Congratulations on the start of the annual WWDC 2014 conference, which we have all been looking forward to! Since October last year, we have tried to share with you any information that appears regarding this special event. By tradition, during WWDC we were told about new Apple products: OS X 10.10 and iOS 8 operating systems, as well as many new features for developers. And now about everything in more detail!
WWDC 2014 began with a video clip in which users shared their impressions about who developers are, how they look, behave, and how they differ from ordinary mortals. Apple fans talked about various applications that help them in everyday life, study, socializing with friends and creativity. After the video, as always, Apple CEO Tim Cook was the first to take the stage. He was measured, gentle, and, as always, modest. Throughout the conference, he shared with us really impressive figures.
About 9 million developers are currently working on the creation of various applications for Apple operating systems, the youngest of which is only 13 years old! Developers from 69 countries arrived at WWDC 2014, 70% of which appeared at this conference for the first time. Since the release, 51% of users have switched to the new OS X Maverics, while only 14% have switched to the new Windows.
Flat OS X 10.10 Yosemite
The star of this evening was, like last year, Craig Federighi, he began his story with a flat OS X 10.10, named "Yosemite" in honor of the California National Park of the same name. Craig was, as always, smiling and constantly joking, demonstrating the new features of OS X.
The new OS has a completely new design, similar to iOS 7. Naturally, in this regard, many applications have been revised, such as Reminders, Calendar and Notification Center. Spotlight has also been updated, it has a new interface, the search bar itself can now be moved even to the middle of your Mac's screen. The search gives access not only to applications and documents located on the Mac, but also to information from Wikipedia, to sites dedicated to cinema, or nearby cafes.
A new iCloud Drive service, an analogue of Dropbox, was introduced. In it, documents and other files will be organized in the same way as in Finder. The Mail application has become more elegant, plus it has the ability to leave your signature directly in the letter you wrote and add annotations to letters. Safari has become even faster, just one click will be enough for you to go to the most favorite and frequently visited sites. The location of your tabs in the browser has also changed, now they will be grouped automatically. AirDrop now works on iOS and Mac. Plus, Mac now has the ability to work with the functions of iOS devices directly from a desktop computer: so, SMS and even calls can be sent and received directly from your computer!
OS X will be available for developers from today, and the public beta version will be released this summer!
iOS 8
A huge number of users buy iOS devices, 100 million iPod Touches, 200 million iPads, and as many as 500 million iPhones have been sold in the world! Over the past year, 130 million new customers have joined the iOS community, and after the iPhone appeared in China, half of the Celestial Empire's users switched to the new system at once. 97% of owners of iOS devices were satisfied with the new seventh version. And if we compare it with Android, 89% of users switched to iOS 7, and only 9% switched to KitKat.
In iOS 8, the Notification Center has changed — interactive notifications have appeared, thanks to which it will now be possible to reply to messages and delete emails without entering the corresponding application. Also, as in the new OS X, the design of Mail has changed slightly, convenient drafts have appeared, and Spotlight has also been improved. Plus, voice messages will now appear in Messages, as well as the QuickType function — response prompts that will focus on previous dialogues with a particular user. But, unfortunately, this function has remained without support for the Russian language so far. Just like on a Mac, calls and SMS can be received on an iPad. In addition, it will be possible to create group chats in Messages, delete and add new interlocutors.
There are also new functions for corporate users that allow you to quickly configure corporate devices, add shared documents, books and videos to them. The new Healthkit service and the Health app will help you monitor your health, blood pressure, weight and activity, as well as send the results to your doctor, who will be able to give the necessary recommendations in a timely manner.
In addition, the Family Sharing feature has appeared, which allows you to share photos, calendar events, reminders, music, videos, books and applications with your family members. And also, importantly, to control the purchases of children! Up to 6 family members can be linked to one card.
Plus, all of the above, all your photos can now be found in the iCloud library, with a simple and intuitive search by place, time or album names. Initially, 5 GB will be available for free in iCloud, 20 GB for $0.99 per month, and 200 GB for $3.99. The Photo app has also been redesigned.
As expected, Siri has built-in Shazam music recognition, thanks to the voice assistant, iTunes purchases have been made possible, as well as dictation support in 22 new languages (including Russian).
iOS 8 is available in beta from today.
New products for developers
Presenting new features for developers again came out, as Tim Cook himself called it, "superman" Craig Federighi.
Now the App Store has 1.2 million apps, and every week users manage to make 300 million downloads. And in general, as many as 75 billion downloads have been made over the past time!
As for the store itself, a new feature has been added for developers — combining applications and selling them as a single package (bundle). Plus, when viewing new applications, it is now possible to add previews in the form of videos.
Of course, the topic of the purchased Testflight application was also touched upon. Now all developers for iOS devices will be able to invite users to try out new applications that are not yet available in the App Store.
In general, many new features have been added for developers and the system's capabilities have been expanded. Various applications can now interact, and developers can independently make various widgets for the Notification Center, as well as use information from Touch ID as a password to log in to the application.
There is a new system Homekit, which allows you to control and manage locks, doors, cameras and other smart home gadgets in the house.
Cloudkit — now it is not necessary to buy a special server, developers will have the opportunity to use Apple solutions for free, although, of course, with certain restrictions. The Metal system will improve the interaction of games and the new powerful A7 processor, and SceneKit will use 3D graphics for casual games.
And the most interesting thing is that now a new programming language has appeared in Xcode — Swift! It is faster, more modern, more interactive and safer. Of course, the syntax has changed, plus the program has support for several languages at the same time.
That's it! No new devices, but a lot of information for reflection, both for ordinary users and, especially, for developers! And we will try to tell you about everything in detail in the very near future, follow our reviews and news!
