Apple product releases may have been few and far between so far in 2013 . But ifApple ’s Worldwide Developers Conference keynoteon Monday is anything to go by , the troupe has put the time since its last major press event in October 2012 to good utilization .
Tim Cook prepares to unleash a slew of annunciation during Monday ’s WWDC keynote .
The company let loose a torrent of announcements Monday , starting with a preview of the a la mode version of OS X and wrapping up some two hours later on with a look at a substantial overhaul of iOS . And while much of what Apple record off wo n’t be available to the buying populace until after in 2013 — only the update MacBook Air batting order and redesign AirPort products shipped on Monday — the WWDC tonic was a monitor that the company has grown plans for the respite of the yr . It also served as a rebuttal to Apple critics who ’ve made note of the company ’s proportional deficiency of product news program in late month .
“ Ca n’t introduce any more , my seat , ” aged Vice President of Worldwide intersection Marketing Phil Schiller embrangle when read off a redesign Mac Pro on Monday — a not - at - all subtle poke atan increasingly common review article of the companyamong the cyberspace ’s chatter classes .
OS overhauls
The fully grown news on Monday centered around Apple ’s twosome of operating system — OS X and iOS — and their forthcoming update , both slated for the fall . iOS gets the more dramatic makeover — CEO Tim Cook called the iOS 7 updated the “ biggest alteration to iOS since the introduction of iPhone . ” That does not appear to be merchandising whirl . But OS X saw its portion of changes , too , putting to roost any notion that Apple ’s Mac operating system was doom to act as 2d fiddle to its wandering counterpart .
deliberate these cats bed .
The first matter you ’ll notice in OS X is a change to the name convention . The cavalcade of cats that have marked OS X update since the operating system ’s 2001 first appearance have given direction codification figure found on inspiring place in California — hence , Monday ’s unveiling of OS X Mavericks , name after a picturesque surfriding spot in Northern California .
There ’s more to OS X Mavericks than just a name change , though . Highlights include Finder tab ( which permit you aggregate multiple Finder window into a exclusive tabbed interface ) and Finder tags ( a more modern manner of categorize file ) . rebel improves support for multiple displays — a much - request lineament among king users — and sports a number of under - the - hood enhancements take aim at boost OS X ’s performance . There ’s also anew interpretation of Safari , while Calendar gets a figure overhaul that will sure enough please critics of the current skeumorphic look - and - feel . Mavericks also introduces Mac versions of Maps andiBooks .
Tags in OS X Mavericks serve you categorise files .
scan more about OS X Mavericks
iOS 7 gets an entirely unexampled look with revamped typography and icons . Because of iOS 7 ’s new approach to multitasking , you could flip out through previews of currently running apps . A Control Center panel that now hides at the bottom of your screen give you fast entree to commonly - used features like the Airplane Mode setting and euphony playback ascendancy .
Things will look decidedly different once iOS 7 runs on your speech sound later this year .
Many of your favorite make - in apps get interface overhauls , with the emphasis on a minimalistic look . The influence of Jonathan I ve , put in charge of human interface designing last October watch over thedeparture of one - time Senior Vice President of Io Software Scott Forstall , is manifest in this release .
Many exist iOS apps get new capabilities , highlight by enhancements toSiri , which can now speak to you in either a manful or female phonation . iOS ’s voice - driven help can react to more command and answer more questions . When you ask Siri to search the Web , though , expect your results to be filtered throughBing — another sign that Apple and Android - maker Google are squarely on the outs these days .
iTunes Radio in iOS 7 will serve as Apple ’s entry into the stream music market .
iOS 7 also includes Apple ’s take on streaming medicine callediTunes Radio . The Pandora - like offering streams euphony from Apple - curated stations as well ones you create on the fly . iTunes Radio not only come with iOS 7 , but it will be build up into next versions of iTunes on Mac and Windows and accessible via Apple TV . You ’ll have to weather advertising to apply the religious service , unless you give $ 25 a twelvemonth for an iTunes Match subscription , in which typesetter’s case iTunes Radio comes ad - detached . depend for it to launch in the U.S. this tumble .
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Hardware highlights
WWDC is carry with developers who hunger knock-down computer hardware , so this conference is a more - than - meet position to flap out a long - expect update to Apple ’s Mac Pro . After last year ’s modest update to the professional - level background ( last rightfully overhaul in 2010),Tim Cook promise a more meaty revamp this class . Monday ’s first appearance sure delivered something new : a 9.9 - column inch tall case about one - eighth the sizing of the current Mac Pro column . The sleek , cylindric machine runs on a Xeon E5 processor , have three-fold AMD FirePro workstation - social class graphics processors , and can run three 4 kibibyte displays at once . Expansion slot have hold out the way of the dodo , however , as has any apparent sort of an optical drive .
The tardy Mac Pro is a far cry from the tower pattern Apple has used for the better part of a tenner .
Apple has n’t yet set a specific ship date for the new Mac Pro — it ’s slat for later this twelvemonth — nor is the society talk prices at this point .
translate ’s new Mac Pro
Compared to the radical Modern look of the Mac Pro , the updates to the MacBook Air are by all odds more small . Still , if you crave longer battery life , this new lineup of laptops will probably attract to you . Apple has put the emphasis on meliorate energy efficiency : The 11 - inch MacBook Air now go for nine hours while the 13 - inch theoretical account can run for 12 hr . Energy - savvy processors from Intel ’s Haswell family are a big reason the new Airs should run longer .
The MacBook Air lineup also claims faster Wi - Fi , based on the 802.11ac wireless standard . New models of the AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule base stations also support 802.11ac .
The emphasis is on battery life in the late MacBook Air .
The new MacBook Air starts at $ 999 for the 11 - inch translation ; a 13 - column inch version price at $ 1099 is also available . Both model come with either 128 GB or 256 GB of flash storage .
Read ’s updated MacBook Air models
The rest
Apple did n’t just limit itself to OS and hardware talk , using Monday ’s keynote to tout aniCloud - based interpretation of its iWork productiveness cortege . ( Like many of the other intersection announced on Monday , iWork for iCloud comes out later this yr , as will a badly needed update to the long - in - the - tooth desktop version of iWork and its fluid counterpart for iOS . )
You ’ll find full coverage of WWDC throughout the calendar week at Macworld.com .
13-inch MacBook Air 256GB (Mid 2013)
Mac Pro 6-Core/3.5GHz (Late 2013)
11-inch MacBook Air 128GB (Mid 2013)
11-inch MacBook Air 256GB (Mid 2013)
13-inch MacBook Air 128GB (Mid 2013)
Time Capsule (Mid 2013)
AirPort Extreme (Mid 2013)
iWork for iCloud
Mac Pro Quad-Core/3.7GHz (Late 2013)
