14 DAY TRIAL // In a few hours from now, Apple CEO Tim Cook will take the stage at San Francisco’s Moscone west to deliver the latest software announcements, and perhaps even a few hardware upgrades too, at the company's WWDC 2013 conference.
First on Apple fans’ wish lists is iOS 7, and Cook will undoubtedly waste no time in demoing the redesigned software. We hope Human Interface Chief Jonathan Ive also makes an appearance on stage to demo his brainchild.
iOS 7 is said to deliver not only a redesigned UI system-wide, but also redesigned stock apps that sport black and white color themes.
OS X 10.9 is also expected, and our readers have been trying to guess the new cat’s name for quite a while now. Hopefully Apple will confirm one of them today, so we can congratulate those who guessed it.
There haven’t been many OS X 10.9 leaks except the scarce server logs we’ve been recording along with the rest of the tech media, but recent developments indicate that Apple might have a near-final build ready for today’s showcase.
On the hardware front, new MacBooks are likely to be announced today featuring Intel’s new Haswell processors.
The Mac Pro is finally getting its much deserved refresh as well, according to reports, and there’s a slight chance that the newly redesigned iMac is also getting beefed up with the Haswell platform. If that’s the case, we don’t see why Apple would leave the Mac mini behind.
Less than probable announcements include the much debated iWatch, or the heavily rumored iTV.
To be clear on one thing, Apple’s WWDC is and has always been a software-centric event. So don’t expect any fantastic products of the imagination, such as the iRing or the iCar.
We’ll be updating this article with every important announcement as WWDC 2013 unfolds. The event should kick off in about two hours from the time of this writing. Stick around!
Update 1
WWDC attendees getting seated ahead of the ceremonious unveiling of iOS 7, the new OS X, and whatever Apple has in store for us hardware-wise.
Update 2
Apple announces OS X 10.9 Mavericks featuring a bunch of new features, including document tagging, multi-display enhancements, tabbed Finder views (so far).
Safari gets a beefed up JavaScript engine, enhanced memory usage, it even uses less energy.
Maps is in Mavericks! 3D Flyover data, search for points of interests, navigation, iCloud integration, the works. Developer SDK is being made available for Maps for Mac.
Developer preview of Mavericks available today, Final release in fall.
Apple announces updated MacBook Air notebooks with Haswell processors, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and 12hrs battery life.
Phil Schiller up on stage, he announces a New Mac Pro with screaming CPU & GPU, Flash storage, PCIe, 1.25 GBPs, only external expansion, Thunderbolt 2, made in the USA.
Apple announces iWork for iCloud with some fluid graphics and great cloud functionality (an answer to Google Docs).
Update 3
Tim Cook is back on stage to talk about iOS (crowd goes wild). iOS 7 announced with 3D views, revamped UI which follows your taste in wallpapers, updated apps, and a really awesome Weather app (which Federighi is now back on stage to demo). The thing is really, really flat!
iOS 7 has full Multitasking for apps, intelligent updating system for the titles you use the most.
Control Center Gives you every setting and every option you need with a swipe-up! Goodbye a thousand jailbreak tweaks.
Safari mobile gets enhanced too: one tap access to favorites, tab overviews with neat animations, and a lot more cool stuff.
AirDrop brings one-tap file sharing, though not for iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.
(Apple's servers are acting up, the live stream is full of hiccups, so we're just going to continue without the photos for a while).
Photos in iOS 7 are organized into "Moments"
Siri has a new voice which sounds more realistic, both male and female. The interface is also a lot more polished, simpler. The assisntant can now play Voicemail, control stuff like Brightness and Bluetooth, and it can answer more of your questions thanks to the integration with Twitter and Wikipedia.
Update 4
Apple announces iTunes Radio, the much rumored music-streaming service dubbed "iRadio" by the media.
iTunes Radio is iAd-supported, and it's free for iTunes Match subscribers.
iOS 7 features Activation Lock: "If a thief tries to turn off Find my iPhone or wipe the device, they will not be able to reactivate it"
Developers are getting iOS 7 today, the rest of the world is getting it this fall for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini, and iPod touch 5th generation.
Apple runs emotional ad. Tim Cook: "The words you saw at the beginning of the show reflect our values. You'll continue to see these reflected in the products we do in the future."
Show's over, now let's look at every announcement in part. Browse the headlines on our Mac section for everything new.