WWDC 2012 event saw the launch of iOS6, which made plenty of app-supported features, making their way to getting integrated right into the iOS.
“Hello and welcome to WWDC. I’m Siri, your virtual assistant and today I was asked to warm up the crowd, which should be easy since the high will be 75 degrees.” said Siri as she kicked off WWDC 2012 in style.
With this announcement began all the anticipation and guessing about what the technology giant Apple might come up with in the next few hours. Yes, WWDC is here and Apple has made lots of new announcements and launches. Lets see whats in it for you:
App store
Apple CEO, Tim Cook announced at WWDC 2012 at San Fransisco that the Appstore has over 400 Million accounts. Moreover the count of the applications has risen to 650,000. Out of these, 225,000 are iPad specific apps. He also compared the numbers with Android, to prove that Apple is the clear winner here. The number of apps downloaded from the AppStore is over 30 Billion and an amount of over 5 Billion USD has been earned by the app developers spread over 155 countries. At last he said that the AppStore was becoming an economy in itself.
New Macbook Lineup
The new Macbook Air has Ivy Bridge Dual Core i7 processors with up to 2Ghz clock speed. Macbook Air will now support upto 8Gb of 1600MHz RAM with 60% faster integrated graphics. The hard drive will be a 512GB flash drive with a read-write speed of 500MBPS!! Yes, half a Terabyte of flash storage, thats what you get in the new Macbook Air. USB 3.0 ports and 720p HD camera for Facetime is also confirmed. The screen resolution will be 1366 x 768 on the 11 inch display, 1400 x 900 on the 13inch model. The range starts at $999 and the highest model will just leave you with $1099 less in your pockets.
For the Macbook Pro lovers, there is a bigger news. Apple has launched a new generation of Macbook Pro. Just 0.71 inches thick, it is almost 1/4th thinner than the current Macbook Pro and weighing only 4.46 pounds, it is much lighter too . It will be powered by 2.7 Ghz Quad-Core i7’s on Ivy Bridge chips which will turbo boost to a whopping 3.7 GHz. One of the most exciting features is the Retina display.
At 15.4 inches, it will be the biggest Retina display ever, sporting a resolution of 2880 x 1800( 220 ppi). It will support up to 16GB of 1600 MHz RAM and 768 GB of Flash storage. This beast will also feature Kepler GT 650M graphics. The battery will keep the device going on for 7 hrs. All other features like 720p HD camera, USB 3.0, MagSafe2 and Thunderbolt are also present. For improving the aesthetics, it features a back-lit keyboard along with a glass trackpad. Range starts at $2199.
The best thing is, that both these beasts start shipping today.
OSX Lion
Before announcing the new features included in the OSX Lion, Apple proudly announced that OSX had already sold 26 Million copies already, a milestone which Windows 7 took 27 months to reach. The new version of OSX will have over 200 new features. The most important is the fully fledged integration of iCloud. This was the first priority of Apple as over 125 Million registered users now use iCloud.
iCloud will update and sync eveything, be it your notifications, Reminders and even Messages. If you are on your Mac and your phone pops up a message, you can respond to that directly from your Mac. Documents also get updated using iCloud within 5 seconds.
One more amazing new feature is dictation, which lets you talk into web browsers and apps like MS Word. Don’t get too excited, its not a Siri, just a simple Dictation app for OSX. Another new feature is Power Nap. Your Mac can now update and sync everything when its offline. It will also perform automatic backups while charging.
Other exciting features include Airplay Mirroring to stream videos wirelessly to your TV, and Gamecenter to play multiplayer games with other OSX or is users. The best thing about this version of OSX Lion is that it is available for just $19.99; thats 10$ cheaper that the Lion. And you can upgrade all you Mac devices by purchasing only one copy. All people who purchase a Mac anyday, after today, will get a free upgrade to this version.
iOS6
Yes, just like at any other WWDC, Apple again announced a new, refined version of iOS . First of all, Siri now knows everything about sports. Ask her anything related to sports and she’ll definitely get back to you with an answer. Knowledge about all earlier things has also been upgraded to a great extent. Moreover, you can also ask Siri to launch other apps. Apple also mentioned that they have contacted with all major car manufacturers to have a button installed in their steering wheels for invoking Siri. And yeah, there is a very good news for iPad users also, Siri will finally be available for iPad in iOS 6.
Some more features of the new iOS include Facetime over cellular networks, and a Do Not Disturb feature. This feature temporarily suspends all sorts of notifications for a set time and reminds about them later. There is also a new way to set “smart” reminders, which trigger when you perform a particular task. Facebook integration is also taken care of. A lot changes have been done in iMessages, Safari and Photostream apps. A new app called Passbook has been added which allows you to carry your cards (like Starbucks cards) virtually.
Another amazing addition to this version of iOS is the Maps. There is an entirely new mapping solution which seems much more sophisticated and beautiful than any other maps application. Moreover this application is also integrated with Siri, thus allowing you to ask questions like “Are we there yet?” A beta version of iOS 6 will be out for developers, today itself. The final version will be made available to the public in fall 2012, and will support iPhone 3GS , 2nd generation iPads and 4th generation iPod Touch and higher models.
That’s all it from WWDC. Keep checking us out for more Tech updates…
