Apple's WWDC 2012

This week Apple kick started WWDC 2012 with its famous keynote, where they usually introduce new hardware and software. This is the first WWDC keynote without Steve Jobs and 23^rd WWDC for Apple. Tim Cook, the current CEO of Apple Inc., has proved worthy successor of Jobs with the product line up.
This WWDC, Tim Cook updated MacBook lineup and also added The Next Generation MacBook Pro to the collection. The software releases this year was the OSX Mountain Lion, a follow up to Lion and iOS6 an update to iOS5. Let’s see breakdown each one of it.

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MacBook Air - Updated

The MacBook Air has now been updated to Intel Ivy Bridge, with turbo boost upto 3.2 Ghz. Memory upto 8GB at 1600MHz and upto 60% faster Graphics. Upto 512GB flash storage at 500mbps read speed. USB 3.0, FaceTime HD 720p. All Model with Intel HD graphics 4000.

Price –
11” MacBook Air – 1.7GHz i5, 4GB RAM, 64GB Flash Storage, 5 Hours Battery - $999
11” MacBook Air – 1.7GHz i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB Flash Storage, 5 Hours Battery - $1099 (Option for i7 for extra $150)
13” MacBook Air – 1.8GHz i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB Flash Storage, 7 Hours Battery - $1199
13” MacBook Air – 1.8GHz i5, 4GB RAM, 256GB Flash Storage, 7 Hours Battery - $1499
(Option for i7 for extra $100)


MacBook Pro - Updated

The MacBook Pro has also been updated to Intel Ivy Bridge, with turbo boost upto 3.7 Ghz. Memory upto 8GB at 1600MHz. Optional Discrete Graphics is now GeForce GT650M with New Kepler architecture and Video memory upto 1GB. USB 3.0.

Price –
13” MacBook Pro – 2.5GHz i5, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, Intel 4000HD Graphics 7 Hours Battery - $1199
13” MacBook Pro – 2.9GHz i7, 8GB RAM, 750GB HDD, Intel 4000HD Graphics 7 Hours Battery - $1499
15” MacBook Pro – 2.3GHz i7, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, GT650M 512MB, 7 Hours Battery - $1799
15” MacBook Pro – 2.6GHz i7, 8GB RAM, 750GB HDD, GT650M 1GB, 7 Hours Battery - $2199



Next Generation MacBook Pro - New

This product is the new product in MacBook line-up and was the star product of WWDC 2012. This is a kind of crossover of MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. This MacBook Pro dons Retina Display with 2800x1800 resolution (5,184,000 Pixels). Which makes it world’s highest resolution notebook display. Many Apps and Games like Adobe Photoshop, Apple’s iLife, Diablo3 etc. have be revamped to take advantage of this Retina Display. Processors 2.7GHz i7 Ivy Bridge with turbo boost of 3.7GHz. Upto 16GB of RAM at 1600MHz, with Next-Generation Kepler graphics GT 650M. Upto 768GB flash storage and 7 hours of battery life. Ports – 2 Thunderbolts, HDMi, USB3.0 and SD Card slot. Backlit Keyboard, 802.11n WiFi, 4.0 Bluetooth, FaceTime HD Camera, Dual Mics for beam forming. And With all this its nearly thin as MacBook Air. There is no superdrive.


Price –
15.4” MacBook Pro with Retina Display – 2.3GHz i7, 8GB RAM, GT650M 1GB, 256GB flash storage, 7 Hours Battery - $2199

The New MacBook Pro Video


OSX Mountain Lion:

There are many feature upgraded from Lion as follows:



iCloud – This feature enables you to sign in to your mac with apple ID and automatically configure Apps like Mail, Contacts, Calendar etc. to work with iCloud. Documents in cloud enables to use your documents in all your apple devices from where you left. Like when you make changes to a document in an iPad and it automatically updated to your other devices with iCloud signed in.

Notification Center – Now notification center is available for Mac which was brought from iOS. It works in same method as iOS devices. It pops up when you swipe 2 fingers on right of your trackpad.

Dictation – Wherever in your mac you can type, now you can talk. You can even use it on facebook status update.


Sharing – Now the Unified Sharing Button from iOS comes to Mac OSX. You can share from any app.


New Safari Browser – Safari has been more tuned for better performance with features like unified search in address bar. And the newest feature is iCloud Tabs. If you are browsing on an iPad with few tabs and you open safari on your Mac, there is a cloud button which if you click can continue from where you left on iPad.

Power Nap – Keeps your mac up to date while it sleeps. If you plug you mac in charge and put it in power nap it updates app and system. Even it backs up to Time Machine. It’s a silent operation and power efficient.

Game center – Game center has been added to Mac OS which enables cross platform gaming with iOS devices and macs.

These are the few main features of OSX of 200 new features. Mountain Lion comes this July at $19.99 cheaper compared to Lion ($29.99). Single purchase upgrades all your mac. Its Free for people who buy after 11-06-2012.


iOS 6:


iOS is the most sophisticated mobile operating system for iPad, iPhone and iPods. This year Apple has announced iOS6. The features are as follows:

Siri – Siri has been out for 8 months which can send messages, make phone calls, set alarms and reminders etc. Now Siri has been enhanced and it knows about Sports, More about Restaurant, Movies. Now you can launch apps using Siri. Now it has a new feature called Eyes Free. Apple has been working with few car manufactures like BMW, GM, Honda, Jaguar etc. to embed a Siri button in their cars which will be linked with iPhone. So you can talk to your phone with your eyes off the phone. That’s Eyes Free feature. Siri has now supports more languages.

Facebook – Like last year Twitter integration. This year Facebook is intergrated into iOS and even Mac OSX. Facebook Single-Sign on. You can directly share to facebook from different apps.

Phone – Phone app has been now updated after a long time. Now when a call comes in, up can swipe up the screen to bring up a new option where you can cut the call and send message like Im in a meeting or Will Call you later or any custom message. Also you can ask your phone to remind you later of that call.

Do Not Disturb – When you switch on this option the phone goes into a mode where your phone will never light up or give a sound when you receive a message or phone call or any other notification. You can even schedule DND time.

FaceTime – In past, FaceTime had a constraint that it can be used only through WiFi. Now FaceTime support over cellular. You can even dial phone number through FaceTime.

Safari – Safari is the same as Mac OSX update. It now has iCloud Tabs to browse where you left from other devices. Now it also supports Photo Upload from mobile devices.

Mail – Mail also has been enhanced for better performance. There is a new feature called VIP mail. The mail from contacts in VIP list will be notified on home screen just like you get SMS. Those VIP mails are grouped into a separate VIP Mailbox. Now it supports Flagged Messages too.

Passbook – This is a brand new feature in iOS6. This app manages your tickets, gift cards and other entertainment passes. For example if you have a boarding pass for a flight, if the boarding gate changes this app updates the ticket and also notifies the user on home screen. It also uses geolocation to pull up appropriate cards for user. Example if you are near Starbucks and it automatically pulls up StarBuck membership card if you have one.

Guided Access – This is also a new feature. This enables users to lock all controls in an app and also lock home button, so that children can’t come out of the app. Its locked to the app. This is helpful for autism children to learn independently without closing the app and for exams at schools so that students doesn’t switch to safari to search for answers.

Maps – Maps is one of the app which has been drastically changed from its previous version. Because Apple has removed Google Map as its map service and replaced with its own mapping solution. It has 100 million business listing before its launch. It has traffic service with incident reporting. Also it uses anonymous real-time crowd-source to collects data from iOS users anonymously and keeps the traffic update fresh. Now Maps support turn by turn navigation. Siri is also been integrated with maps, so that you can talk to maps like ‘Take me to Taj Mahal’ and it builds up a route from your current location to the location you requested. You can even ask informations like ‘Where can I get fuel?’ or repair shop. Even you can ask ‘Are We there yet?’ Siri will reply ‘Relax and enjoy the drive. You’ll be there in XX minutes.’ Maps now have a feature called Flyover. Flyover is like Google Streetview but it’s on the air. Flyover shows very high resolution 3D images of the building in main metros around the world.

These are the few main features of iOS 6 of 200 new features. iOS6 will be available for download this fall.

WWDC 2012 was expected by the people for launch of iPhone5 or iPad mini or New Apple TV. But they weren’t disappointed because this year products were awesome. For people who are expecting iPhone 5 – Apple may announce it in September and launch it in Fall along with iOS6. Keep your fingers crossed.


Harish Arulkumar

Posted in: Apple