WWDC 2015 live: OS X El Capitan, iOS 9, watchOS 2 and more
A UK Apple Pay launch date, OS X 10.11 El Capitan, iOS 9 and watchOS 2 all confirmed
Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) took the wraps off a vast array of software-related announcements, with much for developers and end users alike to get excited about.
Scroll down for our live blog and links to key announcements, but if you want a quick overview of the main news, look no further:
- Apple has taken the wraps off OS X 10.11 El Capitan. It will make the user experience even more intuitive and speedy.
- OS X El Capitan available to developers now, with public beta in autumn.
- New version of watchOS also on the cards. Will be dubbed watchOS 2 and come with many many enhancements and new features.
- Next version of iOS will be iOS 9. Will include enhanced intelligence, in search and Siri that suggests things for users based on contexual information.
- Siri continues to improve and learn - it is 40 per cent more accurate now.
- New multi-tasking features in iOS 9 will boost iPad users' productivity.
- Public transport directions coming to Maps soon.
- Apple Pay coming to the UK in July.
- You'll also be able to pay for London transport travel using Apple Pay.
- Passbook has been rebranded as Wallet.
- Apple launches Apple Music with help from supporting cast of famous names.
In the meantime, we run down what you can expect to hear from Apple at WWDC 15 and what it means for you.
OS X 10.11 (El Capitan)
For the past 11 years, Apple has used the opening keynote of WWDC to show off the latest version of its desktop operating system, OS X, and this year is was no exception.
As predicted by MacRumours, OS X 10.11 - now dubbed El Capitan - is not a a massive departure from OS X 10.10 Yosemite in terms of look and feel because Yosemite was itself a far-reaching overhaul of the UI.
Credit: Yosemite National Park by Chase Lindberg
The name is also indicitave of this: El Capitan, pictured above, is an iconic large rocky outcrop in Yosemite national park, rather than a separate "beautiful place in California" in its own right meaning that it is to Yosemite what Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) was to Leopard (OS X 10.5) - a release with increased stability and a few new functions to further improve the end user experience.
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A beta of the new OS is available to developers immediately. The public can get their hands on the beta in autumn with a full version available soon after, but you can find out all the details of OS X 10.11 El Capitan's features here.
iOS 9
As with OS X, a new version of iOS has been a staple of WWDC for the past seven years, and it was widely expected that iOS 9 would be confirmed during the WWDC keynote.
It was also thought that, like OS X 10.11, iOS 9 would focus on stability and optimisation, rather than radical new features or design changes. However, while the interface has remained largely the same, Apple released a wide-ranging set of new features.
Ther is a new split-screen mode, enhanced multi-tasking support for the iPad, plus tweaks to Siri and Apple Maps among other things. Furthermore, security remains paramount, with Apple saying it has tried to enhance the user experience whilst keeping security and privacy and its core.
Additionally, as anticipated by 9to5Mac before last night's event, Apple has reduced the amount of memory required to download the OS to 1.3GB, compared to iOS 8's 4.6GB. This means iOS 9 will be available to the same range of devices as iOS 8.
Apple also surprised the audience by announcing the latest version of its moble programming language, Swift 2, will be open source.
Take a look at our iOS 9 hub for all the news and views on Apple's latest OS.
Apple WatchOS 2
With Apple Watch only having released in April, many thought it was unlikely there would be many, if any, major new announcements regarding the smartwatch or its operating system. However, contrary to these rumours, Apple showed off watchOS 2, an updated operating system for Apple Watch that boasts a number of new enhancements designed to please users, including a nightstand mode, time and location-contextual animated watch faces, Time Travel and support for native apps.
You can find all the details about the Apple Watch and watchOS 2 in our dedicated hub.
Apple Pay
Apple Pay was launched last September alongside the iPhone 6 and has seen strong adoption by consumers in the US, racking up three million registered credit cards in the first three days after it became publicly available.
It is now coming to the UK and will be available in 250,000 locations - more than when it launched in the US - from July, bolstered by support from the likes of Costa Coffee, M&S and Waitrose, as well as leading banks.
With Samsung and Google now bringing on the heat with their own mobile payments systems,Samsung PayandAndroid Pay, it made sense for Apple to stage a worldwide launch of its own payment system at WWDC 15.
Want to know more about Apple Pay? Look no further than ourdedicated Apple Pay hub, which aims to answer all your questions and more
Apple Music & Beats 1 Radio
As had been rumoured, Apple finally revealed what it intends to do with Beats Music, which it aquired in May 2014.
The overhauled service has been renamed Apple Music, which is made up of three parts: Apple Music, the primary streaming service, Beats 1, a 24/7 radio online station, and Connect, which lets fans follow their favourite artists. Apple Music will cost $9.99 per month in the US (it is thought it may be higher in the UK) for a single user, or $14.99 for a family subscription, which will be based around the existing iCloud Family Sharing feature of iOS.
The rebranding of Beats Music as Apple Music was revealed a few days early by Sony Music's CEO Doug Morris, VentureBeat reports.
According to VentureBeat Morris seemed generally enthusiastic about the launch of Apple Music saying it would represent a tipping point for the subscription music streaming market.
"A rising tide will lift all boats. It's the beginning of an amazing moment for our industry," he said.
For more information about Apple Music, take a look at our article, which follows the service from the Beats acquisition to the present day.
Jane McCallion is ITPro's Managing Editor, specializing in data centers and enterprise IT infrastructure. Before becoming Managing Editor, she held the role of Deputy Editor and, prior to that, Features Editor, managing a pool of freelance and internal writers, while continuing to specialize in enterprise IT infrastructure, and business strategy.
Prior to joining ITPro, Jane was a freelance business journalist writing as both Jane McCallion and Jane Bordenave for titles such as European CEO, World Finance, and Business Excellence Magazine.