Apple’s WWDC 2009 keynote: What, they sell more than iPhones?

UPDATE JUNE 9: At the bottom of this article I mention that the Tethering feature will likely be a major money pit for those of us on Rogers. However, I just received this tweet from Keith McArthur, the Rogers PR rep who’s working on the 3GS launch. Here’s what he says:

So there’s some good news at least. I recommend getting in touch with Mr. McArthur directly if you have any questions of your own.

There’s been a lot of buzz in the Blogosphere lately regarding mobile phones in general, Smartphones in particular, and, mostly due to Apple’s WWDC keynote that took place today, the iPhone specifically. Even the WWDC signage (pictured above), an obvious swipe at Verizon’s “Bars” advertising, screams “iPhone”. But with all the hullabaloo surrounding the ubiquitous handset, it seems almost easy to let Apple’s other products fall by the wayside. I can see it; while I am an unapologetic Apple devotee (ooo shiny), I freely admit that Apple has made some serious mistakes with their hardware recently, especially in the Notebook department.

And, it would seem, so do they.

I’m speaking specifically about the Macbook (not the Air or the Pro…just the Macbook), the 13″ model that Apple has forever designed as an entry-level laptop. In last year’s “update”, the pricey little lappy was made significantly less useful by the conspicuous exclusion of a Firewire port. That changed today; not only was a FireWire 800 port re-integrated into both the White Plastic and Unibody Macbooks, but all Macbooks and MacBook Pros now sport an SD Card Slot as well (except the 17″ model, which, for some reason, retains the ExpressCard Slot). Beyond all that, the entire MacBook line has been given a significant speed upgrade and now sports a screen sporting a 60% colour gamut increase. That’s pretty huge. So in line with the rest of the fleet is the 13″ MacBook that they’re dropping the “Macbook” monicker altogether for the Unibody version and re-naming it the 13″ Macbook Pro. As is the norm with Apple, it’s gonna cost ya, tho.

Also announced today was Snow Leopard, the latest version of OSX, which promises to be significantly faster in all processes. Running at 64-bit, the OS promises to be the natural evolution from Leopard, just as Leopard was the natural evolution from Tiger. It also supports Exchange seamlessly. The REALLY big news is the pricing though; while the OS will cost the normal $129 off the shelf, anyone upgrading to Snow Leopard from Leopard will only be out of pocket $29.

QuickTime Player also got a long overdue facelift, adding simple video editing support and a visual timeline. Also Safari 4 is now out of Beta and appears to be STUPID-fast. I’ve personally been using the Safari 4 Beta for some time now and am thoroughly impressed by it, even on my relatively underpowered iMac.

But the star of the show was of course the iPhone, as expected. Talking heavily about OS 3.0, which drops on June 17, Scott Forstall mentioned some of the 100+ features coming to the phone, including MMS. Apparently, MMS will be supported by 29 carriers when the OS launches…and shockingly, Rogers was on the list. Even more shockingly, AT&T won’t be on board until the end of the summer. Crazy. Tethering was also highly touted, described as “seamless”, and supported by 22 carriers…and again, AT&T is NOT one of them, and Rogers is. While I’m surprised that Rogers would be on board with something like this, I’m sure my surprise will fade when I get my first post-3.0 bill. (Call me pessimistic, but considering the laughable “deals” they’re offering for the G1, i have very little faith that Rogers will ever do what’s in the best interests of the customer.)

Of particular note was a new service through MobileMe called “Find My iPhone”, which will allow you see your lost or stolen iPhone on a Google map and send a remote Wipe command that will delete all data from the handset, restoring it to factory settings. If you do ever find it again, you can just restore from a backup. Ya OK…that’s pretty cool 🙂

The device itself got some welcome upgrades, most of which are perfectly in line with the natural evolution of the software. Dubbed the 3GS, the new iPhone replaces the 16gb model 3G and adds a 32gb version, and will live alongside the 8gb version which will stay in the product line as a $99 “affordable” option. Missing were the front-facing camera and matte body put forth by the Rumour Mill, but present and accounted for were some new features that are significantly more useful, including:

• OpenGL/ES 2.0 support
• 7.2Mbps HSPDA support
• 3MP Auto-focus camera with “Tap to Focus” (Tap on the screen and the camera focusses on that region)
• Voice Control (and about damn time, too) which allows for voice dialing and audio feedback
• A digital compass that shows your position in Google Maps including orientation and direction. Handy.
• A vastly improved battery life, which for a guy like me will make it worth the cost of upgrading right there.

Power specs were not revealed, but then again, they never are. Hopefully that information will be soon forthcoming. We’ll all be able to see for ourselves on June 19 when the phone launches in the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and UK.

All in all, it was yet another evolutionary offering from Apple. No tablet, no Netbook, and no major overhauls to the iPhone were announced; everything today was the next natural step in product evolution, clouded in about an hour and a half worth of hype. There were some notable exceptions; some apps that were announced were truly innovative, including one for ZipCars in which you can use your phone to reserve a car, find said car, honk the horn of said car to find it in the lot, and unlock the doors of said car once you’ve found it. But that’s the genius of the developer, not Apple. All that said, the iPhone is truly all growed up now and appears to be ready to go head-to-head with its Smartphone counterparts. With the hardware upgrades and the addition of 3.0, I think it’s fair to say that the iPhone is, at last, truly, a Smartphone.

Now if only they’d open up the OS to the whole world and not just the APP store…but that’s a whole other rant.

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