WWDC Highlights for 2009

Apple's annual WWDC kick-off has come and gone, leaving behind some pretty interesting things to consider. For me, some of the biggest and most interesting things to emerge, thus far at least, are the following:

One is that the 3G iPhone will still be selling, but this time with the much smaller price of only $99! Thats quite an amazing price for such an amazing device, but still, as great as it is, a lot of people will be even more interested in the newer whiz-bang model, the 3GS and for many valid reasons, such as it's video recording, 3.0 megapixel camera, compass, in addition to other great features. I personally love the new 'Find My Phone' feature, one that will locate your phone where ever it may be hiding.

However, some people, like Dan Turner, are even more excited and impressed about Snow Leopard. Writing for ComputerWorld, he is especially excited about the unbelievablly low cost of upgrading from Leopard - a measly $29 bucks! Thats the lowest price for an upgrade that I can remember - ever! Personally, I honestly thought that I was hearing things, that it was some kind of mistake or something, but it's all true - yippee! This is in addition, of course, to Snow Leopard's impressive new features such as Open CL, Grand Central and Expose on the Dock, all of which should really help to make Snow Leopard the fastest, most secure and most stable version yet.

Then again, another highlight from this year's WWDC was the announcement that the App Store has now hit the amazing 50,000 applications level! Wow, what can I say? For Apple, or anyone period, to actually accomplish such a feat in barely a year or less, well, that has just got to be some kind of Guiness Book of Record or something?

Still, one other big thing to come out was the introduction of new MacBook Pro upgrades, including a new 13 inch MacBook Pro. And just like Snow Leopard, these new laptop upgrades now come deeply discounted in their price. In fact, in once case up to $700. Now that' a pretty big reduction for anyone, let alone for Apple. I personally love the new longer-life Apple batteries too, but I still wish that they were not built-in as they are, but rather were replaceable by the user as where the previous models.

However, one of the more significant developments to emerge this year, and as noted by David Morgenstern of ZDNet, was the information regarding the 'incredible' growth of OS X during the past two years, all thanks in part from the iPhone and iPod Touch phenomenon. Because of this new platform, or what some like to refer to as the 'Pocket Mac', the number of people now using OS X has skyrocketed from approximately 25 million to now well over 75 million users! Thats an incredible figure indeed, and especially more so when you consider that it took OS X some five whole years to hit it's first 25 million. Since then, in a mere two years, the numbers have now tripled! Now that too has got to be another one for the Guiness Book of Records.

It's also impressive to note, as Phil Schiller stated, "It shows great, steady growth of adoption of Mac OS X - this isnt' shipments, it's actual active users..." Wow, to think of Mac OS X tripling in a scant two years is, frankly, to be quite honest, something that I never would have thought possible, yet that is exactly what happened!

Well, the keynote is over, but the WWDC still goes on for the remainder of the week. What else might emerge from this year's annual developer love feast, I don't know. For for one thing, I'm still trying to digest what has already been reported. It's not everything that we might have wished for, but, then again, it never is. So far, however, it's turning out to be a very good WWDC, as WWDC's go.

I'm still looking forward to what may yet come out of the rest of theWWDC, but I'm looking even more so to what may be coming out during the rest of this year and, of course, what comes out by this time next year, when Apple will once again hold it's next WWDC. Something tells me that from here on out, we may all be in for an exciting ride. At least I hope so?

And that's my 2 cents 4 this Wednesday, June 10, 2009