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Apple’s iOS 5 launches this fall

iOS 5 WWDC 2011

As part of the WWDC 2011 keynote, Apple's Scott Forstall announced that iOS 5 will be available to all users this fall. It'll work with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPhone 5 (although they didn't mention the next iPhone, it's a no-brainer) as well as iPad and iPad 2, and the 3rd, 4th, and 5th generation iPod touch. The fall release date is a good indicator that we won't be seeing the launch of new iPhone hardware until the fall as well. We will have a wrap-up of some of the best iOS 5 features that were demoed today in just a bit!

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The Blank Screen: How Apple Outsmarts Competitors

White iPhone 4

When the iPhone was launched in 2007, I met with Phil Schiller, SVP of World Wide marketing for Apple, and Greg Joswiak, the Apple VP in charge of marketing the iPods and iPhones. During the meeting they showed me the iPhone's many features and shared their goals for the device, which has now become a major business for Apple.

During that meeting, they made a comment that I believe is really the heart of Apple's secret sauce and the cornerstone of how it continues to outsmart its competitors. They laid the iPhone on the table, with it turned off, and asked me what I saw. I told them I saw a 3.5 inch blank screen. They said that from Apples point of view, the "magic" of the iPhone is strictly in the software. And, they de-emphasized the hardware.

Yes, the iPhone was a slick smartphone with a great screen and, at the time, it broke new ground in smartphone design, and Apple was very proud of that. However, with the iPhone turned off, it had very little value. But once it was turned on, the iPhone's OS and apps turned it into a completely different device. While it was a phone, the software made it much more—it became a vehicle for applications. It also had another component that really made it sing and dance; it was also an iPod and was tied directly to iTunes. Now it morphed into a much broader multi-purpose device. It was a phone, a vehicle for apps, and an iPod, which made it a great personal mobile entertainment system.

Click to continue reading The Blank Screen: How Apple Outsmarts Competitors


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