Apple’s WWDC keynote has been talked about since last year and yet we didn’t know quite what to expect, Cupertino has kept its doors tightly shut to all leaks and bleeps and this year was a surprise, as we expect from Apple.
The event started with a video, it describes Apple’s culture, to keep innovating and creating products that delight, surprise and connect and only then do they sign their work. It was a pretty video and really kicked off what this keynote would be about.
Tim Cook stepped on stage, first announcing some numbers and showing a beautiful building in Berlin designed by Apple. The app store has had 50 billion downloads and there are currently 900,000 apps on the store. Apple has paid out $10 billion in revenue to developers and $5 billion this year alone, an impressive amount.
Anki came to the floor first and discussed how robots would be coming out of the labs and into peoples homes, they started with a demonstration, Anki Drive, a car simulation using real toy cars on a virtual track. The demo did flop first, but then the AI picked up and started video gaming in real life.
OS X Mavericks was then announced, the new operating system update comes with tons of new features. Here is a quick rundown of the features: Finder Tabs, tagging, multiple displays, reduced CPU activity, memory compression, Safari bookmark features, iCloud keychain for remember passwords.
Apps like Calendar are redesigned for the mac without the leather texture, maps and notifications have been redesigned as well, OS X feels flatter and less obnoxious, this will follow to iOS7 and it seems Apple has a new design atheistic.
Phil Schiller took the stage to announce the new MacBook Air, with a Haswell processor capable of all day battery life. There is also new AirPort Base Stations and Time Capsules, all available to pick up today.
The new Mac Pro line was teased at WWDC, with a redesign making it look like a fansy lamp or circular radiator, it has 2 AMD CPUs, 4K support, 4 USB 3.0 ports, 6 Thunderbolt ports. The best part is the design of the new Mac Pro, it is 1/8 the size of the previous version, incredibly.
iWork has been redesigned to work inside the browser and comes with Microsoft Office support, there were plenty of little tours of the new iWork studio working with iCloud for cloud saving on the Safari browser.
Tim Cook then got back on the stage to talk about iOS, after going through some figures of why iOS is just better than Android in every way, he revealed the new version of iOS with a small video, with Jony Ive discussing how the new OS is better than any other update.
iOS7 got a complete redesign and will be available this fall on iPhone and iPad. Every single app has had its icon redesigned and the software team has been focused on building incredible experiences with minimal fuss. It is truly the next generation mobile operating system.
The amount of detail in the new iOS7 update shows Apple understands when it is time to make a new operating system, even if it is about three years late. The company has redesigned every app, including the web browser, to make iOS7 feel and look the same while changing and redefining the concept.
iTunes Radio was announced for iOS7 and it will work inside the Music application. iTunes Radio will be free with iAds, but for users with an iTunes Match subscription it will be an ad free service.
AirDrop is a new feature for iOS7, it will allow users to share photos, video and other content on the iOS device without bumping the user. This feature will only come to the iPhone 5 and iPad 4, we believe.
The keynote closed with an advertisement video for what Apple believes in when making a product for the customer. We found the Apple event exciting, if not a little undercooked, with no iPad or iPhone reveals. These will probably be kept back until October, we believe.
