Apple unveils music streaming, updates operating systems
Apple has introduced sweeping changes to the software powering iPhones and iPads and a new music-streaming service, seeking to blunt the advance of Google's Android mobile operating system.
The company, which has seen its stock fall from a high of more than $US700 ($735.53) last September to less than $US450 currently, needs a new hit to reassure investors and customers that it is still capable of maintaining its lead.
But with major new hardware release of new iPhones and iPads still months away, the focus was on new Macbook Air laptops and new operating systems for both computers and mobile devices.
As expected, the new software features strikingly different visual cues with a flat and colourful design replacing a 3D opaque pallet that featured greys and blues. It has a new edge-to-edge look that uses translucency to highlight underlying content, as well as new typefaces and new icons.
Notifications are available on the lock screen and a finger swipe from the bottom edge accesses the device settings. Multi-tasking and battery life are both improved, said Apple software chief Craig Federighi. The App Store in iOS 7 will now update apps automatically.
Siri, the voice-activated personal digital assistant, comes with all new male and female voices, a new look and is now directly integrated with Microsoft's search engine Bing.
The company has improved the camera app in iOS 7, adding filters that can be used on pictures and a new square mode so users can take pictures that come cropped into the square shape used on Instagram. The Photos app has also been improved to automatically organise pictures by when and where they were taken.
The company also introduced iOS in the Car, giving users an improved way to control their device while they drive without having to look at their iPhone. The feature will work with a number of new 2014 cars.
Cook claimed that despite the advances of rivals, Apple's mobile operating system iOS remained the number one in the market, boasting of 97 per cent satisfaction and more than twice as much web use as Android.
But iOS accounted for 18 per cent of global smartphone shipments in the first quarter of this year, while those running Android made up 74 per cent, according to Gartner. iPhone sales climbed about 16 per cent in the first quarter, lagging the smartphone market, which grew 43 per cent.
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