Apple Introduces iOS 7

As expected, Apple unveiled iOS 7.0 at their annual Worldwide Developer's Conference. In addition to the iOS announcement, Apple showed off the newest Mac OS, OS X Mavericks, and announced a new MacBook Air and a new Mac Pro.

While many of the fundamentals may be similar, the look and feel of iOS 7.0 is completely different. The default apps have been updated, losing the 'natural' touches like the yellow notepad and the shelves in iBooks. The new interface is flatter, simpler and puts a premium on optimizing the available screen space, with translucent menus adding the appearance of depth. The operating system also features new gestures, including the ability to detect when the device is being held and the ability to detect a swipe coming from the edge of the screen, a new gesture that is used in many of the default apps to return to the previous page.

The big feature items include folders that support multiple pages, a new-and-improved control center, improved "intelligent" multitasking, wireless file sharing via AirDrop and the ability to automatically update apps. The version 7.0 update will also debut iTunes Radio, the new music streaming service being offered by Apple.

Yesterday was a big day for gamers. Microsoft unveiled a host of games for their Xbox ONE system earlier in the day, and Sony took the stage last night to do the same with the Playstation 4. Hidden between these two announcements was a sneak peek at what Apple has planned for gaming on the iPad and iPhone. 

Apple packed a lot into the event yesterday, with an unveiling of the new Mac OS and new hardware sharing the stage with the iOS 7 unveiling. Running low on time, they gave an overview of the major features and a peak at what else was changing in the new operating system. And sharp eyes may have noted "MFi game controllers" on the screen with all the other changes coming to iOS. 

"MFi" stands for Made For iOS, which is basically Apple's stamp of approval for accessories designed to work with the iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. So what's the big deal with MFi game controllers? After all, there are already several game controllers made for iOS.
The big deal here is that game controller support is being written into the operating system. This means instead of getting a proprietary game controller that only works with a few specific games, we'll start to see universal game controllers. And not only will this make it easier to build controllers for iOS, it will make it much easier for developers to write in support for them.

This will be really cool combined with Apple TV's ability to wirelessly connect the iPad to our HDTV.

Apple unveiled iTunes Radio to the world at their annual Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) on Monday, The new music streaming service certainly has a striking resemblance to other streaming music services out there like Pandora and Spotify, and Apple has their work cut out for them if they are to take a bite out of the competition's lead.

One neat aspect of iTunes Radio is that the ad-free version will be included with iTunes Match. This makes Apple's cloud-based music service even more attractive, and is good news for those who already subscribe to the service. 

But will it end up being better than Pandora, Spotify and the others? We'll have to wait until iOS 7 makes an official appearance later this year. Until then, which music streaming service will you be using?