Today’s WWDC 2010 keynote was chock full of iPhone news – the introduction of the new iPhone 4, more details on (the newly renamed) iOS 4, lots of market data and humungous iPhone numbers, and lots more.
I’m still digesting all the news, but thought that (as per usual) I’d try to give a quick rundown of some of the things that caught my attention during the keynote, and share some quick thoughts on them.
So here goes – some of the highlights from Steve Jobs’ keynote and a few quick thoughts on some of them
Crazy, Big iPhone Numbers
I always enjoy hearing these at Apple events, and today had quite a few. Among them:
- 100 millionth iOS device to be sold this month
- 5 billion App Store downloads
- 15,000 apps submitted for approval every week
- A billion dollars paid out to developers on app sales
- 28% share of the US smartphone market, number 2 in the market and not far behind RIM/Blackberry
The New iPhone 4
Steve’s introduction included this phrase describing the iPhone 4:
For 2010 we ‘re going to take the biggest leap since the original iPhone
The details he announced for it seem to back that up:
- Amazing new retina display capabilities
- Thinner than the 3GS
- The same speedy and low-energy A4 processor chip that is used by the iPad
- Far better battery life
- Major improvements to the camera
- The addition of a second front-facing camera to be used in video calling
It was especially lovely seeing that huge battery in the shot of the new model’s innards
The release date of June 24th is a little later in the month than many had been predicting, but it’s close enough to start getting excited about. Pre-orders start next Tuesday, June 15th – and if it’s anything like last year pre-ordering via AT&T or Apple should save a lot of waiting in lines.
The pricing is in line with what we’re now accustomed to with each new iPhone release
Price and availability! iPhone 4 comes in two colors, black and white ” price is $199 in the US for the 16GB model, and 299 for the 32GB model. ‘
I ‘m thrilled to announce AT&T is going to make an incredibly generous upgrade offer. If your contract expires any time in 2010, you are immediately eligible for a new iPhone 4 at the same 199 or 299 prices if you top up your contract 2 years.
We should also see the iPhone 3GS (8GB model) selling at $99 starting very soon – and that’s still a hell of a good device.
The new iOS 4
I love the fact that the OS got renamed to iOS to reflect the fact that it is an OS that does not just run on iPhones, but also on millions of iPod Touches and iPads. It’s also a little funny that once again they’ve picked a name that is already in use (for the OS on their routers and infrastructure devices that run most of the internet), just as they did with the iPhone name.
I also like that a major OS update is finally free for the iPod Touch (except the first gen, which Apple says is not able to run the new OS).
We didn’t hear a whole lot of new things about this latest release of the iOS. The biggest new features for me are still increased multitasking capabilities and folders to offer a little more ability to organize apps.
The addition of Bing as another search engine option is a nice little extra – though I don’t know how often I’ll remember to think about it or switch to it.
The iBooks app is also coming to the iPhone – that’s another nice small addition, especially for those of us who own iPads and are already using the store.
I can’t wait to see this come out on June 21, and will definitely be trying to get an early gold master build on my 3GS.
Other Bits We Heard About and Some We Didn’t
I thought it was bit odd to see Jobs presenting the three most common reasons apps are rejected from the App Store – because they are the obvious ones and well-know ones. It would have been far more interesting to heard about some of the more bizarre and ‘grey area’ sort of reasons – hopefully developers will get more and better guidance on this subject at some point during the conference.
It was nice that Jobs was able to make a little joke about the audience may have seen some of this before – when talking about the new iPhone.
Nice to see some beefed-up enterprise features as well.
There was no mention of how much RAM the new iPhone 4 has. I really hope it is twice that of the 3GS.
It was disappointing – but not shocking – to hear nothing about any other US carriers for the iPhone. No mention of Verizon at all.
Also disappointing not to hear anything about Foxconn and Apple’s stance on conditions at the places that manufacture its flagship mobile devices.
The FaceTime video calling is a great new feature – but one that may have mostly novelty value if you don’t have many friends that will also be getting an iPhone 4 so you’re able to use video chat with them.
That’s about it for my rehash for now. I’m sure myself and others here will have lots more thoughts on all of this when we’ve had more time to absorb all the news.
What are your impressions? Are you keen on the new model? Happy or disappointed with what we heard today?
Images and quotes via: gdgt liveblog
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TAGS: Apple, iOS 4, iPhone 4, keynote, Steve Jobs, WWDC 2010
