apple site right now, the upgrade is listed as just $14.95.
Click for larger version.
More @ Apple Australia
Safari 4.0 full release now available
Posted Tuesday, June 9, 2009 at 5:33 am by Jason Cartwright
Announced and shown off during the WWDC 2009 keynote, Apple’s latest version of their browser has dropped the beta tag and gone full version.
Available via Software Update or head to http://www.apple.com/safari/download/
