It’s that time of year again for Apple, Inc., which usually uses its annual World Wide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) to introduce a new iPhone or some other incredible tech toy. But not this year.
Hoping to distance itself from the “one more thing” surprise element Steve Jobs has been known for in recent years, Apple used this year’s WWDC to concentrate on software instead of new hardware. Among its newest introductions:
iCLOUD
Considered the official replacement for MobileMe, iCloud will sync all your contacts, calendars, email, photos and music across multiple devices. Create a new contact on your iPad and it will automatically be pushed to the cloud and synced to all of your devices and computers. Snap a new photo on your iPhone and it will appear on all your other devices as well. iCloud syncing will also work with Safari bookmarks and iBooks.
Third-party applications will also have the ability to store documents in iCloud and auto-sync them when changes are made on any device. iCloud is meant to replace your computer as the hub and make iCloud your new media central, meaning you can now “cut the cord” when syncing music, TV shows, and apps.
iCloud will also let you view your entire purchase history from the App Store, allowing you to re-download previously purchased apps at no additional charge. Now it won’t matter what device you used for the original purchase, all your apps will be available to your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. When you purchase new apps, iCloud can push them to all your devices automatically.
Each iCloud user will get 5GB of free storage for mail, documents, and backup. Fortunately, any purchased music, apps, books, or Photo Stream photos will not count against that total.
For now iCloud is free and will be available later this fall.
iTunes Match
What about all your music not purchased in the iTunes Store — for example, all those CDs you ripped yourself? Apple’s remedy is called iTunes Match. For $24.99 per year iTunes Match will scan your entire iTunes library and match it with the 18 million songs that Apple sells. So if you ripped a copy of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It,” that’s already in iTunes Store and you will get instant access to it. Apple will even upgrade it to its standard 256-Kbps AAC format, even if the original copy was of lower quality. For any original songs or music Apple can’t identify, you will need to upload them manually.
MAC OSX LION
Expected to be the last OS for Mac computers, Lion should be a pretty sweet upgrade. It will come with a dozen new features, and among them are:
Mission Control
An enhancement to Spaces, Exposé, and Dashboard, Mission Control will give you an overview of everything on your system: windows, applications, and Spaces workspaces. Activated with a quick multitouch swipe, Mission Control will display your current workspace and all its windows, grouped by application. You can get a Quick Look preview of an individual window by hovering over it and tapping Spacebar, or by isolating an application’s windows with a two finger swipe.
LaunchPad
This is Apple’s new simplified application management for those who are tired of digging through folders just to find an application. With a four-finger pinch gesture or a click on the app in the Dock, LaunchPad will show all of your application icons laid out in an iOS-like grid. You can drag applications to organize them, create folders, or even add additional screens. When you purchase apps from the Mac App Store, they will be automatically added to LaunchPad and will appear on your screen just like on your iPhone or iPad.
Resume, Auto Save, and Versions
Have you ever had to reboot your computer, only to have to reopen every app, every web page, etc. just to get back to where you left off? Now Resume will freeze everything in place upon quit. When you re-launch an application, it will remember where everything was the last time you quit and will restore everything perfectly. The feature will work systemwide, allowing you to restart your Mac, or log out, and bring it exactly back to that state the next time you log in.
AirDrop
Have you ever wanted to share a file with a friend or different device on your local network, but got a headache trying to figure out how? Now you can easily with AirDrop, a fully encrypted, peer-to-peer file-sharing feature that works over Wi-Fi. When you select the AirDrop item in the sidebar, you will see other AirDrop users on your local network by an icon. To share a file, simply drop the file onto the icon of the person you wish to send it to. The receiving party will then see a notification asking if they’d like to accept or decline the transfer.
LION will be available next month via the Mac App Store, for the sweet price of $30. No more CD purchases. Just download it and it will work.
iOS 5
Apple’s new operating system for it iPhone and iPad will come with several impressive new features, while fixing some old and nagging problems. For example, when you purchase a new iPhone or iPad, you’ll no longer have to connect it to a computer first to activate it. Just turn it on and activation will happen wirelessly. Among the other latest features in iOS5:
Notifications
The days of the one-at-a-time pop-up alert are done! New notifications will no longer hijack your screen and require you to deal with them immediately or forever disappear. Instead, they will appear in a small animated bar that slides down from the top of the screen. If you tap the notification, you’ll be taken directly to the app that sent it. Otherwise you can just ignore the notification and it will go away on its own.
You can access Notification Center at any time with a single downward swipe from top of your device’s screen. Notification Center will then slide down to display a list of push notifications you’ve received, including missed calls, voicemails, text messages, and app-specific notifications. Notifications Center will even provide stock and weather updates.
Within Notification Center, you can tap a notification to switch directly to the app that sent that notification, or you can easily delete notifications you no longer need. Dismiss Notification Center and you get right back to your app.
Reminders
Get rid of all your “To Do” apps and get ready for “Reminders.” This app will support multiple lists of tasks, with alerts that can be either date/time or location based. For example, your device can remind you about a task when you reach a specific location, or depart from one. Need to make an important business call when you get to work on Friday? Just enter it into Reminders, and you will receive an alert on Friday the moment you walk into the office. Reminders will sync with iCal on the Mac and Outlook on Windows.
Camera
Have you ever seen something wild and crazy and wanted to snap a quick photo of it with your iPhone? Except, first you must slide the unlock switch, enter your password, find the Camera app, press it, then wait for it to load. Now, Apple will place a camera icon on your welcome screen. Just turn the screen on, snap the photo, and it’s done. Of course, you’ll have to get into the phone to view or edit the photo you just snapped.
iOS5 will be available later this fall, presumably when a new iPhone (iPhone 4s?) will be introduced.
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OF THE LATEST APPLE PRODUCTS INTRODUCED AT WWDC 2011, CLICK HERE.
