Apple held the opening keynote for the 2014 Worldwide Developers Conference earlier today and CEO Tim Cook detailed the following facts for this year:
- 9 million registered developers, a 50% increase over last year
- 40 million copies of OS X Mavericks have been installed since release, which represents 50% of the installed based of Macs while only 14% of Windows PC owners have installed Windows 8
Apple’s Craig Federighi then detailed the next version of OS X in Yosemite which will feature the following improvements:
- A shift to increased transparency throughout the entire operating system, meaning that the windows and title bars will be more transparent, with an added dark mode for ease of navigation and reduced eyestrain
- Navigation will now consist of a uniform left rail across all applications and folders
- Notification Center will move to a full-day view with an hourly breakdown as well as a notifications pane with dedicated tabs
- Spotlight will shift to a large search bar in a universal search modality across the screen, while results will drop down below the bar. Spotlight will also support contact search and basic conversions along with recommendations and movie showings
- The Calendar app will gain a full day view with an hourly breakdown and a right-side event description view
- Notification Center now gets widget support with weather, world clock, stocks and reminder widgets along with additional widgets available for installation
- iCloud Drive will allow desktop sync of files to iCloud with fully searchable tagging
- Mail adds Mail Drop attachment sync for large attachments. Supports attached files up to 5GB in size. Mac-to-Mac transfers get the message and attachment, Mac to other platforms get unique links to download attachments.
- Safari gets major upgrades in Yosemite with WebGL, SDPY, IndexedDB, Javascript Promises, CSS Shapes and Compositing, and HTML5 with Premium Video support. The new Safari also adds one-click social sharing and RSS feeds move to the sidebar while Favorites now just need one click on the address bar to show up
- Air Drop can now be used between OS X and iOS in a feature called Continuity. Another new feature in Continuity is called Hand-off, where documents in progress will show up across devices with notification pop-ups where needed. If a Wi-Fi network is not present, Continuity will prompt the iPhone to add the Mac a network connection, allowing both devices to tether to a mobile internet connection.
Federighi went on to discus new key features of iOS 8 after a short update from Tim Cook on key figures for iOS:
- Over 100 million iPod touches, 200 million iPads and over 500 million iPhones sold
- iOS 7 is overwhelmingly preferred to Android with a 97% satisfaction rating
- 89% of iOS users are on iOS7 compared to just 9% for KitKat
iOS 8 will feature the following updates detailed by Federighi:
- Interactive notifications will allow users to respond to notifications immediately or save them until later with context-sensitive options. Third-party apps will also be able to utilize the new notifications
- Desktop Safari features such as the left rail for the Reading List and bookmarks will also be added to Mobile Safari, while double tapping the home button will now bring up a visual list of favorite contacts
- Spotlight on iOS will take the key features from Yosemite in suggestions, shows points of interest, directions, news and add apps from the App Store, songs on device or iTunes, movies being shown at nearby theaters and movies available for purchase/streaming
- Mail on iOS adds swipe to dismiss and tagging functionality
- The iOS keyboard will be getting a visual overhaul with increased transparency along with the new QuickType context sensitive keyboard, it makes suggestions based upon how you usually speak with that particular person and the activity patterns are stored locally on the device
- Third-party keyboards will be allowed on iOS, should QuickType not solve all typing issues
- Group messaging also adds thread titles, participant addition/removal and location sharing
- New Notification Center widgets will allow for more third-party app integration in the OS without having to open apps completely
- New iMessage features include voice and video messaging with gesture sensitivity (raising the phone up to the ear automatically cues a new voice message, up to the face for video, messages can be archived, but are otherwise erased after completion
- HealthKit Platform announced for fitness/health devices, aims to eliminate current device/app silos for products, also works with third-party apps, and gives granular control over information and how it’s used by HealthKit-compatible apps. Apple still working with Nike for fitness info and Mayo Clinic, so doctors get real-time information with patients
- FamilyShare functionality announced for better control of information and media between families of up to six people, includes calendars and media purchases along with additional functionality to allow parents better control over media purchases
- New version of iPhoto features the same adjustment tools as the future desktop version, consisting of one touch color and lighting adjustments, iCloud Photo gets dramatically lowered storage rates starting at 20GB for ¢0.99 and 200GB for $4.99 monthly
- Minor Siri changes consist of Shazam integration, new wake up command “Hey, Siri”, and streaming voice recognition
- New feature of SDK for developers in Metal, which alludes to direct hardware access for game developers, will allow developers to use desktop class development toolchains with little impact to rendering speeds, new SpriteKit and SceneKit tools for casual games
- New programming language for iOS apps announced in Swift, much faster than Python and Objective-C according to Apple, which means much faster and improved development, still uses same runtime as current Objective-C and XCode
