SAN FRANCISCO — Apple (AAPL) introduced revamped mobile and desktop operating systems Monday during the keynote address of its Worldwide Developers Conference, and launched a new streaming-music offering called iTunes Radio that will be included in the redesigned iOS 7 for iPhones and iPads.
Apple CEO Tim Cook introduced iOS 7, Apple’s newest mobile operating system, calling it “the biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone.” In a video showing off the redesigned system, design guru Jonny Ive revealed it will have a quick settings area, new swipe-to-unlock screen. and flatter icons in an interface envisioned as a series of flat planes.
Web services executive Eddy Cue eventually took the stage to show off iTunes Radio, which will allow iOS 7 users to listen to personalized or general stations through the “Music” app on their iPhone. The offering resembled Oakland’s Pandora Radio, finding similar music to a personalized request for a station based on a band: Cue turned on a “Led Zeppelin” station and received a Rolling Stones track after one song by the former famed rock band.
Software engineering leader Craig Federighi also took time to show off the new iOS 7 features, syaing using the system “is like getting an entirely new phone, but one that you already know how to use, one that is so much more beautiful and functional than ever before.”
Federighi focused on Control Center, which will be a quick entry to certain controls such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, along with a flashlight, and said that iOS 7 will have multitasking for all apps — not just certain functions. Animated backgrounds for apps and the home screen, folders for different kinds of apps with multiple pages, and the ability to move straight to notifications from the iPhone’s lock screen were some of the new features Federighi introduced. One of the iPhone’s most used features, iPhoto, will receive updates that include new ways to share, Instagram-like filters, and new organization abilities.
Siri, Apple’s voice-recognition feature that debuted on the iPhone 4S, will receive a new design and its well-known female voice can be changed to a male voice. It will also be a large part of Apple’s new “iOS in the Car” feature. which will integrate with certain manufacturers’ cars in their 2014 model years.
The redesigned operating system will release in an early “beta” mode for iPhone Monday, while the iPad beta version will will be released in a few weeks; the full release of iOS 7 will take place in the fall.
Earlier in the keynote, Apple showed off an upcoming update to its Mac Pro desktop line that will be made in the United States and introduced a new line of MacBook Air laptops that it promises will have all-day battery life. Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller called the new Mac Pro “a machine unlike anything we’ve ever made, both inside and out,” and said it would be completely designed and manufactured in the U.S. At an eighth of the volume of the previous Mac Pro, the new offering will double the performance with help from a new Intel (INTC) Xeon chip.
Cook said in an interview late last year that Apple would spend $100 million moving manufacturing of a specific Mac line to the U.S.; last month, Cook said the plant would be in Texas.
“The product will be assembled in Texas, include components made in Illinois and Florida, and rely on equipment produced in Kentucky and Michigan,” Cook said during a Senate hearing on Apple’s tax practices.
The new MacBook Air, which will be offered in 11-inch and 13-inch models, will nearly double the battery life of earlier Airs with Intel’s Haswell chipset; they will be available for purchase immediately, Schiller said.
The new PC and laptop offerings will run on operating systems named after familiar destinations for Californians: Apple announced that they will begin naming updates to its OS offerings after places in its home state. Federighi, taking the stage from CEO Tim Cook, announced an update for OS X, or Mountain Lion, dubbed “Mavericks,” after the San Mateo County surf spot that is home to a big-wave competition known the world over.
“We want to set a name that will carry us for at least the next ten years, and the answer was really obvious: It’s those places that inspire us here in California, the place where OS X is designed and built,” Federighi said.
Mavericks will focus on extending battery life for Apple’s PCs and laptops, Federighi said, along with increased responsiveness and new apps. New offerings Federighi showed off included updates for users who have multiple displays, the ability to tag documents, and browser-style tabs in the finder window, as well as access to some offerings that were previously only on mobile devices: Maps, app notifications and iBooks. The new version of Apple’s operating system will also include an updated Safari Web browser that Federighi said is more than twice as fast as Google’s (GOOG) Chrome while using less energy.
Before handing the stage over to Federighi, Cook celebrated Apple’s retail and digital stores.
“Our stores have become integral parts of the communities where they serve,” Cook — dressed in a black Oxford shirt and jeans — said of the Apple chain, which he revealed now has 407 stores in 14 countries. Cook also pointed out that Apple’s App Store will turn five years old next month and has paid out $10 billion to app developers, $5 billion just in the past year.
Apple grabbed the spotlight Monday for the first time since it announced the iPad Mini in October of 2012, just more than a month after the launch of the iPhone 5. Last year at WWDC, the company announced an iOS update that included the introduction of Apple Maps, which pushed Google Maps off the iPhone as the standard mapping program. Apple Maps was not ready for prime time when it launched, however, leading to a backlash from confused and lost users that prompted CEO Tim Cook to apologize directly to customers.
Later, Apple shook up its leadership, reportedly as a result of the Maps fiasco. Longtime software chief Scott Forstall left the company, along with the head of the company’s retail arm, and Apple design guru Jony Ive was placed at the top of Apple’s software division.
Apple’s iOS-based devices were a spark for a revolution in computing, with the iPhone and iPad taking mobile computing to the masses and putting smartphones and tablets on a path to being more popular than personal computers. Google’s Android operating system has taken advantage of that trend, however, and now is used on more smartphones than Apple, according to companies that track the technology; IDC predicted earlier this year that tablets running Android would overtake the iPad in 2013, as well.
Android’s ascendance has been part of a diminished profile for Apple since the launch of the iPhone 5, especially in the eyes of investors. Apple stock hit an all-time high of more than $700 a share on the day the iPhone 5 launched last September, but has since fallen as much as 45 percent, at times costing the company its title as most valuable in the United States in terms of market capitalization. Apple stock closed Friday at $441.81, and was trading at $448 at the end of Monday’s morning session on Wall Street, at 9 a.m. Pacific time; after Monday’s keynote ended, shares declined to lower than $440.
Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/mercbizbreak.
