On June 7, 2010, Steve Jobs made the following announcements during his keynote at Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference:
iPhone 4
The most-anticipated part of the keynote was the introduction of the 4th generation iPhone, the iPhone 4.
Many of its specs and features weren't a surprise thanks to Gizmodo's reporting on the phone. Nevertheless, the new iPhone offers:
- 720p (high-def) video recording at 30 frames/second, with LED flash; iMovie app for iPhone for on-camera video editing
- 2 cameras - front- and back-facing, with LED camera flash for back camera
- 5 megapixel camera
- FaceTime video calls
- a 3.5-inch, 960 x 640 display, with greater pixel density in the screen, leading to higher-quality images (326 pixels/inch), via Retina Display
- Apple A4 processor (the same chip used in the iPad)
- up to 32GB capacity
See a full list of the iPhone 4's features.
The iPhone 4 will cost US$199 for the 16GB model and $299 for 32GB, and comes in black or white. It will be available on June 24, 2010 and will be offered in the U.S. exclusively by AT&T.
It will debut in 18 other countries in July 2010.
Learn more about the iPhone 4's contracts, plans, and other details.
iPhone OS 4
Jobs said that the iPhone OS has been renamed the iOS, presumably to indicate that it runs on devices besides the iPhone.
It also now includes Bing as a search engine for the Safari web browser (yet another jab in the running battle between Apple and Google; Bing is Microsoft's search engine). No release date was announced, though Jobs said it would arrive "soon."
iOS 4 upgrades
Upgrades to iOS 4 are free for owners of the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 3G, and 2nd and 3rd generation iPod touch (though the iPhone 3G and 2nd generation iPod touch won't support all features).
iBooks
In a new version of the app coming later in June, Apple is adding features that allow users to make notes in their e-books and building in native PDF viewing. Jobs also said that participating publishers report that iBooks accounts for 22% of their e-book sales.
The iBooks app and iBooks store will run on the iPhone and iPod touch starting with iOS 4. An e-book bought on one iOS will work on all the iOS devices attached to that iTunes account without an additional charge.
Other notes of interest from the event:
- iPhone 3GS is now available for US$99
- Netflix app for iPhone, coming this summer
- 225,000 apps in App Store
- 8,500 iPad native apps; users install 17 apps per iPad, on average
- 5 billion apps downloaded from App Store, generating US$1 billion in sales for developers
