We've already discussed what many expect Apple to announce today at its annual spring Worldwide Developer's Conference, which commences at 1 p.m. (EST) today in California. Check back here for live updates as the event gets underway, and follow us on Twitter @wifihifimag for live Tweets.
The conference has begun, and Tim Cook has taken the stage! This is the 25th anniversary of the WWDC. Two-thirds of the attendees are there for the first time, and the youngest developer there is only 13 years old.
Cook says we'll see the "mother of all releases" for developers, with an entire section of the presentation just for this? What is it? Stay tuned?
To start off, it's time to discuss OS X and iOS.
The Mavericks Mac OS is now on more than 50% of Mac computers, marking the fastest adoption of any computing operating system ever, says Cook. Compare that to Windows 8, which is now at 14% adoption.
The new version of OS X, Yosemite, includes a host of upgrades, like translucent materials as you scroll, windows that adjust based on your background images, new icons ("you wouldn't believe how much time we spent crafting a trash can!), dark mode, and a new notification centre.
There are a number of updates to Safari, faster browsing, a newly-redesigned calendar, and mail drop that lets you share files up to 5 GB in size.
AirDrop now works between Mac and iOS, and a hand-off feature lets you pick up a task from one device on another by simply swiping up.
You can now also get text messages and calls from your phone to your Mac, similarly to how you can already get iMessages. Caller ID pops up, and you can even answer the call and use your Mac as a speakerphone.
Yosemite is available to developers today, and everyone else will get it in the fall, as a free upgrade. There will also be a public beta program this summer. interested parties can sign up online.
Now, on to iPhone. There were 130 million new customers to iOS over the last 12 months. Many of them switched from Android. "They bought Android by mistake," jokes Cook, "and then switched over to the iPhone." In particular, he says China has seen a lot of uptake.
iOS7 has a 97% customer satisfaction rating, and almost nine out of every 10 people in the installed base are running the latest OS. This is in stark contrast to Android, where one out of every 10 is running the latest OS. And a large majority are running a version of Android from four years ago. "That's like ancient history!" says Cook.
iOS 8 is announced today, and it's a "giant release," says Cook. It builds on iOS 7, with enhancements for both iPhone and iPad. New, interactive notifications lets you pull down message notification to reply from where you are instead of leaving the app to go into the messages app. It even works in the lock screen.
Neat new features in iOS8 include a tab bird's eye view on iPad, sidebar for bookmarks and favourites, the ability to flag an e-mail message, or pull all the way across to instantly delete it. If you're composing an e-mail, you can swipe the message down to look up something else, then resume the message again.
Spotlight search is now far more intelligent. You can search for things like news, restaurants, songs, movies (and local theatres).
Quick type supports predictive typing suggestions.
Messages is the most frequently used app on iOS. New features include tap to talk, and swipe up to send what you said; the ability to remove people from a conversation thread, or leave a thread when you want. Details button will show people's locations (if they've decided to share it), and can choose to share your location. A new Do Not Disturb button can be used for specific chatty group conversations so your phone doesn't continue to buzz while in a meeting, for example. You can reply to an audio message by simply holding the phone up to your ear when it comes in (in lock screen). Voice your own reply, then put the phone down and the message automatically sends.
HealthKit lets you store all of your fitness and health-related data from third-party apps.
Family sharing lets you share content among different devices from different users that all use the same credit card. Kids will also get a notification to ask the parent for permission before downloading an app, and the parent will get a notification on their phone.
Now, all photos will automatically appear across all i-devices. Apple has also added neat photo editing tools that will intelligently adjust various parameters of a photo to improve it, or let you manually tweak as needed. Favourite a photo on your phone, and it will automatically show up in favourites on your iPad, for instance.
Siri has been updated. You can automatically call her (or him!) to request something without having to push the button.
There are new services for app developers, most notably, the ability to sell app bundles at discounted prices that customers can purchase with one click. Developers can also create app previews, including informational videos.
The new SDK (Software Development Kit) release is the biggest release since the launch of the app store, says Cook. Applications can now extend the system and offer services to other apps. They can define widgets that can go into the notification centre. For example, open up a photo, click the extensions button on the top, left, and select the compatible third-party photo editing app you want to use, perform edits, then close and you're back into your photo library. Or in Safari, bring up the Bing translation app to translate a Webpage; or tap the Pinterest extension button to automatically pin an item.
You can now also install third-party keyboards.
As expected, Apple has launched HomeKit, a common network protocol with secure pairing among your home connected devices. CloudKit scales data to apps based on how many people are using your app.