Apple
on Monday unveiled new mobile software that it described as the most
revolutionary overhaul of its operating system since the iPhone was
introduced in 2007, sporting a revamped layout with fresh colors, new
animation and more depth to its display.
As
Apple kicked off its annual conference in San Francisco for its
developers, executives also showed off a new line of Mac computers and
said that updated Siri voice software used on the iPhone now
incorporates Microsoft's Bing search engine.
Called
iOS 7, the smartphone and tablet platform redesigned by resident
creative honcho Jonny Ive comes with a new edge-to-edge look that uses
translucency to highlight underlying content, new typefaces, and new
icons.
Kleiner Perkins venture capitalist Matt
Murphy, who runs the firm's iFund, tweeted that the new iOS platform
"Looks livelier, happier, approachable."
It
will also support multitasking for all apps, executives said. "It's the
biggest change to iOS since the iPhone," said CEO Tim Cook.
Apple
also said that Siri, the voice-activated personal digital assistant,
comes with all new male and female voices, a new look, and is now
directly integrated with Bing.
Some industry
experts have criticized Apple's mobile operating software, which has
retained its general look and feel since its inception, for looking
somewhat dated.
My ass
Marketing
chief Phil Schiller offered the audience a sneak peek at Apple's
upcoming new Mac Pro - its top-of-the-line computer with a sleek
cylindrical chassis that he said will feature several times the
processing and memory speed and power of the previous generation.
It will be released later this year and be assembled in the United States, Schiller said.
Apple's
stock has fallen 37% after touching a high of $705 in September as
competition in the key smartphone market escalated. Some investors
believe the company that invented the iPhone is struggling to come up
with original new products after co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs
died in 2011.
"Can't innovate any more, my
ass," Schiller said as he showed off the new Mac Pro. "This is a machine
unlike anything we've ever made."
Apple also
announced a new operating system for the Mac PC called OSX Mavericks,
moving away from its penchant for naming its computer software after big
cats. The new OS can handle multiple display and "tagging" of
documents, among other new features.
In an
unusual move, Apple also shared the stage with little-known startup
Anki, which was given the opportunity to show off a game.
The
conference, whose tickets sold out in just over a minute when it opened
up in April, comes as South Korean rival Samsung Electronics has
solidified its lead in the smartphone market with a 33% share followed
by Apple with 18% during the first quarter, according to market research
firm IDC.
Cook is under pressure to show that
the company that created the smartphone and tablet markets is not
slowing down as deep-pocketed competitors such as Samsung and Google
encroach on its share.
Investor concerns center
around whether Apple will be able to come up with more groundbreaking
products as smartphone and tablet market gets more crowded.
In April, Apple reported its first quarterly profit decline in over a decade.
Cook
told the audience of developers at the Moscone Center in San Francisco
that Apple's App Store now has 900,000 apps, which have been downloaded a
total of 50 billion times.
No comments:
Post a Comment