WWDC 2010 — Everything you could possibly want to know!

The days leading up to WWDC were just as stress-filled as ever, with nerds around the world constantly bickering back and forth as to what Apple was going to reveal. Now that the dust has settled and everything has been ‘splayed before our eyes, it’s time to get into the nitty gritty of Apple’s latest portfolio. So without further fan fare, jump inside for the full rundown of WWDC 2010…

iPad


Steve started off the event with the iPad, highlighting the hubub it’s creating around the world. Some of his biggest talking points were the sales figures: Over 2,000,000 sold so far (1 every 3 seconds), availability in 19 countries by July, and 8,500 native iPad apps with 35 million native iPad apps already downloaded. Impressive Steve, impressive.

Along the same lines, iBooks is receiving an update today, bringing notes, new bookmarks, and a new page tha tdisplays notes and bookmarks. Nothing earth shattering, yet somehow I believe e-reading junkies will be stoked.

App Store


What would the iPhone platform be without apps — right? With that said, the App Store is no where short of successful: 15,000 app submission per week, available in over 30 languages, and the most telling — over 225,000 apps. That’s a lot to search through.

Getting notable mentions from Steve included the new eBay app and Netflix for iphone. The latter now features a “resume from” function between iPhone and iPad allowing you to pause and resume playback across said devices from wherever you were watching last. Nifty!

Furthering the app revolution on stage, Mark Pincus from Zynga highlighted their new iPhone app: “Farming”. As most of you can gather, Facebook’s widely successful “Farmville” game is coming to the iPhone. Now iPhone users will never look up from their screens… guaranteed! So just how addicted are you Farmville players to your game? Enough to play it on a 3.5″ screen? Oh yeah — there are withering crop push notifications just in case you happen to accidentally close Farming for more than 30 seconds at a time. Super.

Farming wasn’t the only crowning jewel at WWDC 2010 however. Activision was there to show of their latest “Guitar Hero” for iPhone as well. Not only can you tap notes away now, but strum them as well. Tapping and strumming on an iPhone — what’s next? The new Guitar Hero is available now for $2.99.

What would an App Store highlight be without talking about the developers that have made it what it is today? Steve took a minute to boast about the amount of money Apple has paid back to devs. It’s no small amount either, weighing in at over $1 billion.

iPhone 4


Finally! We all knew it was coming! (Thanks Giz!) The iPhone HD has officially been announced to the world. But not before Steve had his jabs at the iPhone’s market share (especially comparing iPhone vs. Android stats hard) But, besides the striking departure from the rounded iPhones of years past, the iPhone HD features a complete set of new internal hardware promising both increases in speed, power, and even battery efficiency.

  • 24% thinner than iPhone 3GS
  • This one’s clever — the band around the iPhone is actually part of the acting antennae!
  • Processor: Apple A4 Chip — up to 32GB of storage, quad-band HSDPA/HSUPA (7.2Mbps down/5.8Mbps up), dual mics, 802.11n, GPS, Accelerometer — and now, a 3-axis gyroscope. iPhone 4′s total count: 6-axis awareness. Gamers rejoice.

  • New “Retina Display”: 960 x 640 resolution display with 800 : 1 contrast ratio and 326 pixels per inch (ppi)clarity. Apparently, the human eye can’t distinguish anything past 300ppi. Overachievers I say… Steve adds in “IPS technology — quite a bit better than OLED. (Ouch, zinger sent towards Android…)
  • Camera: 5-megapixel rear-facing camera w/ LED flash and backside illuminated sensor. (Read: much better low-light shots)

  • HD Video Recording: Tap to focus, 720p @30fps! Built-in video editing and one click sharing.
  • iMovie for iPhone complete with transitions, tiles, drag-and-drop editing, and more! It’s almost exactly like the desktop version of iMovie. Export edited movies at 360p, 520p, or 720HD. Available in the App Store for $4.99.
  • Available in Black and White
  • Pricing: iPhone 3GS 8GB — $99 | iPhone 4 16GB — $199 | iPhone 4 32GB — $299
  • Availability: Pre-orders start June 15th with the iPhone 4 officially going on sale June 24th. (U.S)
  • 5 countries at launch, 18 more by July

**Woah — apparently we bloggers suck too much network resources. At this point, Steve asked bloggers to turn off their stuff and put their laptops down. There were 570 base WiFi base stations in the room. +1 for blogger determination… Thankfully for us (as we’re not present), at least a few people didn’t listen.

iOS 4

The iPhone OS we’ve come to know and love over the last 3 years is no — “iOS 4″.

  • Multitasking
  • Mail: Unified inbox, threaded conversations, multiple exchange accounts, swipe right for audio controls.
  • Folders: automatically named, drag-and-drop style management.
  • Enterprise goodies: Data protection, device management, multiple Exchange accounts
  • iOS 4 search now supports Google, Yahoo, and Bing!
  • **iOS 4 GM candidate is available today for devs!

iBooks on iPhone

  • All the great features of iBooks for iPad…on your iPhone. Woo hoo…
  • Wireless sync of bookmarks, downloaded titles, and notes across iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad.
  • iBookstore to join the likes of iTunes and App Store in Apple’s quest to take over the world.

iAds

I know — ads. No one likes ‘em, but they’re a necessary evil I guess. It used to be I’d rather pay for a “premium” app and rid myself of ads. Though if Apple’s iAds are as good as they’ve looked, perhaps I won’t mind those free offerings after all…

  • Devs can add iAds to their apps “in one afternoon, they just need to point out where they want the ads”. Devs — sound easy enough?
  • As mentioned before, devs retain 60% of iAd revenue.
  • Early adopters of iAds: Nissan, Citi, Unilever, AT&T, Chanel, GE, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Geico, Campbells, Sears, JC Penny, Target, Best Buy, Direct TV, TBS, and Disney

One More Thing…Video Callin a.k.a.: “Face Time”

  • WiFi-only for now (2010). Steve cites “the need to work some things out a tad more with carriers” before we see 3G video calling go live. Jailbreak scene — go!
  • iPhone 4 to iPhone 4. No set up.

**As we’ve seen from various comments on the internet this morning, AT&T is making any customer with a renew date in 2010 eligible for renew effective immediately. AT&T you get one clap…

WWDC BUGS

And for the first time that I’ve witnessed, a bug during a live WWDC keynote catching Steve off guard. When testing the iPhone 3GS vs. iPhone 4′s retina display, loading the NYT’s page brought the 4G to a stand still and eventually popped up an error balloon signifying it’s unwillingness to work — AT&T’s fine network quality strikes when it matters most. It eventually started loading though. Hopefully, this snafu sends Apple a very clear message…

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