Apple spoke to members of its developer community at its 24th annual Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday. The high-tech giant unveiled a new music-streaming service called iTunes Radio, new versions of its Macbook Air laptops and Mac Pro desktop, new operating systems for the Macintosh and iPhone, and a simplified and flashier design that will span all of its products and services.
“We want to make the best products that people use more and love more than anybody else’s,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook.
The product unveilings were embraced by the hooting and hollering fans who annually pack San Francisco’s Moscone Center. Without any big surprises, however, the two-hour presentation likely left investors and the broader public wanting. Apple (AAPL)’s stock is down 37 percent from a high set last September and was relatively flat in Monday trading during the session, which was Webcast live.
If Apple has been in a funk, it’s an extremely profitable funk. The company earned more than $22 billion in net profit during the six months that ended in March. Still, investors worry that the company hasn’t produced any new hits since the iPad, especially with Google’s Android operating system is gobbling up market share on mobile devices. Android ran on 74 percent of global smartphone shipments in the first quarter of the year, versus 16 percent for Apple’s iOS, according to research firm Gartner.
The changes to iOS, which runs on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, were the highlight of Monday’s event. Cook called the new iOS 7 “the biggest change to iOS since the iPhone.” Pioneered by design chief Jony Ive’s team, the operating system has a striking new look, including a new color palette and livelier backgrounds. The old real-world visual cues familiar to iOS users, like wooden bookshelves in the e-book app, are gone.
Apple is counting on having kept the system relatively familiar, though. “Installing iOS 7 on your phone is like getting a new phone, but one that you already know how to use,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering.
The new mobile software, available this fall, comes with 10 new features, including multi-tasking for all apps and background updates for those used most frequently. Siri, the voice-recognizing virtual assistant, comes with new voices and can be integrated with services like Twitter, Wikipedia and Microsoft’s search engine, Bing.
Previewing other changes coming with iOS 7, Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, introduced iTunes Radio, which will be built into iTunes on all Apple devices. Like Pandora, it allows users to stream collections of songs by similar artists. Apple recently signed licensing agreements with the three major music labels. The free service is available in the U.S. and is paid for through ads.
Apple also introduced a new line of MacBook Air laptops, which use Intel’s low-powered Haswell processor. The ultra-thin computers are getting a battery boost, and should now last more than nine hours on a single charge. The 11-inch and 13-inch models start at $999 and $1099, respectively, and go on sale today.
Apple also previewed a dramatic new design for an upcoming generation of its Mac Pro desktop. The computer is shaped like a cylinder and colored a glossy black. “Can’t innovate anymore, my ass,” said marketing vice president Phil Schiller, addressing Apple’s critics, to thunderous applause from the audience. The pint-size but high-powered Pro goes on sale later this year, and Apple said it will be “assembled” in the U.S.
Starting this fall, new Macs will run the latest version of Apple’s OS X operating system, called OS X Mavericks. (Previous releases, like Mountain Lion and Cheetah, were named for cat species, but Federighi noted that “We do not want to be the first software release in history constrained because of a dwindling supply of cats.”) Mavericks also comes with some new tricks, like support for multiple display monitors, better battery management, file-tagging so users can more quickly find stuff on their computer, and an update to Apple’s Safari Web browser.
The company is also bringing the Macintosh the iBookstore, its e-book catalog of textbooks and trade fiction and non-fiction. Apple is currently facing off in an antitrust suit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, which has accused the company of conspiring with major book publishers to raise e-book prices.
