Although Cook is not as charismatic as Jobs, he always speaks very passionately, eloquently, and obviously from the heart - and he was excited to introduce a series of speakers representing Apples finest. Here's a brief rundown of what they had to tell us;
Macbook Pro
Phil Schiller announced a new series of MacBook Pro laptops feauturing Apples now famous Retina Display. The device is built around flash storage for maximum performance and reliability, and includes Ivy Bridge Processors, and USB 3.0 ports. It's 25% thinner than the last model and very light. These are going sell like hot cakes.
Mountain Lion
Any laptop is only as good as the software it runs, and Mac OS X has received an update which Apple are calling Mountain Lion. Mountain Lion introduces some new features that iOS users will already be familiar with, such as iMessage, Notification Centre, and iCloud integration. This is a logical evolution for Mac OS X and it continues to bring it closer and closer to iOS in its features and capabilities. In time, they will surely merge into one and the same platform.
iOS 6
This was the part of the keynote that I was waiting for however. As impressive as the new Macbooks and Mountain Lion obviously are, in truth I can't ever see me wishing to buy any sort of laptop ever again. The tablet market is simply going to explode in the very near future, and the ongoing development of platforms like iOS will play a key part in this and in my opinion will ultimately kill off the laptop once and for all.
Scott Forstall took to the stage and introduced us to just a few of the 200 new features of iOS 6;
1). Facebook Integration - In the same way that iOS 5 had Twitter baked in, iOS 6 will have Facebook all over it. You'll be able to post photos to Facebook directly from the Camera Roll and Photo Stream, and also like Apps directly from the App Store. Facebook and Twitter will also now be accessible via Notification Centre.
2). Apple Maps - Apple are in a mood with Google, which is not surprising considering what they did with Android. So it was only a matter of time before they dumped Google Maps from iOS and replaced it with something else.
Apple have partnered with Tom Tom on their new Maps App and it looks very nice indeed. It features turn-by-turn navigation, 3D maps and Siri integration among other things. The Flyover feature, which displays highly-detailed 3D models of famous cities around the world was pretty much the highlight of the iOS 6 demonstration.
3). Safari - Also available on the new Mac, iCloud tabs will now be enabled via iOS 6. Using iCloud tabs you can view all open Safari tabs across all of your iCloud devices. In addition to this there is now a photo upload tool supported by the browser.
4). Siri - Apples Voice Assistant has been updated too. Siri can now launch Apps, and answer questions about movies, restaurants and sports. In addition to this, Siri will now also be available on The New iPad.
5). FaceTime - FaceTime will now work over a cellular connection. How effective it will be over 3G networks will remain to be seen and this feature may only serve to highlight the continuing delay of the evolution of 4G LTE technology (especially here in the UK).
6). Phone - Believe it or not, the iPhone can actually be used to make and receive calls (who would have thought)? The Phone App has one or two new features. These include the ability to reject an incoming call with a button which directs you to either send the caller a quick text back, or set a reminder to call them back when you can.
You can also set your phone to Do not Disturb mode to avoid being woken in the night by calls or alerts. This feature does have settings that can be altered to allow important calls to get through to you on a second attempt however - which is a useful feature.
7). Passbook - Passbook is a new App that will store all of your digital tickets, boarding passes, store cards and coupons in one easy-to-access app. For example, you can have your Starbucks Pass on there and use this to get your Coffee when you go into any Starbucks. This App is an early indication that the next iPhone could very well include NFC (Near Field Communiciation Technology) which will basically turn your phone into a payment device.
Overall Conclusions
Nice work by Apple as usual and I find myself very impressed. The new Macbooks are available right now and OSX Mountain Lion is coming very soon at the very reasonable price of $19.99.
iOS 6 beta is available to Apple Developers right now. I was briefly tempted to pay the yearly £59.99 Apple Developers membership so I could get my hands on it immediately, but ultimately I have resisted and will wait for it to be released in the autumn of this year. My guess is that things will follow a similar pattern as last year, with iOS 6 released in early October along with "The Next/New iPhone". I for one can't wait!
And that's Apple WWDC 12!
Share and Enjoy!
Peter
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