If you don’t have time to watch the WWDC 2012 keynote video, here’s a quick summary of everything major that was announced at WWDC and also a few things that were quietly updated behind the scenes. New Macs, new operating systems, new apps, it was a big day for Apple.
Macs & OS X Mountain Lion
- Next-Generation Retina MacBook Pro released, starts at $2199 and features a 15″ whopping 2880×1800 display while weighing 4.4lbs in a thinner unibody enclosure. Quad-core Ivy Bridge CPU’s, 8GB RAM and SSD standard. It’s freakishly powerful and attractive, hide your credit card or else you will probably buy one.
- MacBook Air gets updated at both 11″ and 13″ models, 4GB RAM standard and accepts maximum 8GB RAM, Ivy Bridge CPU, USB 3.0, Intel HD 4000 GPU, faster SSD drives, FaceTime HD camera, all models $100 cheaper. Decent update to great Macs.
- Existing MacBook Pro 13″ and MacBook Pro 15″ models got minor spec updates, Ivy Bridge CPU’s, Nvidia 650M GPU, it’s a matter of opinion but compared to the new Retina MacBook Pro and update MacBook Air line the MacBook Pro is now officially boring.
- OS X Mountain Lion release set for next month, priced at $19.99 and a single purchase installs on all of your Macs. As we mentioned a while back, you can upgrade directly from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion too. OS X 10.8 also has over 200 new features, heavy iCloud integration, iMessage, Share Sheets, Power Nap, and much more.
- OS X Mountain Lion Dev Preview 4 is now available for developers.
- Mac Pro got a quiet minor update so boring that it’s barely worth mentioning.
- MacBook Pro 17″ was silently discontinued. But did we mention the Retina MacBook Pro 15″?
iOS 6 and iOS Related
- iOS 6 Announced: Everyone knew it was coming but iOS 6 was officially announced at WWDC, along with a loose release date of “Fall” which probably coincides with whenever the next iPhone will arrive. Over 200 new features are packed into the update.
- New Maps app with turn-by-turn directions, crowd sourced traffic updates, and more
- FaceTime comes to 3G and 4G networks
- Siri gets major updates and improvements, can launch apps.
- Siri comes to iPad 3 with iOS 6
- Many new cars will have Siri integration, Apple working with auto manufacturers to bring Siri buttons directly into the steering wheel of upcoming cars, support from a huge range of manufacturers
- iOS 6 beta 1 for developers is now available to download.
- iPad “Smart Case” released, it’s basically a Smart Cover with rear protection as well.
Mac & iOS Related
- New AirPort Express was introduced
- Back to School Promo starts today for students, $100 iTunes gift card for a new Mac purchase, and $50 with a new iPad purchase
- iTunes 10.6.3 is out, has bug fixes and required for installing the iOS 6 beta
Post a Comment