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