Apple has unveiled six major products announcements at its annual developers conference in San Francisco on 10th June. The new Apple products unveiled are iOS 7, OS X Mavericks, iTunes Radio, new MacBook Air and an all new Mac Pro.
iOS 7 :
The new operating system, called iOS 7, strives for a clean,simple,translucent look. Apple is redesigning all its applications and icons to conform to the new look, driven by long-time hardware design chief Jony Ive. CEO Tim Cook called it the biggest change to the platform since the iPhone was introduced in 2007.The new design direction was widely expected and will show up on iPhones, iPad and iPod Touches this fall, the company said, which is when the next generation iPhone is widely expected to be released.
The software strives for a multi-layered look, with translucent panels. On the main screen, the background image moves subtly with the movement of the phone, creating an illusion of depth. Other screens are padded out with plenty of white space.
New features of iOS 7:
- Safari browser that lets users open more tabs than before and scroll through them in a new interface.
- Multi-tasking has also been changed in iOS 7. Now, when users jump from one app to the next, they can see a full preview of the app before they click on it, not just an icon as they see in iOS 6.
- camera app in iOS 7 includes filters that can be used on pictures and a new square mode so users can take pictures that come cropped into the square shape used on Instagram, the popular photo-sharing app.The Photos app has also been improved to automatically organize pictures by when and where they were taken.
- Siri, Apple’s voice assistant, has been redesigned as well. The company said Siri now has a new voice and users can also choose a male voice if they’d prefer. Of course, Siri has also been updated with more voice commands, such as “Turn on Bluetooth” or “Increase my brightness.”
- iOS in the Car, giving users an improved way to control their device while they drive without having to look at their iPhone. The feature will work with a number of new 2014 cars.
- New iOS system will update apps automatically. It will store Web passwords online in Apple’s syncing service, iCloud, making them available across devices.
- The AirDrop feature will allow sharing of big files with Apple-equipped people in the same room.
Apple updates its iOS operating system every year and doesn’t charge for the updates. The new operating system will be available for the iPhone 4 and later models, and on the iPad 2 and later models, including the Mini. The launch of the new software traditionally coincides roughly with the launch of the year’s new iPhone model.
iTunes Radio :
Apple also unveiled a Pandora-like Internet radio service, iTunes Radio. It will be built into the Music app and stream music for free. There will be advertising, except for people who pay $25 a year for the iTunes Match online music storage. The new feature will work on any device that runs iTunes, including PCs.
Apple was a pioneer of online music sales and is still a leader in that field, but streaming services such as Pandora and Spotify have emerged as popular alternatives to buying.Last month, rival Google Inc. started an on-demand subscription music service called All Access that gives subscribers the ability to pick and choose specific songs and albums from a catalog of millions for playback on computers, tablets and smartphones in exchange for a monthly fee.
OS X Mavericks :
The new operating system, which will work with the company’s line of desktops and laptops,will extend battery life and shorten boot-up times. The system improves support for multiple displays and imports the tab concept from Web browsers to the Finder file-organizer.Tagging feature allows users to add tags to files that they save. This should let users search for files more easily. The software update will include iBooks for the first time, giving people who buy e-books from Apple a way to display them on the computer screen in addition to the iPhone and iPad. Competing e-book vendors such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble have cross-platform applications already.
New Mac Pro :
Apple also revealed a complete revamp of the Mac Pro, the boxy desktop model that’s the work horse of graphics and film professionals. The new model is a black cylinder, one eighth the volume of the old box
New MacBook Air :
The new versions of MacBook Air laptops feature an improved processor that will give the company’s ultra-thin laptops “all-day battery life,” according to Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller.The new version of the 11-inch MacBook Air will have nine hours of battery life, four more than its predecessor. Meanwhile, the 13-inch model will have 12 hours of battery life, which is five hours more than its predecessor.
The new 11-inch MacBook Air will be available for $999 with 128 GB of storage or $1,199 for 256 GB. The 13-inch model will go for $1,099 for 128 GB of storage or $1,299 for 256 GB.
(with inputs from AP & LA Times)
