By BRIAN X. CHEN and NICK WINGFIELD
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple on Monday overhauled its family of Mac computers and introduced a new version of its mobile operating system for iPhones and iPads that will bring a host of new features, including three-dimensional maps that let users zoom over an image of a city.
The new maps software is a replacement for Google Maps with Apple’s own mapping system, in a sign that Apple is further distancing itself from the Internet search giant that it once considered a close partner.
“We are so proud of these products, as they’re perfect examples of what Apple does best,” said Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, introducing the new products on the opening day of the company’s developer conference here — a yearly event where Apple shows off its works-in-progress to entice software developers to continue creating software that runs on Apple’s devices. This is was the first developer conference that Apple has held since the death of its co-founder and former chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, last October.
Apple made the boldest changes in its computer line to its high-end laptop computer, the MacBook Pro, which is now one-quarter thinner than the older model and has a high-resolution “retina display” akin to the screen on new iPads and iPhones. Apple was able to slim down the laptop, which will start at $2,200 for a model with a 15.4-inch screen, by eliminating its DVD drive and getting ride of its hard drive in favor of a faster form of storage technology called flash.
Apple’s move to drop the DVD drive echoes past moves by the company to drop technologies in its machines, like floppy-disk drives, that it viewed as outmoded, even though some consumers grumbled about the changes initially. The company also updated its ultra-light MacBook Air laptop with a faster microprocessor and improved camera.
The new mapping system will provide drivers with turn-by-turn directions, a feature that has long been available in other smartphones. Apple created the 3-D view in its maps service, called Flyover, by shooting aerial photographs.
Since the introduction of the iPhone, Apple has relied on Google’s mapping data to drive the maps software included on the iPhone. Apple’s abandonment of Google Maps underscores the heightening tension between the two companies. Though they began as collaborators, their relationship gradually eroded after Google released Android, its mobile operating system that competes with the iPhone. Now Google’s Android is the top mobile operating system in the world, and the two companies compete directly in several markets.
To catch up with Google on creating a mapping database, Apple acquired three mapping companies over the last three years: Placebase, Poly9 and C3 Technologies.
Other new features in the new mobile operating system, iOS 6, include improvements to Siri, the voice-activated virtual assistant in the latest iPhone. While Siri initially worked with a limited set of Internet services — allowing users to, say, search for restaurants through Yelp — it will now let them use natural voice commands to search for sports statistics, make restaurant reservations using OpenTable and look up showtimes for movies.
Siri also has a new function, Eyes Free, that will allow car drivers to communicate with the voice assistant by pushing a button on their car steering wheels. General Motors, BMW and Toyota are among the auto manufacturers who have agreed to put such a button in their vehicles.
Apple also said it reached an agreement with Facebook that more deeply weaves the social network into Apple’s devices, allowing people to share photos to Facebook, for example, without having to open a separate Facebook app. The new features in the operating system will become available for iPhones, iPads and the iPod Touch when iOS 6 is released this fall.
Apple’s new Macs will ship with the operating system Apple introduced in February, OS X Mountain Lion, which takes some features from Apple’s mobile products and blends them into the Macs.
A new feature in Mountain Lion, which will be released in July, is Power Nap; it will allow computers to fetch software updates, e-mails and other data from the Internet while the machines are asleep.
SAN FRANCISCO — Apple on Monday overhauled its family of Mac computers and introduced a new version of its mobile operating system for iPhones and iPads that will bring a host of new features, including three-dimensional maps that let users zoom over an image of a city.
The new maps software is a replacement for Google Maps with Apple’s own mapping system, in a sign that Apple is further distancing itself from the Internet search giant that it once considered a close partner.
“We are so proud of these products, as they’re perfect examples of what Apple does best,” said Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, introducing the new products on the opening day of the company’s developer conference here — a yearly event where Apple shows off its works-in-progress to entice software developers to continue creating software that runs on Apple’s devices. This is was the first developer conference that Apple has held since the death of its co-founder and former chief executive, Steven P. Jobs, last October.
Apple made the boldest changes in its computer line to its high-end laptop computer, the MacBook Pro, which is now one-quarter thinner than the older model and has a high-resolution “retina display” akin to the screen on new iPads and iPhones. Apple was able to slim down the laptop, which will start at $2,200 for a model with a 15.4-inch screen, by eliminating its DVD drive and getting ride of its hard drive in favor of a faster form of storage technology called flash.
Apple’s move to drop the DVD drive echoes past moves by the company to drop technologies in its machines, like floppy-disk drives, that it viewed as outmoded, even though some consumers grumbled about the changes initially. The company also updated its ultra-light MacBook Air laptop with a faster microprocessor and improved camera.
The new mapping system will provide drivers with turn-by-turn directions, a feature that has long been available in other smartphones. Apple created the 3-D view in its maps service, called Flyover, by shooting aerial photographs.
Since the introduction of the iPhone, Apple has relied on Google’s mapping data to drive the maps software included on the iPhone. Apple’s abandonment of Google Maps underscores the heightening tension between the two companies. Though they began as collaborators, their relationship gradually eroded after Google released Android, its mobile operating system that competes with the iPhone. Now Google’s Android is the top mobile operating system in the world, and the two companies compete directly in several markets.
To catch up with Google on creating a mapping database, Apple acquired three mapping companies over the last three years: Placebase, Poly9 and C3 Technologies.
Other new features in the new mobile operating system, iOS 6, include improvements to Siri, the voice-activated virtual assistant in the latest iPhone. While Siri initially worked with a limited set of Internet services — allowing users to, say, search for restaurants through Yelp — it will now let them use natural voice commands to search for sports statistics, make restaurant reservations using OpenTable and look up showtimes for movies.
Siri also has a new function, Eyes Free, that will allow car drivers to communicate with the voice assistant by pushing a button on their car steering wheels. General Motors, BMW and Toyota are among the auto manufacturers who have agreed to put such a button in their vehicles.
Apple also said it reached an agreement with Facebook that more deeply weaves the social network into Apple’s devices, allowing people to share photos to Facebook, for example, without having to open a separate Facebook app. The new features in the operating system will become available for iPhones, iPads and the iPod Touch when iOS 6 is released this fall.
Apple’s new Macs will ship with the operating system Apple introduced in February, OS X Mountain Lion, which takes some features from Apple’s mobile products and blends them into the Macs.
A new feature in Mountain Lion, which will be released in July, is Power Nap; it will allow computers to fetch software updates, e-mails and other data from the Internet while the machines are asleep.
