Tag Archives: apple

Apple iOS 7 running behind, could be the UI overhaul we’ve been hoping for!

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In a Branch chat, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber says, according to what he has heard, Apple’s new upcoming iOS 7 is not only running behind schedule, but more importantly that it will bring a significant user interface (UI) refresh.

What I’ve heard: iOS 7 is running behind, and engineers have been pulled from OS X 10.9 to work on it. (Let me know if you’ve heard this song before.)

Gruber went on to say that he’s heard that iOS 7 is a “significant system-wide UI overhaul” and the iOS engineers who are allowed to carry around devices with iOS 7 on them even have special privacy filters on their devices which reduces viewing angles. This is to prevent others from accidentally getting a glimpse of the new iOS design in iOS 7.

Such secrecy and such management focus on iOS over OS X is nothing new, in fact back in 2007, Apple delayed the release of OS X Leopard to concentrate work on what would be at the time the first iPhone, and from what Gruber hints, that could be the case with iOS 7, meaning a possible delay of OS X 10.9.
softwareupdate

iMore’s Rene Ritchie follows up Gruber’s comments, saying that he’s heard that Ive’s work with iOS 7 is “making many people really happy, but will also apparently make rich-texture-loving designers sad.” His comments come during a Branch talk that includes Gruber, Ritchie, TechCrunch’s MG Siegler, Engadget’s Tim Stevens, The Next Web’s Matthew Panzarino and more.

Ritchie follows up what were his earlier predictions that he’s heard that an event for a new 9.7-inch iPad is, or was planned, for April, but it was contingent upon the new iPad being ready for release. He also notes that he’s hearing the iPhone 5S will arrive in August, although it could be a July/August window rather than a specific month.

As for what could be on the iPhone 5S, both Siegler and Panzarino say they’ve heard a lot about biometrics on the new device, in the form of NFC and Fingerprint reader. The feature would apparently be used for payments and identification. Panzarino also notes, it wouldn’t be surprising to see AuthenTec’s biometric technology (developer of Fingerprint reading software) in Apple devices so soon after Apple purchased the company last July because of the urgency of the deal.

Finally, Siegler says he’s heard “a whisper” that Apple’s Passbook team is due for a shakeup and is in “shambles”, though Ritchie points out that Scott Forstall’s departure could be the main reason for the Passbook team’s troubles.

Who knows what the next iPhone and iOS 7 holds, what it does seem, is it’s going to be much more than we originally anticipated, which is awesome, for once, we’re excited about Apple again.

Sources: Branch, iMore, MacRumors

Blackberry CEO Thorsten Heins claims Apple now lacks Innovation

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In an interview in The Australian Financial Review, Blackberry CEO Thorsten Heins described the Apple iOS platform as an outdated user interface, claiming that the iPhone is “at risk of being replaced in the popularity stakes” due to a ‘lack of innovation’.

Blackberry’s Thorsten Heins with the Z10

Quote:
“Apple did a fantastic job in bringing touch devices to market … They did a fantastic job with the user interface, they are a design icon. There is a reason why they were so successful, and we actually have to admit this and respect that,” Mr Heins said.“History repeats itself again I guess … the rate of innovation is so high in our industry that if you don’t innovate at that speed you can be replaced pretty quickly. The user interface on the iPhone, with all due respect for what this invention was all about is now five years old.” [...]

“The point is that you can never stand still.”

Blackberry itself (formerly RIM) and Thorsten Heins have of course had more than their share of first hand experience of falling behind due to criticised levels of innovation, this of course playing a big part to the sudden loss in Blackberry worldwide smartphone market share, which has fallen from nearly 20% to just 3.5% over the past three years alone.

Of course Blackberry’s new weapon to combat this is the new Blackberry 10 operating system, latest device being the Z10, Q10 to follow soon. The OS has been redesigned from the ground up and has actually been gaining rather positive reviews, but its a tough market out their and Blackberry, like Apple, like anyone, really need to step up their game if they want to not only stand out, but even continue in the ever growing battle in the Smartphone world.

Following the shock departure of the man behind iOS, Scott Forstall from Apple, Apple design chief Jonathan Ive late last year took over responsibility for software as well as hardware design, creating whole new levels of speculation as to whether Jony Ive’s legendary design status could bring it in to software and the upcoming iOS 7 platform.

Realistically speaking, we think you’ll have a lot longer to wait, and that’s the biggest problem of all, the long waiting period. Waiting for Apple to revolutionise and innovate has become crucial to Apple as a company, they need to before its too late. Apple iOS accounts for more than 60% of Apple’s earnings, its mad that they’re not doing something to keep that going, the iPhone being the largest margin.

Everyone can see through their sour grapes, ‘Why you’ll love an iPhone campaign’, not to mention Phil Schiller quite frankly embarrassingly battering Android, Apple has gone all defensive as there’s not much left to give, but their gonna have to start giving soon otherwise they’re gonna face another late 90s but in the iOS world, and there’s no Steve Jobs to come back and make everything better again.

We’re not even that excited for Apple’s next keynote address, in fact after every keynote with Tim Cook as CEO, Apple stock has fallen, and that’s saying something.

Apple iBooks team retweet something they shouldn’t!

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The Apple iBookstore Twitter account accidentally retweeted an obscene message last night, reports 9to5Mac.

The message read, cover your eyes folks

“Let me suck a dick and tell you how much I love introspective novels” @scottsimpson

Yeah, whilst the message may not make much sense to many, this was retweeted by the official iBooksstore Twitter account, the account also favourited the tweet, adding to the embarrassment for the company which has sought to limit sexually-explicit content on its App Store, although it has not placed similar restrictions on its iBookstore.

Suppose it is likely that whoever operates the Twitter account intended to retweet it on their personal Twitter account, but did so while logged into the iBookstore account … ouch!

Google announces new rather expensive ChromeBook Pixel

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Google today announced the Chromebook Pixel, a new Chrome OS-based notebook that Google is aiming probably directly at Apple’s MacBook Air, but with 32GB storage for $1300, really Google?
Chromebookpixel
On the hardware front, Google has built in a high-resolution touchscreen display, as well as 32 or 64GB SSD storage, a backlit keyboard, and a dual core 1.8GHz Intel i5 processor. The unit includes a 12.85″ screen with a 2560 x 1700, 239 ppi display — the same range as Apple’s 13″ MacBook Pro with Retina, which has a 227 ppi screen — as well as two USB 2.0 ports, a Mini Display Port connector, and a SD-card reader.

The machine runs Google’s Chrome OS, the web-only operating system that the company introduced almost two years ago. As added perks, the Pixel comes with 1TB of Google Drive cloud storage, but only for three years, and 12 free sessions of GoGo inflight Wi-Fi.

So what’s next? Today we’re excited to announce our newest laptop—the Chromebook Pixel—which brings together the best in hardware, software and design to inspire the next generation of Chromebooks. With the Pixel, we set out to rethink all elements of a computer in order to design the best laptop possible, especially for power users who have fully embraced the cloud. The philosophy of Chrome has always been to minimize the “chrome” of the browser. In much the same way, the goal of the Pixel is to make the pixels disappear, giving people the best web experience.

http://youtu.be/j-XTpdDDXiUThe Pixel comes in two flavors, a $1,300 model that includes 32GB of SSD storage and Wi-Fi connectivity, while the $1,450 option adds built-in LTE and a 64GB SSD. The Wi-Fi only model ships today while the LTE model is expected in 6-7 weeks.

While the Pixel’s hardware is appealing, because it runs the Chrome OS there are not nearly as many apps available for it as comparable Windows or OS X machines. Gadget recommendation site The Wirecutter had this to say:

Maybe someday Chrome OS will really be enough of an operating system to replace Mac OS X or Windows on a productivity machine. But at $1,300, the Chromebook Pixel is just too much machine for the software. If you have the money to spend on the Pixel and you need the kind of hardware it’s packing, you have so many other better options.

As far as what the team at The Tech Show had to say about it here at RKUK Media:

ChromeBooks as they are today are relatively low cost web browser machines made simply to browse the web, mainly as secondary computers as the OS is far from capable when next to Windows, OS X or Linux. Asking $1300 for a weedy 32GB SSD laptop that can only boast a decent display seems rather redundant, probably the most pointless product Google sells.

Apple iOS 6.1.2 coming next week!

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Click to visit the original post

Apple are set to release the next update for iOS 6 in the form of 6.1.2. This is set to fix Microsoft Exchange and Passlock bugs which has been affecting a few 6.1.1 users. According to reports across the web it is due to be released on 20th Feb. So mark your planners for it.

It’s just been a week since 6.1.1 was released specifically for iPhone 4S users which fixed 3G bugs which apparently has affected the Vodafone network.

So lets see if any more bugs occur from 6.1.2 or Apple have finally managed to fix them.

 Reblogged from TechREX Online, view that post here!

Apple suffers worst share price fall in four years, drops $35bn!

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Are things starting to look dark for the tech giant!

Apple suffered its worst one-day share price fall in almost four years on Wednesday on fears it was losing market share to rivals and disappointment over the lack of a special dividend.

The maker of the iPhone and iPad saw its shares fall 6.4pc to $538.79, the biggest one-day drop since December 17, 2008, with America’s biggest company losing almost $35bn off its market value. It is now worth just under $507bn.

Analysts expressed concerns that Apple risked losing ground to Nokia smartphones in China, while failing to keep pace with Google in the tablets market.

Fears were triggered by an announcement that China Mobile, China’s biggest mobile operator, had agreed to carry the Lumia 920T, an alternate version of the Nokia’s high in demand Lumia 920 device based on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 software.

Apple has agreements with China Telecom and China Unicom to sell iPhones but is yet to strike a deal with China Mobile in the world’s leading mobile-phone market.

“Nokia announced that they are launching one of their Lumia phones with China Mobile, and there was some hope that Apple would launch their iPhone on that network,” Gus Papageorgiou, an analyst with Scotia Capital told Bloomberg. “I think they still will, but they’ll probably launch closer to Chinese New Year.”

Traders were also spooked by a report from research firm IDC forecasting that Apple’s share of the tablet market will slip to 53.8pc this year from 56.3pc in 2011, while Google’s share will increase to 42.7pc from 39.8pc.

It added that Apple’s tablet share will slip below 50pc by 2016, as total global tablet sales more than double to nearly 283m units in four years as consumers increasingly opt for them rather than personal computers.

Analysts added that Apple’s slide was also due to some traders betting against the shares, alongside disappointment from some investors that the company was not following the likes of Oracle and Wal-Mart in paying a special dividend.

Apple accounted for all of the Nasdaq 100’s 1.1pc fall, while the Dow Jones index, which does not include Apple, saw its best trading day for a week, rising 82.71 to 13034.49.

via Y!

Microsoft Surface RT matches Apple iPad prices as US price is announced!

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Surface RT
If you were wondering what Microsoft meant by competitive prices for the Surface, well this really is it today as Microsoft finally unveiled the price of the Surface RT tablet …same as iPad.

Surface with Windows RT will initially be available in three versions, a 32GB version priced at US$499, a 32GB version bundled with a black Touch Cover priced at US$599, and a 64GB version bundled with a black Touch Cover priced at US$699.

It will be on sale online in eight markets including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom and the United States. Pre-order was already started in few countries and in US it will start in few minutes from now.

We’re more excited about Surface with Windows 8 Pro but will sadly have to wait until Q1 2013 for that.

Apple and the tech industry remember Steve Jobs 1 year on!

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Steve Jobs
Apple have dedicate their homepage do Remembering Steve, as October 5th 2012 remembers the one year anniversary of his passing due to his suffering with Pancreatic Cancer. When visiting Apple.com from any of Apples products whether being a Macintosh, iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad, or even on a PC, you are greeted with a 2 minute celebration of his life and all the things hes done for Apple, then this message from CEO Tim Cook…

A message from Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.

Steve’s passing one year ago today was a sad and difficult time for all of us. I hope that today everyone will reflect on his extraordinary life and the many ways he made the world a better place.

One of the greatest gifts Steve gave to the world is Apple. No company has ever inspired such creativity or set such high standards for itself. Our values originated from Steve and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We share the great privilege and responsibility of carrying his legacy into the future.

I’m incredibly proud of the work we are doing, delivering products that our customers love and dreaming up new ones that will delight them down the road. It’s a wonderful tribute to Steve’s memory and everything he stood for.

- Tim

I think everyone will agree, whether fan or not of what Apple has done, can’t deny the affect and magnitude that Steve Jobs had on the tech industry, and even one year on, it’s clear to see how much he is still missed, and how his legacy really will live on!

Steven P Jobs

Could EEs 4G launch also coinside with Lumia 920

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Everything Everywhere, the 4G LTE network merger that brings Orange and T-Mobile in to one network, is expected to launch its 4G LTE network in 10 cities and rollout in more from the 30th October 2012.

Joining the release of the new 4G network in the UK, EE are obviously going to have to release some devices to run on the new network, and in this press shot from EE there’s definitely some surprises in there!

Apple

Whilst not mentioned in the statement, the existing iPhone 5 will also run on Everything Everywhere 4G LTE network, and anyone on Orange or T-Mobile will be able to receive the service.

Samsung

Samsung are to be releasing a new version of the Galaxy S III variant, like the US AT&T variant compatible with the 4G service.

Huawei

Huawei will play a rather big part in EE launch, as whilst they are launching a 4G Android phone, they are also launching two dongles to hook computers up to the network as well.

HTC

HTC are to take steps similar to Samsung, and release a 4G variant device for the network too, whilst both networks currently have the OneX, HTC are to release a 4G compatible One XL. The device is however expected to offer some more differentiations from the OneX.

Nokia

Now, Nokia is the big one for us. Nokia is expecting to rollout both the Lumia 820 and the highly anticipated Lumia 920 on the 4G LTE network, which could see the devices arrive on UK shores on October 30th, and that is something we are incredibly excited about!

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Overall we don’t know whether all the devices will be available on the day of launch or just as pre-orders, or both, but what we do know is this is great news for UK mobile customers, lets just hope the prices remain competitive.

Apple CEO Tim Cook apologises over Apple’s Maps, even recommends alternatives!

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apple-maps-warp-cropped-proto-custom_28

Something new here from Apple, a kinder, gentler Apple, under Tim Cook, an Apple which is in fact able to apologise to their users for messing up big time.

BGR reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook has apologized for  “falling short of their commitment” to “deliver the best experience possible to our customers” but promised things will get better, and in the mean time recommended users use alternate applications, mentioning specifically Bing Maps and Nokia web maps, amongst others.

Bing Maps is considered by many to be even better on iOS than Windows Phone, and has already been recommended by many as a free alternate to the mess that Apple Maps has been.

Now he only needs apologize for scuff-gate and purple-haze gate not to mention just for stretching out the iPhone 4S.

Read his letter after the break.

To our customers,

At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.

We launched Maps initially with the first version of iOS. As time progressed, we wanted to provide our customers with even better Maps including features such as turn-by-turn directions, voice integration, Flyover and vector-based maps. In order to do this, we had to create a new version of Maps from the ground up.

There are already more than 100 million iOS devices using the new Apple Maps, with more and more joining us every day. In just over a week, iOS users with the new Maps have already searched for nearly half a billion locations. The more our customers use our Maps the better it will get and we greatly appreciate all of the feedback we have received from you.

While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.

Everything we do at Apple is aimed at making our products the best in the world. We know that you expect that from us, and we will keep working non-stop until Maps lives up to the same incredibly high standard.

Tim Cook 
Apple’s CEO

Google to add native Maps app to iOS6

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Apple’s biggest criticism of the new iOS 6, and the new iPhone 5, is the lack of Google applications, namely YouTube and Maps. But it seems Google has some pity upon their iFriends out there by bringing their apps to the App Store, latest being Maps.

YouTube

The YouTube app on iOS is missing in iOS 6, but Google recently (now available) released a YouTube application for iOS users to download. Luckily the app is more reminiscent of the Android application and not the outdated poor previous iOS app, either way the app is out their, check it out!

Maps

One of the worst features in iOS6, and one you never thought you’d miss is Google Maps. When Apple decided to remove all that is Google from iOS (atleast by default) in iOS6, it seems the first thing we all noticed was just how bad the “Apple designed” Maps were. As a company that prides itself in design, it really has been a big let down, but it seems Google may have something to fix that for us. If some reports are to be believed, Google could be fixing part 2 of the jigsaw with a Google Maps application in the App Store too.

The first report comes by way of The Guardian, which says that Google is indeed preparing its own Maps app for iOS 6.

Google, I hear from roundabout sources, is enjoying the bad press Apple is suffering. It would be surprising if its mappers could resist some schadenfreude, since they are very proud of their work; having it rejected wholesale must be galling. 

The same sources say that Google is preparing a Google Maps app for iOS6, which will appear in time. No official statement has been made and there will inevitably be questions over whether Apple will approve it in the App Store. (Apple might not, on the basis that it “competes with existing functionality”, but would invite a further backlash if it did.)

The Guardian‘s report was tweeted by well-connected iOS developer Steve Troughton-Smith, who added a “Yep” to the assertion and framed it as if the app has already been submitted to Apple.


9to5Mac has also weighed in with its own claims that Google has had a standalone version of its Maps app for iOS for a number of years and that an iOS 6-compatible version has indeed been submitted to the App Store.

Finally, TechCrunch is also claiming that a Google app is in the works, with the company aiming to have it available on the App Store “before Christmas”. Apple has, however, been known to hold other Google apps in limbo for extended periods of time, so it remains to be seen if and when Google’s solution will be available as an alternative to the built-in Maps app from Apple in iOS 6.

[via MacRumors]

Apple iPhone 5 and iPod Keynote Rundown

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OK, sit down, relax and prepare for what could be the most boring keynote ever, nah we’ll wait and see first. Tim Cook takes the stage with his signature ‘Good morning, thank you’, now lets prepare for a rundown of the commencing year and stats.

Stats

After a video of new Apple Stores opening and fans enjoying all new Apple gear, Tim talks stats. With 380 retail stores “our stores offer the best buying experience and the best customer service on the planet”, with 83 million visitors last quarter alone, “its absolutely amazing”.

Mac

On the Mac side of things, “We’ve had a very busy summer for the Mac. We launched Mountain Lion in July. Mountain Lion is the ninth major release of the best OS on the planet.”, with PC mag saying its the “best consumer operating system”. Mountain Lion was also the fastest selling version of OS X. The Retina MacBook Pro was introduced, and together Apple’s notebook range is #1 in the US in Marketshare with 27% of the market captured overall, with 15% year on year growth compared to 2% on the PC.

iPad

On the iPad side of things, “the iPad is driving the post-PC revolution and an amazing pace”, and as USA Today says, its “The finest tablet you can buy”, Apple have sold 84 million iPads just in June, more than any PC manufacturer has sold in their entire PC lineup, the iPad also holds a 62% tablet marketshare last year “April-June 2011″, and the iPad has an insane 91% web traffic of all tablets, “I don’t know what these other tablets are doing! They must be in warehouses or store shelves or maybe in peoples’ bottom drawer.”, says Tim. The iOS App Store now has 700,000 apps in the store, with 250,000 of those specifically made for iPad. Customers on average are using 100 apps, and 90% of those apps are downloaded every month.

iPhone 5

Now, to the iPhone. Apple has sold over 400 million iOS devices just through June. “Today, we’re taking it to the next level, making a huge leap. We have some very exciting news to tell you about iPhone”, and up comes Phil Schiller. Phil starts by quoting Time magazine in 2007 “it is the phone that’s changed phones forever”.

And now, we begin, iPhone 5 is its name!

The phone was introduced oddly, the phone risen up from the floor of the stage, which naturally makes it impossible to see for attendees, but now its on screen. Guess what, its the leaked device. “So, iPhone 5. It is made entirely of glass and aluminum. It’s designed and built to an exacting level of standard unlike anything we, or anyone in our industry, have made before.”, says Phil. The iPhone 5 is 18% thinner than the iPhone 4 and 4S, at just 7.6mm thick, and the lightest weighing just 112 grams, which is 20% lighter than the 4S.

Retina Display

The iPhone 5 still features the Retina Display at the same 326ppi, despite being 4 inch, with higher resolution obviously of 1136×640. We won’t tell Apple that the PPI is lower than the Nokia Lumia 920. The iPhone 5 has an extra row of apps on each page, great. Although someone did note that the Calendar has October 1st written on it, could that be release? The display also has 44% better colour saturation, with full SRGB rendering. “We couldn’t be prouder of it”.

Current App Support

One thing Apple told us about which we needed to know, whilst Apple’s apps look just great redesigned, what about old apps? Well, old apps will run letterboxes, with black borders on the side, which honestly is a bit disappointing, of course apps can be quickly updated, but still.

Ultrafast Wireless?

iPhone 5 features something Apple are calling “Ultrafast Wireless”. The iPhone 5 will support HSDPA+ at 21MBps (like 4S), but also DC-HSDPA at 42MBps and full LTE, which can go up to 100MBps on a great day! As for Carriers, in the US: Sprint, AT&T and Verizon, Canada: Rogers, Telus, Bell, Fido and Virgin, Asia: KDDI Softban, KT, SK Telecom, SmartTone, and in Europe it will be on DT and Everything Everywhere, oddly though O2 was also listed in the UK which don’t have 4G yet.

A6

The iPhone 5 will feature the all new A6 processor, which makes the 5 in the name seem odd. The processor is 22% smaller too and much more energy efficient, with apps loading typically 2x faster. EA Studios comes on stage to show off some A6 processor action, starting with Real Racing 3, a program EA purchased off Firemint. Now I don’t about you, but Real Racing 2 was by far the best racing experience I’ve seen on a mobile device, so Real Racing 3 is sure gonna be hot. One thing to note, is it just me that can’t see an optical drive on the iMac behind the man demoing. Anyway, Real Racing 3 coming later this year.

Battery Life

Battery Life on the iPhone 5 is going to be better than that on the iPhone 4S with 225hrs standby time and 8 hours of 3G and LTE browsing and 10hrs on Wi-Fi.

Camera

Camera wise, the iPhone 5, by being thinner does make things harder to do camera wise, but its still an 8 Megapixel camera but with better optics (thought we’d left the Nokia conference), with a 5-element lens and f/2.4 aperture, same as the 4S, but thinner. The iPhone 5 does however have faster photo capture and dynamic low light mode, which evaluates nearby pixels to give up to a 2 f-stops greater low light performance, Apple obviously weren’t too happy about their recent 4S embarrassing low light performance. So, a pretty hot camera on the iPhone 5 then. One thing thats a bit mad about the iPhone 5 camera is its a 28 megapixel image, thats 28 megapixels! The camera also features built in Panorama. The camera also features image stabilisation and a feature that allows you to remove people walking past (why do I hear Lumia 920 again, these are the same features nearly). The 1080P video capture, or 720P front-facing, also has better improved video stabilisation with 3 microphones built in to the phone for higher quality audio. 3 microphones, on the top, bottom and back, improve noise recognition but also cancellation. Speaker wise the iPhone 5 has something Phil calls “sideband audio”, which basically means its better quality to you and me.

All new Connector

Next that trusty iPod Connector, dating back 9 years! “So many of the things we used to do over the wire we can now do wirelessly”. The all new thinner cable is real, and Apple are calling it …. seriously they are, calling it Lightning…. yep first Thunderbolt, and now Lightning, they love the bad weather. The cable is 80% smaller than the 2003 iPod connector, adapters are available, but new docks are being made. No mention however amongst all of this of iPhone price, boo. Now, iOS6 and up comes Scott Forstall.

iOS 6

Maps

Scott demoing the new “now ready” maps applications Apple has created with their partners. The Maps application has integration with Yelp for business cards, and the turn by turn navigation we heard about earlier. Flyover gets another demo, oo look its Big Ben in London, all rather impressive, but still prefer the Google app they had.

Safari

Safari now has a feature from Lion/M.Lion, full screen view, tap the icons in the corner to go full screen, and iCloud Tabs will finally arrive upon the release of OS X 10.8.2 and iOS 6.

Mail

Very little changed in Mail, you can now VIP people, and flag messages for follow up, or of course use Gmail.

Passbook

Passbook as mentioned before allows all your boarding passes and everything else in one app, of course if the iPhone 5 doesn’t have NFC its gonna be a bit of a let down for me. Your tickets also show up at your lock screen.

Photostream

You can now subscribe to peoples Photo Streams, which sounds a bit hmm, but hey, I’m sure that will just be marvellous.

Siri

Same as previously demoed, scores, open apps, theatre times and showings were demoed same good ol iOS6 Siri, it also has movie recommendations based on Rotten Tomatoes, which to me have very inaccurate ratings so won’t rely on that. You can now post Facebook statuses, likely Tweets too, using Siri.

Others

In the phone app you can now send a quick text or iMessage if you can make it to call back. But thats generally about all they mentioned on iOS 6. One thing disappointing though, is the iPhone 5 does not feature NFC making Passbook seem worthless.

More on iPhone 5

Phils back now to talk more on iPhone 5. The iPhone 5 will come in two colours, yes, black and white fronts, but on the back the White one will have full raw aluminium back, whereas the Black one will have a black anodised backing, which is interesting. “iPhone 5 is now the best phone we’ve ever made, and what would be a great phone without a killer video”, up comes their old classic videos, Jony Ive kicking off as usual, standard Apple promotion video.

Price

The iPhone 5 will be priced identical to the iPhone 4S at US $199 for 16GB and $100 more each for 32GB and 64GB variants. An 16GB version of the 4S will remain available for less and the 8GB iPhone 4 will remain at a lower price.

Pre-orders start this Friday, and it will ship to the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore on the 21st September 2012. 20 more countries next month, making it the fastest rollout ever.

The iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, iPad 2 and 3, and iPod Touch (current) are all getting atleast some features in iOS6, which is to be released 19th September.

iPod and iTunes

Tim Cook is back on stage to talk iPod and iTunes, up comes Eddy Cue to talk first on iTunes. iTunes has been a great success with over 26 million songs on iTunes and over 20 billion songs purchased since its 9 year ago launch. Over 435 million iTunes accounts are out their all with one-click-purchasing, 66% of which are done from iOS devices. The iTunes Store has been redesigned on the iPad, same new look as on the iPhone really, improved performance and you can preview whilst still browsing.

iTunes 11

Mac and PC clients of iTunes are to be updated too, Eddy called iTunes “the worlds most popular media player” and the new iTunes “dramatically simpler”, with a new grid system. A new “in the store” button is features as well so you can easily and quickly buy more stuff from iTunes. Don’t think anyone is really that excited about the new iTunes but it looks pretty nice, finally looks different!

Finally iTunes will have a “coming next” button where you can see whats coming next as well as changing whats next too. The mini player in iTunes also has a much better look and feel and actually does things now, not just pause, play next and previous!

The new iTunes Store has the same all new interface as found on iOS 6 devices, with the carousel interface, same for apps and books, all in all a pretty good iTunes to be honest, I’ll definitely be upgrading straight away, like it, although not until October sadly.

iPod

Greg Joswick, nice name, comes on stage to talk iPod. Apple has sold over 350 million iPods to date, although Apple “don’t do this just for the numbers. iPod and music are part of the DNA of the company. We love music.” says Greg. First up, Nano.

iPod Nano

The 7th generation iPod Nano, yep there’s been seven, has a pretty nice look and feel to be honest, looks a bit unusual at first, but nice! Based on the size of the volume controls, its pretty small. The iPod Nano, has a Home button, a 2.5 inch display with multi touch capabilities, and big circular buttons, and in natural Nano style available in 7 colours, likely to match the generation number! Also features an FM Radio built in, nice Photo and video viewer too. Whilst the Nano doesn’t feature any app support it does have a massive 30 hours of music playback on the very iOS 6 looking Music app!

Price wise, the iPod Nano will be $149 for a 16GB version.

iPod Touch

iPod Touch next, with 175,000 games available, 150,000 available with Game Center support, the iPod Touch is certainly an incredible gaming device, and this is the 5th generation iPod Touch. It weighs 88 grams and is just 6.1mm thick, with the same new dock connector on the bottom as the iPhone 5. The new iPod Touch also features brushed aluminium, so none of that annoying Chrome to scratch up. The iPod Touch also has the same 4 inch display as the iPhone 5 which is awesome, with the A5 processor bringing dual core capabilities, no mention of iPhone’s processor in core capabilities on the A6. The A5 processor in the iPod Touch was demoed with a freaky game called ‘Clumsy Ninja, which is something, the A5  is expected to bring 7x faster graphics compared to the previous gen iPod Touch.

The iPod Touch will give you 40 hours of music playback, 8 hours of video, which is actually a slight increase on the 4th gen. Also features an “iSight” camera on the back, which is 5 megapixel, and now has a built in flash! The camera has backside illuminated, f/2.4, 5-element lens and that same sapphire crystal lens cover, the way this is worded does make is sound like Jewellery, but its an iPod. The camera also has 720P video recording, and the iPod Touch can now play 1080P and use iMovie. Airplay Mirroring also runs on the iPod Touch, as well as finally, the iPod Touch will get Siri!

Colours

The iPod Touch will come in 5 colours, raw aluminium, black, blue, yellow and red!

iPod touch Loop button

The iPod Touch at the back on the bottom left features an odd button, which apparently can be used to attach a little wrist strap on it!

Price

Existing 4th gen iPod Touch will remain available for $199 and $249 for 16 and 32GB, and the new iPod Touch will be available in 32GB and 64GB for $299 and $399 respectably.

EarPods

Next up, Apple are creating new earphones, if there anything like their current premium headphones, I’m fine. The EarPods look like the same earphones that leaked recently, a video is been played showing how the odd design of the EarPods has been made. The shape of the EarPods is actually made from geometry of the human ear, so likely incredibly comfortable. The EarPods will start shipping today!

Product [RED]

ALL iPods will have Product [RED] versions too.

Overview

A whole new lineup of iPods, minus the Shuffle which remains the same. New iTunes Music Player, which actually looks pretty clean, and the new iPhone 5, the fastest most thinnest iPhone ever shipped, even though its the 6th generation, they don’t seem to remember that! Oh, and EarPods.

The keynote ended with a performance from the Foo Fighters.

What we didn’t see

-NFC capabilities in the iPhone 5

-iPad Mini, or any iPad news

-New iMacs