Tim Cook and the gang at Apple were in full force at yesterday’s keynote. Yes, the iPhone 5 was announced, but there was so much more than that. EarPods, Lighting, crazy new iSight cameras, iTunes, and much more.
The keynote was packed with info, but we’ve broken everything down into delicious bite-size information nuggets so you can know all of the essentials of what happened today without having to read 3000 different blog posts.
Here’s everything that Apple announced at today’s keynote:
iPhone 5
- New4-inch 326ppi Retina display, with 1136×640 resolution and 16:9 aspect ratio
- Same width, but slightly taller
- A6 CPU is 2x faster than iPhone 4S A5 CPU
- New 8-pin Lightning sync-cable replaces old 30-pin connector
- LTE, HSPA+, and DC-HSDPA cellular data and 802.11 a/b/g/n Wifi
- Battery life has been improved to 8 hours of 3G/LTE talk time
- Camera has been upgraded to 8 megapixel sensor, with hybrid IR filter, five element lens, and f/2.4 aperture
- Panorama feature can create 28megapixel photos
- Screen has 44% more color saturation and improved integrated touch sensors
- Three new microphones on the iPhone 5 and Enhanced Audio
- It’s 7.6mm thin which is 18% thinner than the iPhone 4S
- At 112 grams it’s also 20% lighter than iPhone 4S
- Comes in black and white at 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB
- Price is $199, $299, and $399 with a two year contract
- Pre-orders start September 14th, and ship on September 21st
Lightning Connector
- New 8-pin Lightning sync-cable replaces old 30-pin connector
- 80% smaller than the old iPod cables
- Improved durability
- An adapter will be available so you can still use old accessories with the iPhone 5
New iPods
- iPod Nano has been redesigned with a 2.5inch display
- iPod Nano now has Bluetooth, Lightning port, widescreen video, and longer battery life
- Lightning port and FM Tuner integrated to iPod Nano and it comes in 7 different colors
- New iPod Touch now comes with same 4inch display as the iPhone 5, an A5 processor, and Lightning port.
- iPod Touch battery life last 40 hours, and it’s got the same iPhone 5 iSight camera, and is only 6.1mm thin
- There’s a new iPod Touch Loop accessory so you can wrap it around your wrist and not drop it
- Siri and AirPlay mirroring comes to the iPod Touch now, along with improvements for wireless across the board
- Siri is now available on the iPod Touch
- 2GB iPod Shuffle, $79, 16GB iPod Nano, $149, and new 32GB iPod Touch, $299, available in October
New EarPods
- Apple spent 3-years designing new headphones they’re calling EarPods
- The EarPods are supposed to fit almost everyone’s ear and direct sound into the eardrum
- They have the same inline mic and volume control point
- They will be included with iPhone 5, iPod Touch and iPod and are available now.
New iTunes
- iTunes for Mac has iCloud built-in
- New edge to edge design features an album view that expands when you click on individual albums
- Split screen view lets you browse your full library will adding songs to a playlist
- Select “play next” to add songs to the new “Up Next” queue feature
- Search has been improved for inline viewing
- iTunes for iOS has been redesigned, runs across all stores, books, music and video.
- iTunes for Mac store now looks similar to iOS counterpart
- Facebook likes integrated into every entry
- Available in late October
iOS 6
- Maps search engine now finds points of interest and has 3D flyover views of cities
- From Notification Center you can tap to Tweet or Post to Facebook
- Safari now has fullscreen mode so it can use the entire display
- PhotoStream lets users share photos, like, and comment on them, but it’s not integrated with Facebook
- Siri has been upgraded to know more about sports, movies, restaurant reviews, Facebook integration, etc.
- Apps not optimized for 16:9 aspect ratio are centered with black bars so they work as intended
- Release date – September 19th
Quick Stats
- 83 million people visit the Apple store every quarter.
- 7 Million copies of Mountain Lion have been downloaded so far
- Apple is No. 1 in U.S. market share for notebooks for last three months
- 17 million iPads were sold between April and June
- The iPad commands 68% of the tablet market share, but 91% of all tablet web traffic
- 350 million iPods have been sold to date
- Apple has sold 600 million earbuds over the years
- Along with 380 retail stores, Apple opened up a new store in Barcelona. It’s awesome and has gorgeous limestone.
Price Drops
- iPhone 4 (8GB) is now free with two year contract
- iPhone 4S (16GB) is $99 with two year contract
- iPhone 3GS is no longer for sale
