WOW… what an exciting keynote. There was so much going on, and the demos were amazing. The big news obviously is the new iPhone release.
First off the Major stuff..
• OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) will be released to developers later today.
• iPhone 2.0 software updates
• MobileME showcased
• iPhone 3G released simultaneously in 70 countries on July 11. ROCK!
A lot of the new apps were demoed at the show, here is a list of them
• Super Monkey Ball - This is a game, apparently very popular on the Playstation platform. There were several games demoed and they all look REALLY robust. Seems like the iPhone could easily rival the PSP for gaming.
• eBay App - allows for full eBay integration as a buyer or seller, and unlike most of the other apps demoed is free. Maybe this will help put some life into the dying online auction site…
• TypePad Blogging tool - This is VERY cool, and seems to have a ton of functionality to it. Unfortunately I didn’t see any mention of WordPress, but I am sure that will be handled by someone soon. hint hint.
• Loopt - This is a location based social networking tool, and this will definitely reshape the social networking world. There will likely be some pretty scary hacks to this as well…
• Modality - a very robust medical application that, as Molly Wood put it, “turns you into a brain surgeon”. Not so much, but I am sure this will be a pretty cool thing to keep handy when you visit the doctor.
• Band - This is an application put together by an independent UK firm, that allows you to make music on the iPhone… awesome.
Games will have a price point of $9.99.
Apple is also providing a push services cloud for all developers to use. This will enable the use of Exchange ‘esq services, as well as instant always on IM, email, and other web enabled apps.
Support was announced for Powerpoint, BUlk Message deletion, a new scientific calculator, Parental Controls, and multi-language support..
The multi-language support looks pretty amazing, and supports both traditional and simplified chinese, and even has character drawing and recognition.
The 2.0 software will be available early July (before the 11th, I assume) and will be free for the current 2G iPhones , but will cost iPod Touch users $9.99.
The MobileMe app looks extremely well put together as well.. Basically it turns your browser into a functional desktop, and will support mail, iDisk, iCal, Address Book, and a wide range of other macapps. The service will stay 99$ a year and will be a free automatic upgrade for the current .mac users
Now.. for the important stuff… LOL
The iPhone 3G will be released on July 11, and will cost 199.99 for the 8GB version.. RoCK!
• GPS
• Subsidized cost
• Thinner
• Flush headphone jack
• 3G is faster then Nokia N95 and Blackberry
• Full Exchange support and Secure VPN
• Available in 70 countries
• 300 hours of stand by time - 10 hours talk time - 5 hours 3G usage - 5 or 6 hours of browsing - 7 hours of video, and 24 hours of audio…
It was an exciting few hours, and my head is still spinning.. but July 11th you can find me at the South Coast Plaza iPhone store in Newport Beach California..
w00t!
When the initial rumors that 10.6 would be released at the WWDC, which is tomorrow, they came full of speculation that 10.6 would not support the PowerPC chip set. This made sense since Jobs has been pulling away from that ever since the deal was made with Intel …
Now, though, Gizmodo (and others) are reporting that they have a source, who claimed to get ahold of the 10.6 seed, who indicated that work has been done on PowerPC drivers which indicates to them that support for the architecture is unlikely to be dropped this time around.
While this rumor may inspire a bit of hope to those who have late-model PowerPC Macs, it should be noted that it runs contrary to running consensus that OS 10.6 “Snow Leopard” would only support Intel chips, and the current direction that Apple has been moving for some time.
Apple is expected to introduce 10.6 at WWDC, along with a shiny new red iPhone….
It appears that the next version of Mac OS X is code-named “Snow Leopard,” and will indeed be Intel-only.
Following the rumors from TUAW’s original scoop about Mac OS X 10.6 being readied for shipment as soon as Macworld 2009 and being Intel-only.
Ars Technica is saying that it has been confirmed to them that TUAW’s details are true. Snow Leopard is currently on track to come out during next January’s MacWorld, and it will not contain major OS changes.
The release is heavily focused on performance and nailing down speed and stability. With Apple’s current (and future) focus on smaller, thinner, and more mobile devices, this move makes perfect sense.
Things like the MacBook Air, iPhone, iPod touch, and other mysterious devices that have yet to be announced need better performance for better battery life, and that’s definitely something Apple wants to excel at in the years to come.
Something else that may happen is that Apple may eventually wrap everything in Cocoa, meaning that things that are currently only Carbon accessible will not be usable.
[ TUAW ] is reporting that they’ve gotten some insider information that Apple will unveil OS 10.6 next Monday at the WWDC keynote. There is no reason to believe that this will be the leap that leopard took, but it will leave PPC behind in a sad, but long time in coming farewell.
According to the report, Apple’s upcoming OS will focus solely on “stability and security”, and it will be the first Apple OS that is not PowerPC compatible. The new OS is supposedly slated for a Jan 2009 release, and some rumors are calling it “Lynx” based on trademarks going back as far as 2003, so while Apple may be dropping PPC, they seem to be sticking to the cat naming thing.
Apple has also trademarked “Cougar”, but given the recent popularity of calling older, sexually agressive women cougars, one would hope they would stay from that name…
Personally, I would go with [ Liger ], except it seems that Jobs wants to wait for 10.8 for that one…
Many will likely mourn the passing of Power PCs, but given that many smaller developers are ignoring the intel-based platform, this will likely be the kick in the pants needed to get them moving in the proper directions.
Will you miss the PowerPC, or have you already moved on?