WWDC 2017 Keynote

Apple's World Wide Developer Conference is this week in San Jose, CA, and that means the WWDC Keynote address took place this morning! Tim Cook and many of his colleagues took the stage at 10:00a Pacific to kick off this year's developer conference. Below is a list of Apple announcements and updates.

10:07a Pacific: Tim Cook takes the stage to begin the keynote and kick off this year's WWDC conference! He begins by sharing the following video:

Welcome - Tim Cook

  • "Good morning and welcome to WWDC! It's great to be back in San Jose [after 15 years]"
  • "This is going to be the best and biggest WWDC... ever!"
  • 16 million registered developers around the world (adding 3 million in 2016 alone)
  • Attendees from 75 countries around the world
  • Yuma, from Australia, is the youngest developer in attendance... only 10 years old! Already has 5 apps on the App Store

tvOS - Tim Cook

  • 50 partners integrated into the TV app
  • Amazon is coming to the Apple TV with Amazon Prime video

watchOS - Tim Cook & Kevin Lynch

  • #1 in customer satisfaction... again!
  • "People love the fitness, health and quick access to information"
  • Kevin Lynch takes the stage
  • watchOS 4 introduced today
  • New Siri watch face automatically displays information most relevant to you
  • Any time you raise your wrist, information is automatically updated using machine learning
  • Woody, Jesse and Buzz ("Toy Story" characters) are now available on Apple Watch as watch faces
  • Enhanced workout features begin with redesigned UI
  • New Music app allows for a better music-listening experience
  • Native core Bluetooth coming to watchOS 4 for some incredible new capabilities!
  • Developer preview is available today
  • Public release available this Fall

macOS - Tim Cook & Craig Federighi

  • "All of us love to use it and no one can match the deep integration between hardware and software"
  • Craig Federighi takes the stage
  • Introduction of macOS "High Sierra"
  • "High Sierra is all about deep technology"
  • Safari on High Sierra significantly out performs all other browsers on the same hardware
  • Safari now has auto-play blocking (yay!!)
  • Mail now uses Spotlight for deeper searches
  • Mail uses 35% less disk space for storing mail
  • Photos has great new editing tools
  • Naming and categorizing people in Photos now syncs across all devices
  • All edits performed in an external photo editor now transfer back to Photos, automaticaly
  • Third-party printing services (books, calendars, web sites, etc) are now supported in Photos
  • Today, macOS is built on HFS file system (30 years old) -- High Sierra will introduce APFS (Apple File System)
  • H.265 fully baked into High Sierra and included in all pro-series apps going forward
  • Metal 2 introduces better-performing graphics and support for external graphics processing
  • Metal 2 for VR (Virtual Reality) coming to High Sierra
  • macOS will include many, many more refinements
  • Developer preview is available today
  • Public preview is available later this month
  • Free upgrade available for all this Fall

Mac - John Ternus

  • New Mac displays will be 500 nits brighter
  • 10-bit dithering, meaning your content looks more life-like than ever
  • New hardware wil support Intel's Kaby Lake processors
  • New iMacs will support 32 GB and 64 GB memory (twice as much as before)
  • Fusion Drive is now standard on all iMacs
  • New iMacs will support Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C connectivity)
  • SSD upgrade options will be faster, storage up to 2 TB
  • 21.5" iMac features 80% faster graphics performance
  • All 21.5" 4K iMacs feature discrete graphics with up  to 4 GB VRAM (3x faster graphics)
  • 27" iMac upgradable to up to 8 GB VRAM, making this great for VR content creation
  • John Knoll (Industrial Light & Magic) & Lauren Ridge (Epic Games) take the stage for a demo
  • 4K iMac starting at $1,299
  • New MacBook refresh will include Kaby Lake on all laptops
  • 13" MacBook Pro starting at $1,299
  • All new iMacs and MacBooks are shipping TODAY
  • Preview of new iMac Pro, shipping later this year
  • New iMac Pro will feature 5K display, Space Gray design and will be the most power Mac ever made
  • New iMac Pro will feature 8- to 18-core Xeon processor (wow!!)
  • New iMac Pro will use Radeon Vega graphics architecture, with up to 16 GB VRAM
  • New iMac Pro will allow up to 128 GB ECC memory
  • New iMac Pro will have fun range external connectivity including Thunderbolt 3 and 10Gb Ethernet
  • New iMac Pro will also feature 1080p FaceTime camera and can power 44 million pixels
  • New iMac Pro pricing wil start at $4,999 and will ship in December

iOS - Tim Cook, Craig Federighi & Phil Schiller

  • 86% adoption rate with 96% customer satisfaction
  • Craig Federighi takes the stage to talk about iOS 11
  • iOS 11 will feature a new iMessage drawer, making it easier to use apps and stickers
  • Messages will now be stored in iCloud, meaning messages are in sync across ALL devices, even new devices)
  • Messages will remain end-to-end encrypted
  • ApplePay will be available at more than 50% retailers by the end of this year
  • ApplePay for person-to-person payments coming to iOS 11(Yes!!)
  • Person-to-person transactions happen right in iMessage
  • Siri is used by more than 375 million devices each month
  • Siri's UI voice is receiving a major overhaul
  • Siri's built-in voice translation
  • SiriKit just got a huge upgrade, which is great for developers
  • Siri will sync across all devices... one Siri to communicate with
  • 1 trillion photos taken each year using iPhone
  • iOS 11 will feature HEVC and HEIF compression, for 2x better photo and video compression
  • Major redesign coming to Control Center in iOS 11 (featuring a SINGLE page, no more swiping)
  • Lock Screen and Notification Center also upgraded
  • Photos now allows you to choose a different key photo in Live Photos
  • Live Photos now allows for auto-creation of seems loops
  • New Long Exposure feature in Photos allows easy creation of long-exposure shots (impressive)
  • Maps now includes detailed mall and airport information in iOS 11
  • Maps will also include speed limits and lane guidance (very cool!)
  • CarPlay will feature "Do Not Disturb While Driving" in iOS 11
  • With "Do Not Disturb While Driving"enabled, auto-response text messages will be sent letting the other person know you are driving
  • HomeKit now allows you to configure and connect to multi-room audio in iOS 11
  • Apple Music now offers profiles and shared playlists
  • Phil Schiller takes the stage to discuss App Store
  • 500 million weekly visitors to the App Store
  • More than 180 billion apps downloaded to date
  • More than $70 billion paid out to developers (that's HUGE!)
  • Apple promises a faster app review process
  • New "Today" tab will show off the latest hot, new apps available
  • New "Games" tab is a dedicated space to discover new games
  • New "Apps" tab shows trending apps to explore
  • Ann Thai (App Store manager) takes the stage to demo new App Store UI
  • New "App of the Day" and "Game of the Day" for better exploration
  • Machine learning (CoreML) in iOS means improved palm rejection, better battery life, Siri improvements and more
  • ARKit introduced for iOS for augmented reality
  • ARKit will be the largest AR platform in the world... overnight
  • Alasdair Coull (Wingnut AR) takes the stage to demo ARKit
  • Editor Note: ARKit could be huge in propelling the use of AR
  • QR Code support accessible natively from the lock screen

iPad - Tim Cook

  • "iPad has completely changed the way we work, play, teach, learn and create"
  • (didn't catch his name) takes the stage to talk about iPad Pro
  • There are currently two iPad sizes... 9.7" and 12.9" (13")
  • Today, a 10.5" iPad Pro was introduced, with reduced bezel size
  • 10.5" is the perfect size to display a full-size, onscreen keyboard
  • ProMotion improves refresh rate, from 60 Hz to 120 Hz
  • ProMotion reduces Apple Pencil latency to an industry-best 20ms!
  • New iPad Pro will feature the A10X chip with a 6-core processor and 12-core graphics (40% faster graphics)
  • Ash Hewson (Serif) takes the stage to demo graphics on the new iPad Pro
  • Affinity Pro (image editing app) for iPad is available today
  • New iPad Pro features the same camera system as on the iPhone 7
  • New iPad Pro supports USB 3 and fast charging
  • New covers for the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil
  • All new iPads will start with 64 GB memory
  • New iPad Pro will start at $649
  • You can order the new iPad Pro today, and they will ship next week
  • Craig Federighi takes the stage to talk about even more iOS 11 features for iPad Pro
  • Dock has been revamped so allow for more apps and can be used from within any app
  • Drag and Drop coming to iPad via iOS 11
  • Redesigned keyboard improves productivity
  • New "Files" app brings a more traditional file browsing experience to iOS (yay!!!!)
  • Editor Note: drag and drop in split view mode looks awesome (and very useful)!
  • Pencil offers much deeper integration into Preview, Safari, Notes and more
  • Notes has a built-in document scanner, allowing you to mark-up right inside of Notes
  • Toby Patterson takes the stage to demo Apple Pencil with Notes
  • iOS 11 preview is available today
  • iOS 11 will be available as a free upgrade to everyone in the Fall

One Last Thing: HomePod - Tim Cook & Phil Schiller

  • "Music has always been a part of Apple's DNA"
  • "We want to reinvent home music"
  • Phil Schiller takes the stage
  • New smart home speaker needs to be fun to use, spatially aware
  • New "HomePod" speaker coming later this year
  • HomePod is just under 7" tall
  • HomePod includes a 7-tweeter beam-forming system along the bottom
  • HomePod features a 4" woofer
  • HomePod is powered by the A8 chip
  • HomePod automatically senses where it is located in the room and automatically adjusts its speakers to compensate for walls, furniture, etc
  • Multiple HomePods work together to provide even better sound than one
  • Musicologist: HomePod works perfectly with Apple Music
  • HomePod features 6 microphones to drive Siri interaction
  • Editor Note: HomePod is designed to be a mix of Sonos meets Amazon Echo
  • HomePod integrates nicely with iCloud services (reminders, calendar, HomeKit, etc)
  • Unless you say "Hello Siri", NOTHING is transmitted to Apple from the HomePod
  • HomePod is priced at $349
  • HomePod will be shipping in December and is available in white and Space Gray
Posted on June 5, 2017 .