Apple kicked off its 23rd annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at San Francisco’s Moscone West centre today — 11 June –, and showed off updates to the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines, a new “Retina” display MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion and iOS 6.
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WWDC is a five day event during which developers can learn about new versions of iOS and OS X, and attend over 100 technical sessions presented by over 1000 Apple engineers. The Apple Design Awards will also take place, showcasing the best apps from the past year.
Here’s what happened, in a nutshell.
App Store
There are 400 million accounts with linked credit cards in the App Store.
650 000 apps in total.
225 000 apps for the iPad.
30 billion downloads.
The App Store operates in 120 countries. Adding an additional 32.
App developers have received over US$5 billion in payouts from the App Store.
MacBook Air
Ivy Bridge CPU
Up to 2.0GHz dual-core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz
Up to 8GB 1600MHz memory
Up to 60% faster graphics
Up to 512GB SSD with 500MBps reads
USB 3 (up to 10x faster than USB 2). A single port supports both USB 2 and 3
Facetime camera updated to 720p
11 inch: 1) 1366 x 768 display, 1.7Ghz dual-core i5, 4GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 64GB flash storage, 5 hours battery life, 0.11 – 0.68” 2.38 lbs, $999
11 inch: 2) 1366 x 768 display, 1.7Ghz dual-core i5, 4GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 128GB flash storage, 5 hours battery life, 0.11 – 0.68” 2.38 lbs, $1099
13 inch: 1) 1440 x 900 display, 1.8Ghz dual-core i5, 4GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 128GB flash storage, 7 hours battery life, 0.11 – 0.68” 2.96 lbs, $1199
13 inch: 2) 1440 x 900 display, 1.8Ghz dual-core i5, 4GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics 4000, 256GB flash storage, 7 hours battery life, 0.11 – 0.68” 2.96 lbs, $1499
MacBook Pro
Ivy Bridge CPU
Up to 2.7GHz quad-core i7
Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
Up to 8GB 1600MHz memory
Up to 60% faster graphics
Up to 16GB video memory
USB 3 (up to 10x faster than USB 2). A single port supports both USB 2 and 3
13 inch 1) 1280 x 800 display, 2.5GHz dual-core i5, 4GB RAM, Intel Graphics 4000, 500GB HDD, 7 hours battery life, 0.95”, 4.5 lbs, $1199
13 inch 2) 1280 x 800 display, 2.9GHz dual-core i7, 8GB RAM, Intel Graphics 4000, 750GB HDD, 7 hours battery life, 0.95”, 4.5 lbs, $1499
15 inch 1) 1440 x 900 display, 2.3GHz quad-core i7, 4GB RAM, GeForce GT 650M 512MB, 500GB HDD, 7 hours battery life, 0.95”, 5.6 lbs, $1799
15 inch 2) 1440 x 900 display, 2.6GHz quad-core i7, 8GB RAM, GeForce GT 650M 1GB, 750GB HDD, 7 hours battery life, 0.95”, 5.6 lbs, $2199
About as thin as MacBook Air at 0.71 – 0.95 inches
15.4 inch, 2880 x 1800 pixel, 220 ppi, “Retina” display
It’s the world’s highest resolution notebook display
Weighs 4.46 lbs
Deep blacks, better viewing angles, glare reduced by 75%
OS X has been updated for the new display. Mail, Safari, iMovie, iPhoto and professional apps like Final Cut Pro and Aperture.
Developers will have to update their apps. Apple has been working with Adobe (Photoshop), Autodesk (AutoCAD), Blizzard (Diablo III).
Up to 2.7GHz quad-core CPU
Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz
Up to 16GB 1600MHz memory
GeForce GT 650M graphics
Up to 768GB of flash storage
Base model: 2.3GHz quad-core i7, 8GB RAM, GeForce GT 650M 1GB graphics, 256GB flash storage, 7 hours battery life (30 days standby), SD slot, HDMI, Thunderbolt, USB 2 and 3 ports, Bluetooth 4.0, Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11n Wi-Fi, $2199
Starts shipping today.
OS X Mountain Lion
Mountain Lion officially announced and adds Dictation and Power Nap features.
40% of Mac users are on Lion
26-million copies of Lion shipped
60-million Mac OS X users in total
125-million iCloud users
US$19.99, not available for public download yet
For more on Mountain Lion check out our Mountain Lion preview
iOS 6
365-million devices sold through 30 March.
700 billion push notifications per day, 1.5 trillion total push notifications.
81% of apps are using Notification Centre
iMessage: 140-million users, more than a 150-billion messages.
Twitter has seen a 3X growth on iOS since it was integrated into iOS 5. 10 billion tweets from iOS 5, 47% of photos from iOS 5.
130 million Game Center accounts. Five-billion scores per week, 67 of top 100 games.
iOS 6 is announced with 200 new features.
Siri can give sports scores and stats. It has better restaurant recommendations and OpenTable integration. There’s also Rotten Tomatoes integration and more movie and theater information. Siri can now launch apps and Tweet. Eyes Free: Apple is working with car manufacturers to include a button that will bring up Siri. 15 languages in total with better local search — Taiwanese, Cantonese, Italian, Mandarin and Canadian added. Siri is coming to the new iPad.
Facebook integration, integrated like Twitter. Login from settings, share from apps like photos or Safari. Locations from Maps. iTunes store, Game Center, integrated with Notification Centre. An API for developers is available. Integrated into App Store. You can like apps, and see what your friends like. Same with movies, TV, and music. Also your Facebook events will appear in calendars, and birthdays. Contact integration. The same integration is coming to the Mac.
Changes to Phone app. “Remind me later” or “Reply with message” options when choosing not to answer a call.
Do Not Disturb mode will take your messages and calls without lighting up your display or making a sound. Repeated calls. You can for example set a call to come through if a person calls keeps calling repeatedly.
Facetime calls can now be made over a cellular connection.
Apple is unifying your phone number and Apple ID. So if someone calls you on your phone number for Facetime, you can answer it on your iPad or Mac. Apple is doing the same thing with iMessage.
Updates to Safari. Offline reading list, iCloud tabs, picture uploading directly from your phone (finally), Smart app banners — you can have users jump into an app or download the app. Sync between web activity and app activity. Fullscreen support in landscape.
Share Photo Streams: Choose the photos, choose the friends — friends will get a notification. The photos will appear in an album and friends can comment.
Mail: VIPs allows you to mark someone who you really want to be notified about. Insert photos and video right from the compose window. Pull to refresh messages.
Passbook: An app to collect boarding passes, store cards, and movie tickets in one place.
Guided access: Single app mode locks the iPad so students can’t look up the answers in Safari. Disable certain controls in apps for children with autism.
New Maps in iOS 6 with traffic anonymous real-time incident reports, integrated Yelp, 100 million business listings, turn-by-turn navigation with automatic rerouting based on traffic conditions. Navigation works from the lock screen and has Siri integration. Flyover shows 3D maps of cities.
Lost mode: Send a number to the phone, and the person who finds it can just tap on that to call you.
Beta available today for iPhone 3GS and later. iPad 2nd and 3rd generation. iPod touch 4th generation.
Accessories
Thunderbolt to Firewire 800 and Ethernet converters
