Do you feel the excitement in the air? Yes it’s that time of the year again – time for Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference 2010 (WWDC). Of course, there’s high expectations in the air with folks expecting more information on the iPhone 4 OS and of course the anticipation for the fourth generation iPhone announcement. I’m not on hand at WWDC (I have to work unfortunately), but I’ll try and provide updates here as I gather them from various websites around the net.
WWDC tidbits:
- The conference sells out in 8 days. Approximately 5200 attendees this year
iPad info:
- iPad is selling about one unit every three seconds
- Apple expects to have the iPad available in 19 countries by July of this year.
- Approximately 8500 native iPad apps now. 35 million downloads recorded with approximately 17 apps per iPad
- Apple iBooks will be updated. Enhancements include the ability to highlight text, create sticky notes, bookmark pages (with bookmarks listed in the Table of Contents) and ability to read PDF files. The update will be available later this month.
iPhone App Store info:
- 15K apps are submitted every week which includes new apps and updated apps. 95 % of apps are approved within 7 days.
- Reasons why most apps are rejected: they don’t work as advertised; they use private APIs; and they crash
- Netflix coming to iPhone
- Guitar Hero available today for $2.99. Joy.
- 5 billion apps downloaded in total
- Apple’s doled out 1 billion dollars in payments to developers
iPhone info:
- Apple has approximately 58% of mobile web use
- iPhone 4 is announced with 100 new features (8 will be covered at the event).
- Feature 1: External new features: Measures 9.3mm thick which is 24 percent thinner than the already thin iPhone 3GS. This is now the thinnest handset out there.
- External features include mute volume, front facing camera, back camera with an LED flash, second microphone for noise cancelation
- Ah yes – those seams.. they’re intentional you see. They are used as part of the antenna system for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, UMTS, GSM
- Glass on the front and back, along with stainless steel for strength
- Feature 2: “Retina Display”. (WTH!). This display has four times the pixel resolution of a normal display resulting in 326 ppi. The human retina limit is around 300ppi. 960 x 640 resolution with 800:1 contrast ratio. IPS LCD technology. Oh and it has 78 percent of the pixels found on the iPad.
- Feature 3: A4 processor. Yes the custom-designed A4 is in the new iPhone. Improved battery with 7 hour talk time, 6 hours of 3G web browsing, 10 hours of Wi-Fi based browsing/video, and 300 hours of standby power. Supports quad-band HSDPA/HSUPA 7.2 down and 5.8 up. 802.11n Wi-Fi connectivity
- Feature 4: Two axis gyroscope. This is tied to the built-in accelerometer resulting in 6 axis motion sensing. This allows for more accurate positioning. You can now spin objects in space with regards to gaming. Expect new Core Motion APIs to support the gyro.
- Feature 5: Camera updates. Back camera is a 5 megapixel camera with backside illuminated sensor, 5x digital zoom and LED flash. Capable of recording HD video (720p) at 30 fps – also with the use of the LED flash. Tap to focus – in either stills or videos. Built-in trimming, one click sharing. iMovie comes to the iPhone (sweet!). iMovie features include ability to import clips with transitions, record directly from the timeline, ability to pinch to trim clips within the timeline, add stills, create Ken Burns effects (slow panning etc), theme transitions, titles, etc. Camera records geolocation from GPS. Add in music from iTunes and have the ability to export in multiple resolutions. iMovie will be available for $4.99 (pretty much a bargain if you ask me).
- Hilarious – apparently they’re having wireless network problems at WWDC. There are 570 Wi-Fi networks working at WWDC2010 – and now they’re asking folks to turn off their MiFis.
- Feature 6: iPhone OS 4: The OS has been renamed to “iOS 4”. Features on iPhone OS 4 (most of which you already know):
- Multitasking
- Folders
- Unified inbox and threading
- Support for multiple Exchange accounts (including Exchange Server 2010, SSL VPN support
- Adding Bing search to Google and Yahoo search (Google is still the default)
- Gold Master (GM) candidate is in dev hands today
- The 100 millionth iOS device will be sold this month
Jobs emphasizes the openness of the iPhone – with its support for standards such as H.264, AAC, SIP, STUN, TURN, ICE, RTP, and SRTP.
iPhone 4 Pricing:
- Available in black or white
- 16GB version available for $199
- 32GB version available for $299
- Pre-orders start on June 15th with availability starting on June 24th
- iPhone 4 will initially be available in 4 countries with 18 countries by July. 24 countries expected to be added by August and by Sept there will be 88 total.
- STILL with AT&T. New upgrade offer. If your contract expires at any time in 2010, then you can upgrade to the iPhone 4.
- Also – the iPhone 3GS is now $99 dollars.
Accessories:
- A new dock for $29 dollars
- Bumper case (called the Bunker) for $29 dollars
iOS 4 upgrades:
- Upgrade will be FREE (finally) for iPhone 3G, 3GS, and iPod touch (no 1st gens tho). Starting on June 21st.
