WWDC 2013 Roundup: IOS 7, OS X Mavericks, New Macs, & More! [VID]
Apple announced a ton of great things at this year’s WWDC keynote address. Our favorite fruit company started off strong by debuting updated MacBook Air models that boast 40% faster graphics and a crazy boost in battery life (9 hours for the 11-inch model and 12 hours for the 13-inch model). The ultra portable laptops are powered by Intel’s 4th-gen Haswell processor and are on sale now starting at $999.
Then, shifting gears from casual computers to heavy duty machinery, Apple gave us a sneak peak at the much-anticipated update to the Mac Pro, the company’s top of the line powerhouse desktop computer.
This thing is an animal, and it’s virtually unrecognizable as the Mac Pro, sporting a sleek new dark cylindrical body that’s a fraction of the size of the old Mac Pro. Don’t let the size fool you, though.
Apple packed this computer full to bursting with the best components out there, from the Thunderbolt 2 to the 4K support, this computer is sure to blow users away. Apple didn’t mention pricing or availability, but fingers crossed we don’t have to wait too long.
Moving on to software, Apple unveiled the followup to OS X Mountain Lion, OS 10.9 Mavericks, named in part because of the state it was designed in (California) and, perhaps more importantly, because there weren’t any cool cat names left for Apple to choose.
Here is where we got our first bit of evidence that Jony Ive had his hand in the software development – all the skeumorphism is gone! The slew of virtual textures gave way to a sleek, flat, minimalistic design in many applications like Calendar and iBooks.
Three of the biggest new features in Mavericks are Finder Tabs, multi-display full screen app support, and major Safari enhancements. The beta of OS X Mavericks is available for developers now, and should be hitting the public this fall.
And finally, the belle of the ball, iOS 7. All of us here at TiP were completely blown away when iOS 7 took the stage. Almost every bit of the operating system was changed in one way or another, and the results are stunning.
The flatter design, the new animations, the dynamic wallpapers… It’s really quite something. It wasn’t just the design of iOS that was new, though. There are tons of great new features, and Apple even unveiled iTunes Radio, its long-awaited streaming radio service. Like OS X, the beta of iOS 7 is available for iPhones now for developers, and will be gracing the rest of our screens this fall.
All in all, I am very pleased with today’s announcements. If you missed the keynote (or just want to watch it again), you can check it out in full on Apple’s website.
Then, come back here and let me know what you thought of the announcements! You can also feel free to tweet me @TiP_Jake, and make sure to check back to Today’s iPhone for detailed hands-on videos of the best new iOS 7 features!