Thanks to iCloud, with the introduction of iOS 5 this fall, iPod Touch/iPhone/iPad users no longer need to connect their devices to a Mac or PC in order to use them.
Apple is calling the new feature PC Free, and it allows users to activate their devices wirelessly, right out of the box. Future iOS updates can be downloaded over-the-air and iCloud will enable backups of photos, music, contacts, calendars and more -- and allow users to simply type in their AppleID and password to restore a new device from an iCloud backup. That should make Genius Bar device swaps much more convenient as well, not to mention easier and quicker Personal Setup on new iOS devices at Apple Stores.
This is a long-needed feature that should further expand the reach of Apple's devices. Tech-savvy youngsters can buy products for their parents and grandparents without needing to teach them about syncing or for them to even need any other device. The vaunted "digital hub" that Apple introduced with the original iPod nearly 10 years ago, which had the Mac at the center of your digital world with other devices surrounding it, is gone.
Now, Apple's (free!) iCloud service will be the center of everything.
Just an hour after the end of the keynote at its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple has already posted a video of the event.
Apple did not broadcast the event live, so the video as an opportunity for viewers to see for the first time Apple's presentations that saw the introduction of OS X Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud.
After giving the stage over to Phil Schiller and Scott Forstall for much of today's WWDC keynote, Steve Jobs himself introduced iCloud to the world.
Noting that devices have changed over the past decade, with people now using photos and videos on the go, the PC should no longer be the hub for your digital life, with all media hosted on the computer. "Keeping these devices in sync is driving us crazy," Steve told the crowd.
To address the new reality, Apple has moved the digital hub to the cloud. All devices can talk to the cloud whenever they want, with instant propagation to all other devices. With iCloud, users get 5GB of free storage for mail, documents and backups; purchased music, apps and books don't count.
"Some people think a cloud is just a hard disk in the sky," Steve told the crowd. "We think it's way more than that." iCloud stores content (think contacts, calendar, photos, music), with wireless push to all devices. And with APIs providing developers with hooks into iCloud, all apps can take advantage of the service.
iCloud completely replaces MobileMe. Mail, contacts, and calendar are all free. Contacts and calendars will be updated across devices, just like they currently do, but there are several new components to iCloud.
First is the App Store. Users can see purchase history on all devices. Second, iBooks. Books and progress will be synced across devices. Once daily, "a lot of your important content" will be uploaded to the cloud, making it super easy to buy a new iOS device. Just type in your AppleID and password, and all your information will be automatically loaded up: music, apps, books, camera roll, device settings and app data.
Apple has added documents to iCloud as well. Users can edit a document in iWork on a Mac, and it gets instantly pushed to iCloud, where it can be accessed on an iPad. All data is saved and backed up in the cloud. This functionality is built in to Pages, Numbers and Keynote. File transferring seems totally automatic and effortless. Tweak an existing document in Pages on a Mac, and it immediately gets saved to iCloud and changes are immediately pushed to an iPad.
Apple has been working for 10 years to get rid of the file-storage system. It started with iOS, and has made its way to the Mac. iCloud entirely removes the concept of file-storage. Apps manage presentation of its own documents. Apps can store documents in iCloud, documents pushed automatically, with automatic updates on all devices when content is changed anywhere.
For developers, Apple has provided iCloud storage API's, giving easy access to iCloud features for developers -- this is a developer's conference after all, and the dev's love it.
Photo Stream, previewed earlier this year, is part of iCloud too. Photo Stream works just like documents, but your camera roll gets uploaded to the cloud, then sent to everything else. Users can import photos as well, and upload to the cloud. Steve stressed that all these features were built into apps, invisibly, "so there's nothing new to learn." On the Mac, Photo Stream is built in to iPhoto. Apple TV supports Photo Stream as well.
Only the last 1,000 photos are stored in the cloud will be downloaded to iOS devices, but all photos will be stored on the Mac/PC side. Only 30 days of photos are stored on iCloud, so iCloud doesn't save all your data, it just makes sure that everything is synced up properly.
Apple today announced iOS 5, the much-anticipated major update to Apple's operating system for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad today at the WWDC keynote event. The new major features include a completely revamped notifications system, over-the-air software updates and activation for new devices, and iTunes library syncing over Wi-Fi.
"iOS 5 has some great new features, such as Notification Center, iMessage and Newsstand and we can't wait to see what our developers do with its 1,500 new APIs," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. "Perhaps iOS 5's paramount feature is that it's built to seamlessly work with iCloud in the Post PC revolution that Apple is leading."
Of the many new features discussed:
• Notifications will see a major overhaul as rumored most recently by TechCrunch. The new Notification Center in iOS 5 will aggregate all notifications, accessed by swiping down from the status bar at the top of the screen. New notifications will appear at the top of the screen and will be less obtrusive overall. Notifications will also be displayed on the lock screen along with weather and stock alerts. Tapping on a notification will automatically open the related app.
• iOS 5 will be "PC free" allowing new device activation and iOS updates over the air. Also, iTunes library syncing will be possible wirelessly via Wi-Fi. While an iOS device is being charged, it will automatically find the associated iTunes library and sync automatically.
• AirPlay Mirroring will also be possible to wirelessly mirror an iPad's display to a television connected to an AppleTV.
• Also as rumored, Twitter will be integrated into iOS and several apps including Camera, Photos, Maps, and Safari. Contacts can also be updated automatically with Twitter handles.
• As reported by This is my next... earlier today, Apple introduced a new unified messaging service between iOS users called iMessage. iMessage will allow iOS users to send text and multimedia messages over Wi-Fi and 3G with read and delivery receipts and real-time typing indication. Messages will be pushed to all iOS devices a user owns.
• Game Center will be enhanced with profile avatars, friend recommendations, and the ability to purchase new games within Game Center.
• Mobile Safari will also get several new features including tabbed browsing and a Safari Reader feature where users can save articles for later reading in the Reading List, which will be synced across multiple iOS devices for easy access.
• A new Reminders app will offer task tracking in iOS 5 with geolocation capabilities to trigger reminders based on user location.
• Camera will get a shortcut from the lock screen for quicker access. New features include optional grid lines for better framing and on-device editing like cropping and rotating plus red-eye reduction. The volume up button can also be set to trigger the shutter.
• Mail will also see some signification changes including rich text formatting, message flagging, draggable addresses.
• Other new system-wide features include a dictionary that can be accessed by any app and keyboard enhancements to modify the on-screen keyboard.
• A new app called News Stand is also coming to the App Store with iOS 5. It will be a counterpart to iBooks featuring newspapers and magazines and will download new issues automatically in the background.
iOS 5 will be available in the fall and will support the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, 3rd- and 4th-generation iPod touch, and iPad and iPad 2. Developers will be able to access a seed today.
Today, in addition to Lion, iOS 5 and the other iCloud features, Apple rolled out iTunes in the Cloud. The service is free for songs purchased through the iTunes Store, while a new "iTunes Match" service priced at $24.99/year extends the program to ripped music.
iCloud will attempt to ease the burden of syncing -- at least for songs purchased through iTunes. Previously-purchased songs will show up in a purchase history and any music purchased can be re-downloaded to any device at no additional charge. According to Steve Jobs, this is the "first time we've seen this in the music industry."
Using the new Automatic Downloads feature, content purchased via iTunes is pushed (not streamed) to mobile devices and vice versa. Users will consequently have all of their songs, automatically, wherever they are, on up to ten devices. The service is free for songs through the iTunes Store.
As far as ripped music, iTunes has 18 million songs in the music store and Apple will use a feature called iTunes Match to give users the same benefits on ripped songs matched to iTunes songs, as with purchased tracks. A user's library is scanned and matched and any songs that remain unmatched can be uploaded for syncing. Songs that are matched are upgraded to 256KBps, AAC, DRM-free, with all the benefits above, including push syncing and all the rest.
iTunes Match is priced at a flat rate of $24.99 per year, even for "20,000 songs."
Mac OS X has been around for 10 years now, built on a solid UNIX foundation. Phil Schiller said in the keynote that OS X has "evolved", and is great "not because of hardware, but because of software."
Apple today showed off ten of the 250 new features in Mac OS X Lion, revisiting some of the features that had been highlighted previously and showing off some that are brand new. Some of the new features include Windows Migration Assistant, a new version of FileVault, built-in FaceTime and more. OS X Lion Server isn't a totally separate installation, just additional apps that can be run on top of Lion. Server will be available for $49.99 through the App Store.
Lion will be priced at $29.99 and available only on the Mac App Store as a 4 GB download, allowing users to pay once and install it on all of their machines, just like all Mac App Store apps. Apple did not announce specific release date for Mac OS X Lion, but narrow down the launch window to the month of July. Customers who purchase a Mac between today and the Lion launch in July will get the upgrade free from the App Store.
"New" features, most of which we have seen before -- but Apple feels they are important enough to demo:
1. Multi-touch gestures, very similar to iOS: Taken everything they've learned from iOS and applying that to Lion. Swipe, pinch, etc. Scrollbars disappear when not in use.
2. Full Screen Applications: "Really important for notebooks." Lion has a standard method for full screen apps. A swipe gesture allows you to get back to the desktop, and users can have more than one full screen app running at once, with a swipe gesture to switch between them.
3. Mission Control: The "best feature of Lion" according to Phil Schiller, is a combination of Spaces, Expose and an App Switcher. Spaces are managed through Mission Control, allowing them to be deleted and added on the fly.
4. Enhanced Photo Booth: This is a big feature for the teen crowd. Head into any Apple Store on a Friday or Saturday evening and you'll see many teenagers playing with Photo Booth and uploading pictures to Facebook. The new and improved Photo Booth can follow your face and make "targeted facial enhancements", such as making just your eyes huge.
5. Mac App Store: In the past 6 months, the Mac App Store has become the #1 software channel for Mac applications. Some developers have more than doubled their revenue by offering their software in the Mac App Store. New additions to the App Store in Lion will be in-app purchases, push notifications and application sandboxing for increased security.
6. Launchpad: Imagine the iOS home screen, with rows of app icons, on a Mac. That's Launchpad. It will make finding and organizing apps much, much easier for the average user (think, your Mom). You can even make folders, yet another iOS feature) within Launchpad. It's initiated by a gesture.
7. Resume: Instantly resume where you were in an application when you quit it -- just like iOS. There seems to be a trend popping up here. Works system wide, when you reboot, all of your windows and apps return how they were. Lion auto-saves everything. It makes for easy versioning, and reverting to past changes, much like Time Machine does now, but on a file-by-file basis. Every change is logged -- though it only stores the difference between revisions, making it very space efficient.
8. AirDrop: A new document sharing method. Lion will find other users running AirDrop and display all the machines it can see in the Finder. Sending files is as easy as dragging and dropping an icon on the AirDrop logo. The recipient gets a prompt, confirms they want the file, and it downloads to their computer. It sounds simple, but it should be very handy. BOOM.
9. Mail: Mail has been completely redesigned, with lots of inspiration from the iPad Mail client. Search looks much more intelligent, and there is a new conversation view apparently inspired by Gmail.
In the center of the WWDC madness, Taptic Toys was showing off a telepresence robot based around the iPad and Facetime. So, instead of going to the office, you can send your robot in your place. They are using a Mi-Fi device to get around Facetime's Wi-Fi requirement. Seems just to be a prototype, so they are gauging interest for an actual device.
With just under two and a half hours to go before Apple CEO Steve Jobs takes the stage for his keynote address at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, it's time for us to set the stage with final details on the latest rumors and coverage information.
Attendees have been securing their spots in line early to ensure that they will have seats in the main auditorium rather than being shunted to an overflow room to watch the keynote on video.
Coverage
As we noted over the weekend, MacRumors will be offering live text and photo updates from the keynote through MacRumorsLive.com. The main MacRumors.com page will automatically redirect to MacRumorsLive as we get closer to the event, so stay tuned here. We will also be providing Twitter updates through our @MacRumorsLive account.
Apple has not yet offered any indication that it will provide live streaming video of the keynote.
MacRumors forum members interested in a "spoiler-free" environment to wait for the full keynote video to become available are gathering in our dedicated thread. A direct link to the official keynote video will be posted there when it becomes available.
Rumors
While it appears extremely unlikely that Apple will introduce a new iPhone today, the company undoubtedly has a full agenda as it seeks to show off Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5, and its new iCloud service. Rumors have suggested that the iCloud service could utilize a revamped iOS-based Time Capsule to serve as the hub for data access and potentially for caching software updates for other machines and devices.
One key part of the iCloud service that has been receiving significant media attention is a music streaming service to allow users to access their purchased music from a variety of Internet-connected devices. Apple is said to have paid the four major music labels up to $150 million for the right to offer the service, and with agreements reportedly also in place with the major music publishers, Apple appears nearly ready to go on that aspect of iCloud. The service has been said to come with a free trial period to be followed eventually by an annual fee in the range of $25.
iOS 5 has been kept under wraps by Apple thus far, although we've seen indications of enhanced notifications and widgets as well as "deep" Twitter integration. Another development comes from a leak on Apple's iTunes update pages, which revealed a new "Automatic Download" feature that could allow users to have updated apps and perhaps other content appear on their iOS devices without the need manually sync each one. It is unclear, however, whether the feature is directly tied to iOS 5 or if it could be supported with an update to iOS 4 in the nearer term.
Apple has also been working hard on Mac OS X Lion and a fair amount of information on the release has been made public through Apple's "sneak peek" offered last October and followed up with a series of developer preview builds pushed out beginning in February. Apple has said that Lion will make its debut this "summer", but we've been hearing variety of potential dates within that period for the launch, making it difficult to pin down how soon after WWDC we can expect it to ship.
Last-Minute Updates
- This is my next... reports that it has received information regarding iOS 5 enhancements including a new MMS/SMS messaging protocol and a new notification system involving a dropdown at the top of the screen accessible by swiping downward. The dropdown will also provide access to widgets for such items as weather and stocks. Finally, the lock screen is said to have been enhanced with notifications, allowing users to swipe a notification to go directly to the corresponding app.
Mockup of iOS 5 notification bar
- As noted by @grg, there is at least one covered banner hanging outside the keynote hall, suggesting that the banner will be promoting currently-undisclosed details of a new product:
On the night before the 2011 WWDC Keynote, things have been relatively quiet. Those attending WWDC are naturally excited by the prospect of Apple's announcements and everyone is speculating about what Apple could announce. The first person got in line for the WWDC keynote at 1pm Sunday, while everyone else seems to be debating exactly how early to get in line. At present there seem to be about 30 people in line (photo) as of 11pm Pacific.
The image above is what we believe to simply be a mockup of what iOS 5's notifications may look like. It was posted by TechCrunch who later said that they've heard it's the "right idea".
DaringFireball's John Gruber has posted his thoughts about Monday's event but seems to know very little for certain. The most tantalizing quote he offers, but also one that he describes as fourth hand information is as follows:
Don’t think of iCloud as the new MobileMe; think of iCloud as the new iTunes.
Gruber describes the possibility where instead of taking an iOS device and syncing it to your computer, all the data is synced to iCloud. This would finally relinquish the need for a PC/Mac sync for new iOS devices. He goes on with other wishes for iOS but admits its not based on any inside knowledge.
Interestingly, we've heard that a few Apple employees have been genuinely excited about tomorrow's announcements. The keynote kicks off at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern on Monday and we'll provide live coverage here.
Apple's 2011 Worldwide Developer's Conference kicks off tomorrow with a keynote from Steve Jobs starting at 10am Pacific. Apple has already revealed that they will be talking about Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud at the event. Developer registration began today (photos above and below).
The early speculation about iCloud had primarily focused on Apple's impending deals with music companies and the ability to stream iTunes music to your Macs and iOS devices. But more recently, there's been talk about new iOS-powered Time Capsules that how might serve as some sort of file syncing hub or update caching system.
There have been some hints that Mac OS X Lion may be practically ready to launch with some even pinpointing date of June 14th as the targeted released date.
As always, there are usually last minute rumors and leaks on the night prior to the event, so stay tuned.
Unfortunately, there's been no indication that Apple will be video streaming this event, but we'll provide live coverage during the keynote with photos and updates. Follow us @MacRumorsLive for live updates and @MacRumors for ongoing news and updates.
Cult of Mac reports that it has received information indicating that revamped versions of Apple's Time Capsule wireless router/hard drive combination will serve as the hub for iCloud data syncing, with data stored directly on the device rather than on Apple's servers.
Our source didn't have any information about the hardware, but detailed how the Home Folder access system works. Files saved on your computer are backed up instantly to Time Capsule, which makes them available to remote Macs and iOS devices.
If you make any changes on any computer, those changes are updated through iCloud and stored on your Time Capsule. The Time Capsule archives and serves up your files even when your computers are off. When you get home and fire up your desktop computer or laptop, the files are automatically synced across your devices.
This service will also allow you to upload photos and videos from your iPhone or iPad to your Time Capsule. The media will be stored on the device and be made available for other devices to sync. iCloud is the "conduit" through which everything moves, the source said.
"Your computer gets backed up to Time Capsule anyways," said the source. "Now it'll serve up your content when you want it, where you want it, right there on your iOS device."
The source reports that this implementation of a local iCloud is "fully baked" and ready for deployment in future versions of Mac OS X and iOS, although there has been no hint of the functionality in developer seeds of Mac OS X Lion seen thus far. It is also unclear how such a system would integrate with the iCloud music streaming service, as a number of reports in the mainstream media suggested more of a true cloud-based system for that aspect of things, with Apple able to scan users' iTunes libraries and simply provide streaming access to those tracks from any device connected to the user's iCloud.
As noted by MyService, Apple's idea of a local cloud network dates back twenty years, with Steve Jobs having detailed some of the advantages of such a setup during a Q&A session at WWDC in 1997. (Discussion begins at around 13:10 mark.)
Cult of Mac's claims harken back to a report from The Loop's Jim Dalrymple back in mid-February in which he claimed that cloud-based strategy for a revamped MobileMe would in fact be focused on streaming data from users' machines rather hosting it directly on Apple's servers. A local cloud stored on a Time Capsule device would seem to be a middle-of-the-road solution offering much of what Dalrymple proposed while avoiding the need to keep a source computer awake and running for the service to function.
We'll certainly be learning more about iCloud tomorrow as Steve Jobs takes the stage for the keynote at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference at 10:00 AM Pacific Time / 1:00 PM Eastern Time. MacRumors will be providing live coverage of the keynote via MacRumorsLive and Twitter.
The international expansion continues. Apple opened its seventh store in France this morning, this one in the major city of Lyon in the eastern part of the country. The store, located in a shopping mall in the La Part-Dieu business district, is very close to the Lyon Part-Dieu railway station, a major transportation hub.
Even though this is the 325th location to open, new store openings (NSO's in Apple parlance) are sure to draw a crowd and the Apple Store Part-Dieu is no exception. MacRumors reader Clement sent in these shots from the opening and said there was a two-hour queue to get in the store.
Apple Store Part-Dieu is number R373 according to Apple's internal store numbering system.
In the days leading to WWDC, Apple's iTunes seems to have leaked a new feature that must be coming in iOS 5. A MacRumors reader discovered (and we verified) that when asking iTunes to check your app library for updates, iTunes' update page reveals a new feature for iOS devices. (Thanks Marcelo) The following line has been added to the My App Updates screen:
Or if your device has Automatic Download enabled for apps, your updates will download to your device without having to sync.
Such a setting doesn't exist in iOS at present, which suggests that you will be able to automatically get app updates to your device. Presently, users must either sync or download the updates themselves manually through the App Store app.
It also suggests that there is an Automatic Download setting for other items besides apps. Apple has been rumored to be making a push into over-the-air updates as well as some sort of wireless syncing. Rumors of AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule updates have also hinted at such a feature.
WWDC kicks off on Monday with a keynote from Steve Jobs who will detail Mac OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud.
Update: Apple has removed the extra wording from the Updates page in iTunes.
Last December, it was revealed that Apple was among the parties interested in bidding on a huge trove of patents from Nortel Networks that had been placed up for auction. While group of over 6,000 patents covers a wide variety of areas, Apple was thought to be primarily interested in those patents related to LTE and other mobile technologies.
Competition for the patents has been heating up, with Google having launched the first salvo with an opening bid of $900 million for the entire portfolio of patents. According to The Wall Street Journal, federal antitrust regulators had initially expressed concern over Google's bid, but have since had their concerns satisfied. They do, however, continue to have concerns about Apple should it decide to officially submit a bid for the patents.
The agency has greater concerns about another possible bidder, Apple Inc., which has often asserted intellectual property rights against other companies. Apple has been in talks with the Justice Department to address its concerns, those people said.
Apple didn't respond to a request for comment.
Regulators have expressed concern over such a significant batch of intellectually being used by acquirers attempting to consolidate control of critical technologies, thereby stifling innovation.
The official auction for the Nortel patents is scheduled for June 20th, with Google, Apple, and Research in Motion all reportedly interested in participating in the process.
The Wall Street Journal briefly reports on a research note from Hong Kong-based analyst firm CLSA claiming that checks with Apple's suppliers indicate that the next-generation iPad will debut before the end of this year, in time for the holiday shopping rush. According to the report, the updated iPad will include improvements to the display and LTE compatibility for cellular data use.
While most vendors appear fixated on matching the specs and features of iPad2, our checks suggest Apple will release iPad3 in time for the holiday season, sporting a better display and LTE capabilities.
Rumors surfacing right around the time of the iPad 2's debut earlier this year had indicated that Apple could be planning to release yet another update to the device around the September timeframe. Excitement around those rumors has since been tempered amid reports that the next-generation iPad is unlikely to debut this year. Recent reports have claimed that Apple is just now beginning the certification process for components to be used in the next-generation iPad, with a timetable putting the device's launch into 2012.
CLSA does not have a significant track record of supply chain rumors regarding Apple's products, and thus it is not entirely clear why The Wall Street Journal has chosen to highlight the firm's report. In addition, claims of LTE compatibility for an iPad to be released before the end of the year appear to conflict with Qualcomm's development timeline for Apple-suitable LTE chips that will not begin sampling until late this year and will not appear in devices until 2012. Consequently, we are primarily pointing to CLSA's report for interest and discussion.
Earlier this week, TechCrunch reported that Apple is said be integrating Twitter into iOS 5, offering users the ability to easily share photos and other content via the service. Those claims dovetail nicely with Twitter's announcement the following day that it will launch its own photo-sharing service. Daring Fireball's John Gruber hinted, however, that Apple is planning to take things even further when it comes to Twitter integration, making it a "system-level service" within iOS 5.
Another source has now spoken out on Apple's plans, with the well-connected Robert Scoble now tweeting that Apple will indeed be building Twitter "deeply" into iOS 5.
Next week will be a huge week for those of us who have lived on Twitter for last few years. Apple is building Twitter in deeply into iOS5.
In a series of follow-up tweets responding to commenters, Scoble says he's had "actual knowledge" of Apple's plans for several months now, but does not know the details. He does, however, claim that the integration will go well beyond photos and "lame 'send to Twitter buttons'".
I know someone who built the Twitter integration into iOS5 and I believe him when he says I'll love it.
Apple has announced that Steve Jobs will be providing a preview of iOS 5 at next Monday's keynote presentation at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, and we should learn more about the rumored Twitter integration at that time if it is indeed in the works.
TouchArcade points out that TenOneDesign has posted new miniaturized versions of the Fling joysticks designed for the iPhone and iPod Touch. We covered the original version made for the iPad back in January and even tried them out at CES. The springy controllers work surprisingly well for any joystick or dual-stick controller games such as Geometry Wars. From an earlier review:
The Fling is a cleverly designed device with two suction cups on one side connected to a plastic ring. Inside of the plastic ring is a spiral that suspends an electrically conductive joystick in the center. This spiral works like a spring, always returning the joystick to the center, and providing more resistance the closer you get to the edge of the plastic ring.
A pack of two costs $24.95 and start shipping in July.
