The anticipation for the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference conference was high and the expectations higher. After weeks of rumors, the conference finally cleared the air and made some pretty big announcements. While the surprises on the hardware side were minimal, there were some major overhauls with the software.
Here's a roundup of the five biggest moments from the keynote at WWDC 2013:
OS X Maverick
Apple's new operating system will be called Mavericks, reflecting its California production. Its features place priority on search and navigation, incorporating tags and multiple tabs in the Finder window. The new OS also supports multiple full-screen display.
The new Calendar software, Game Center, phone, and messaging apps have been buffed up to look sleeker and more Apple-worthy. iBooks is also coming from iOS to OS X.
iOS7
In what Tim Cook described as the biggest thing since the launch of the iPhone, iOS7 has packed in the new features. Major changes include the way the phone displays background photos through tracking hand motion.
The latest version looks like a whole revamp with features like a new 'control center' and full multi-tasking. Control Center will give users quick access to brightness, volume, airplane mode, Bluetooth, Do not disturb, and a flashlight app. Control Center will also allow control over AirPlay and all music playback settings.
Apple also got rid of the the fake stitching and green felt skeuomorphic designs, which should please users' aesthetic senses.
MacBook Air
The big change with the MacBook Air is increase in battery life, with the 13-inch model getting 13 hours and the 11-inch model 9 hours. The new Airs are priced at $999 for an 11-inch display with a 128GB Flash drive, or $1,099 for one with 256GB. A 13-inch model with 128GB capacity will be $1,099, while $1,299 will get you a 256GB Flash drive.
The Air starts shipping today, with four new models.
Mac Pro
The new Mac Pro has the Internet going wild with reactions ranging from Darth Vader's dustbin to amazing. That aside, the Pro will feature the Intel Xeon chip and will have a PCIe controller, with 1.25Gbps reads and 1Gbps writes. It will also have Thunderbolt 2, with 20GBps throughput and will support as many as three 4K displays. Apple has not yet said when it will release the new machine.
iRadio, Siri, Safari and Maps
The new OS also integrates with the new iTunes Radio. The feature is being touted as Apple's Spotify and Rdio killer and will be free for all users and and ad-free for customers of iTunes Match. The service will be available on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPads, Macs, and PCs, as well as on Apple TV.
Apple also rolled out updates to some of its more standard features. Siri comes with a new update that includes a male voice. Both voices sound more 'real' and Siri also supports several other languages. The range of questions Siri can answer has also been expanded.
The latest Safari will have a new home screen and a reading list tool that creates an infinite scroll of articles. After a less than spectacular first release, maps will now be in 3D and provide instant estimated time of arrival for any address in a calendar event.
Of course, in classic Apple style, the keynote had aesthetic visuals and heartwarming videos. Including this final one:
Images by Mashable
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