This is a wrap-up of the Apple WWDC convention for those who have missed it. Photos are sourced from MacRumors, Engadget and gdgt.

Steve takes the stage. He begins with, “It’s great to be here.”

A little talk on the WWDC. Fully packed, sold out in 8 days, people from over 50 countries.

Steve talks about an iPad.

An iPad user’s email to Steve. “A magical device”, he calls it.

Steve goes on to talk about the App Store’s sales figures, and then the iBooks store figures. In 65 days, over 5 million books were downloaded. “Terrific,” Steve comments.

iBooks now supports viewing PDF files in books and mail messages.

Steve emphasizes that Apple supports two platforms: HTML5, a fully open uncontrolled platform and App Store, a curated platform. He quotes some App Store app figures.

Then, Steve claims that 95% of apps are approved in 7 days. The top three reasons why Apple rejects the other 5%:

  • Doesn’t function or do what the developer says it does.
  • Use of private API’s. Apple does not allow private API’s because they’re not guaranteed.
  • They crash.

Reed Hastings then takes the stage to talk about Netflix. Netflix is one of the most downloaded iPad app, and the iPhone version will come this summer. It is able to switch between networks “even on the go”.

Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, takes the stage. He introduces “farming for the iPhone.”

He says more people play Zynga games than watch the season finales of Lost and 24. Farmville has grown to over 70 mullion monthly active users. “Farm anytime, anywhere,” he says. Audience groans… rightfully so.

Activision Senior VP, Karthik Bala, takes the stage. He talks about Guitar Hero. “We developed a brand new experience for the iPhone and iPod Touch. We have introduced a new strumming mechanic.”

The new Guitar Hero is available in the App Store for $2.99.

Steve Jobs takes the stage again. He tells the audience that Apple has paid over $1 billion to developers.

Then he said, “Now I’d like to talk about the iPhone.”

Steve compares the US smartphone market share. iPhone is at 28% and Android is at 9%.

“In 2007, we reinvented what we thought of a smartphone. It’s hard to remember what it was like before. In 2008, we added 3G and the App Store. In 2009 the 3GS was twice as fast.”

“In 2010, we’re going to take the biggest leap since the original iPhone. We’re introducing iPhone 4.”

“Now, this is really hot. There are over 100 new features but I’m going to cover eight. The first one?”

“An all new design.”

“This is beyond a doubt, the most precise thing and one of the most beautiful we’ve ever made. Glass on the front and back, and steel around the sides. It’s like a beautiful old Leica camera.”

Steve Jobs then claims that “it is the thinnest smartphone on the planet.”

It has the two-button volume control with mute switch, front-facing camera, microSIM tray and a LED flash beside the rear camera.

Steve Jobs tells the audience that the stainless steel band is part of the antenna system. One side is for Bluetooth, Wifi and GPS; the other is for UMTS and GSM. Ingenious.

It also includes a secondary noise-cancellation microphone at the top, ala Nexus One.

New on the iPhone 4 is the retina display. “Why is that important? Let’s say we want to draw the letter A – as you can see, we can get far more precision. And we play all sorts of tricks.”

“Because we have four times as many pixels, we get really, really sharp text. Now the retina display as 326 pixels per inch.”

“People haven’t even dreamed about a display like this. But there’s more – it turns out there’s a magic number that is right around this ppi that when you hold it away from your face… all of sudden things start to look like continues curves. Like text in a fine printed book.”


The detail difference… Just wow.

Steve tried to demo NY Times, but a network failure did spoil the fun. He asked the audience to get off Wi-Fi. (Someone then shouts, “try Verizon!”)

Whopping specs.

Steve opens the hood and shows an Apple A4 chip.

“Because we’ve been able to make the batter bigger and because the A4 is so good, we’ve improved the battery life. 7 hours of 3G talk, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of WiFi browsing, 10 hours of video, 40 hours of music…”

“Then we’re adding a 3-axis gyroscope, and we tied the gyro, accelerometer, and compass for six axis. It’s perfect for gaming.”

It doesn’t end there. “This is a great one. A whole new camera system.”

“Now everybody loves to talk about megapixels, but we tend to ask the question how do we make better pictures?”

They bumped their camera module to 5 megapixels, and swapped the sensor for a back-illuminated one.

Photos appear beautiful.

It features 720p video capabilities at 30fps, with built-in video editing.

“We pioneered tap to focus, and we now have it for video… and we have one click sharing… and the LED flash will stay on for video recording. You can record, edit, and then with a few taps share it right on the phone.”

The fun continues.

Yes, iMovie!

Randy Ubillos takes the stage. “This year I had a chance to work on iMovie for iPhone, and it’s one of the most exciting apps I’ve ever worked on. It’s really amazing.”

It’s complete with transitions, titles, animations… it’s all there! Oh, and it can export at 360p, 540p and 720p too.

Steve takes the stage with a joke. “Isn’t that awesome? So iMovie for iPhone – you’ll be able to buy this for $4.99… if we approve it.”

Steve Jobs then tells the audience to turn off Wi-Fi, and set all laptops on the floor. This was before…

The iPhone OS 4, now renamed to iOS 4. Steve Jobs sports some cool new features, starting with multitasking.

It’s pretty cool.

iOS 4, briefly.

Apple adds Bing to the list of search engine providers. “You should check them out, it’s great.” Steve goes on to talk about iBooks on the iPhone.

Steve also talks about iAd and demos it to the audience. Doesn’t seem too bad.

“So those are the eight things I wanted to share with you on iPhone 4. Well, we’re really pleased with it. But there is one more thing.”

Steve hasn’t done a “one more thing” for quite a while now.

He whips out his phone, and makes a call to Jony Ive. Not just any call.

A video call. On the iPhone 4.

Steve calls it FaceTime.

It supports iPhone 4-to-iPhone 4 on WiFi networks.

Steve Jobs then wraps up his keynote with the price of the iPhone range on a two-year contract. It is available on 24 June, and preorders start on 15 June.

The iPhone 4 will be available in these countries by September.

iPhone 3GS, 3G and iPod Touch users will get the iOS 4 update for free from 21 June.

He ends the convention with a video, but not before talking about Apple.

“I put up this slide a little earlier this year. It represents what Apple is all about. We’re not just a tech company. Apple is more than that.”

“It’s tech and humanity.”

I’m sorry, Steve, but banning apps off the App Store at your whim and fancy isn’t humanity.

That wraps up the Apple Worldwide Developer Convention 2010. You can visit Apple’s website to watch the keynote address in QuickTime.