At its annual developers conference, Apple unveiled new software for mobile, desktop and apps
OS 10.10 'Yosemite'
'Health', a data-tracking app
New mobile software iOS 8
Apple unveils its smarthome program
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Cook wraps up on the two-hour mark.
Apple will introduce:
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Cook calls iOS "the biggest release of iOS since the introduction of the App Store" (which was in 2008). "Together our devices provide an integrated and continuous experience across all of them. And developers can create powerful apps more easily than they've ever been able to.
"Apple engineers platforms, devices and services together. We do this so we can create a seamless experience for our users that is unparalleled in the industry. This is something only Apple can do."
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Federighi says "what if you had Objective-C without the C?" Apple introduces a new programming language, Swift. It's a modern programming language - for which the developers are going wild (if you know what a "tuple" is, then you'd be excited. If not - it's an ordered list of elements. Programmers love them.) Swift benchmarks show it's very, very fast, Federighi says.
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Keyboards: Apple will let you install system-wide third-party keyboards. They will run inside the most restrictive sandbox - so without access to the network unless you allow them.
Touch ID gets an API (application programming interface) so that developers can build to it.
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"We've come up with HomeKit to allow secure pairing so that only your iPhone can unlock your garage door. With Siri integration you can say something like 'Get ready for bed' and be sure the garage door is closed, the lights are dimmed, the doors are locked."
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Looking back at Tim Cook's "130m new users on iOS in the past 12 months" - in the four quarters to the end of March 2014, Apple sold 71m iPads and 160m iPhones, or 231m iOS devices (give or take a few million more iPod Touches).
That means that 130m of the 231m iOS devices went to new users - 56%, which feels like a remarkably high figure.
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KIND OF WEIRD THAT APPLE DIDNT MENTION NEST **AT ALL** WHEN TALKING ABOUT HOME DEVICES
Note: I did not see @nest or @Dropcam on the list of Apple Homekit support -- did see August lock. Anyone know? #wwdc
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"Extensibility" - apps being able to offer services to other apps. This is like Android's "intents" - also called XPC (cross-program communication).
"Extensions live inside an application's sandbox, but apps can reach through the OS to request. Pinterest can offer a share sheet to Safari. Bing can offer translation inside Safari. Photo filters inside of photos. Third party apps can define widgets with notifications."
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"There is a lot more - what iOS 8 provides for developers to create apps you couldn't create before," says Cook. The App Store now has 1.2m apps with an "unbelievably vibrant" market. 300 million people visit the store every week. 75bn apps downloaded.
"We want to make the App Store even better." New features on the store - an 'Explore' tab, with trending searches, faster search, related searches, discounted bundles.
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Storage isn't quite free - tiered prices, though much cheaper than iCloud used to be. 5GB for free, 20GB for $0.99 per month or 200GB for $3.99 a month.
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iOS 8 adds Shazam song recognition - Siri will recognise a song around you. Streaming voice recognition, so that it will show what it thinks you've said, and 22 new languages that it understands. Vector-based maps in China. A lot of improved elements for China - one of Apple's most important markets.
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Photos get "smart editing" on the device - very simple interface for improving sharpness, colours and so on.
Synchronised over iCloud to other iOS devices.
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Health
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"Family sharing" will let you create a "family" photo stream, calendar, Find My Friends ("with permission") and find your devices. Also sharing music, books, apps, films. "With Family Sharing you can get at your purchases but also the purchases of members of your family. You just click right through and download. For up to six family members." All on a single credit card - but parents get an alert when a child wants to buy something in a story.
In effect, it's Apple's response to Microsoft's "Kids Corner" (which ropes off part of the phone and its apps.)
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WhatsApp's co-founder is not too happy:
very flattering to see Apple "borrow" numerous WhatsApp features into iMessage in iOS 8 #innovation
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Integrating SMS and phone calls from iPhone into the desktop (and laptop) is quite a move. Developers get their preview version from today.
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Apple will have public beta program for OSX Yosemite - people can sign up online and will get access to the ongoing betas through the summer. It will be free when it is finally released in the autumn.
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New design that more closely resembles iOS for iPad and iPhone, with translucent windows and flat design
Make phone calls from Mac or desktop
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Mac iPhone integration reminds me of concepts & alpha stuff Nokia had 200x... Cool to see them realized by Apple.
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Apple picking up lots of popular messaging app features for iMessage. With system level integration. But no word on usage volume in years
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"And now something that we all care a lot about - health," says Federighi. "Developers have created a lot of apps for monitoring your health. But up to now the information gathered by those applications lives in silos. But now you can with HealthKit. A single place where applications can gather the data. And there's an app - Health.
"We carefully protect your privacy - you can decide what you want to share between apps." Working with the Mayo clinic so that if a patent takes a blood pressure reading, and it's out of normal bounds, it will feed back to the clinic automatically.
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Messages
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Continuity works across iPhones and iPads too.
Messages is the most-used app. It adds Group Messaging, naming a thread, leaving a thread with multiple people, and "do not disturb".
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Apple iOS keyboard gets "Quicktype". In iOS 8 you get predictive typing suggestions (a form of which has been in Android for a while) - but given the question in a message "Do you want to go for dinner or a movie?" You'll be offered different choices - "dinner", "movie", "not sure".
And "none of your keystrokes leave the device," says Federighi.
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iOS 8 is a "huge update", says Cook.
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iOS 8
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Overall satisfaction for iOS 7 is 97%, according to a ChangeWave survey, and 89% now using the latest version, says Cook. "This is in stark contrast to Android, where "when you look at their latest release less than 1 in 10 customers - 9% - are on their latest software. And over a third of their customers are running a version of Android from four years ago." That means they are not getting great new features or security updates that they may need to stay safe, says Cook. "And this is particularly important for Android which dominates the mobile malware market."
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Apple has sold over 800m iOS devices in total. Here's a breakdown:
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iOS has brought more than 130 million customers in the past 12 months - it was their first Apple device. Many were switchers from Android, says Cook: "they had bought an Android phone and they sought a better experience and decided to check out iPhone and iOS. In fact nearly half of our customers in China in the past six months switched from Android to iPhone."
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so Jony Ive walks into a flat translucent bar
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Being able to call Dr Dre live on stage was so worth $3 billion
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Apple adds SMS reception (not just its own iMessage) and phone calls on the desktop which you can accept and receive (and reply to, or take the calls) "even if your phone is across the house on a charger," says Federighi. You can dial your phone from your OS X device - essentially bringing the OS X user base into the iOS user base.
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Continuity
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"We're going to take proximity-awareness and make it easier. Your Mac will see your phone and it will automatically set up a hotspot without you having to type a password. Even if your phone is across the room sitting in a handbag," says Federighi.
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"Airdrop now works between iOS and the Mac," announced Federighi. This had been hoped for - but it hadn't been clear how it would be done.
Federighi announces "Handoff" - your devices are aware of each other and you can pick up work from an Apple desktop or laptop onto an iPad or iPhone.
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Ok, just 28 minutes into the keynote, and Apple is going after Dropbox, Google Drive, HighTail, and Docusign.
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Safari
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I think single-window mode is dead, too. Good riddance.
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So far the WWDC keynote has been ripoff after ripoff after ripoff. Not one shred of originality. Yet.
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OS X will have a "dark mode" so that users aren't distracted by objects around the window in which they're working. "It's a more usable version of OS X," says Federighi.
The Spotlight inbuilt search also now taps internet sources.
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Email can handle attachments of up to 5GB in size.
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Safari updates so far: added private windows -- a knock off of incognito from @googlechrome ( aka 'porn mode') -- #wwdc
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Craig Federighi announces "iCloud Drive" - showing the documents in the cloud-based iCloud, shows up like folders. It's very Dropbox-like. It's the first time that iCloud has had a filesystem-based appearance.
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Yosemite Spotlight uses Bing for Web search continuing the deGooglization of Apple products.
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Translucent windows seem like a good idea only when you have just one or two windows open.
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Rejected OSX names: OSX Oxnard, OSX Rancho Cucamonga, OSX Weed. (They went with OSX Yosemite.) #WWDC14
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Mac OSX, the desktop software, is getting a dramatic overhaul in appearance - its first big change since the introduction of the new software in 2001. It's a flatter appearance, echoing the IOS 7 change - but retaining shadows for the idea of depth.
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Apple's Craig Federighi has teased the most important news coming from the keynote today: a change in system font. Exciting.
To those who are wondering, this is not quite Myriad. #ios8 #wwdc2014 pic.twitter.com/MyB0dw38B0
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Apples share of the US smartphone users will rise to 40.5% up from 40% in 2013 and 36.5% in 2012, according to data from eMarketer. By comparison Googles Android will claim 50% of smartphone users in 2014, up from 49.5% in 2013.
In the UK, Apples numbers are slightly lower. Apple is expected to claim 30.5% of smartphone users this year, up from 29% in 2013, while Android smartphone users will account for 53% of the market in 2014 compared to 54.5% in 2013, according to eMarketer.
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Journalists with long lenses + computers apparently running OS X 10.10 set up on the stage = a first look of what's to come:
Let's take a close look at those OSX icons, shall we? #WWDC pic.twitter.com/A03QTBXvrP
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The audience - some of whom have been queueing since 5.30am - is expecting an announcement around the smart home, the "Healthbook" app to store health data, and new versions of the desktop and mobile software.
The latter tends to matter more because it will be pushed out to so many more people and so quickly: there are more people using iOS 7 than any single point version of Android. But don't expect new iPhones or iPads - it's the wrong time of year.
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Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference kicks off at 6pm UK time. Charles Arthur is there, and will bring you all the latest announcements direct from San Francisco. No frills - we'll pick out all the most essential details you need to know.
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