TORONTO – Apple announced its next wave of products and services during its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco Monday, including a major foray into the growing business of streaming music.
Dubbed Apple Music, the streaming service combines on-demand listening, a 24/7 radio station hosted by live DJs and a forum for artists to give fans behind-the-scenes content from upcoming releases.
The service, which will cost $10 per month, will be launched later this month in more than 100 countries.
Although Apple Music was the most talked about announcement from the WWDC keynote, the tech giant announced many other important changes to its software and services.
Here’s a look at everything Apple announced during the WWDC 2015 keynote:
iOS 9
Although the next major update to Apple’s mobile operating system won’t look very different, the tech giant has added quite a few changes to how it works.
iPhone users will get a new caller ID function that will try to predict numbers that aren’t saved in your contacts using information from emails.
Apple also unveiled new multitasking features for iPad users. A new “50-50 view” will allow users to see two apps side-by-side and picture-in-picture viewing will allow users to watch move videos into the corner of their tablet while they use other apps.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, also noted that none of the new features would come at the expense of user privacy. This comes after CEO Tim Cook made headlines for slamming other tech companies for collecting vast amounts of personal data from users.
Apple will allow the public to download iOS 9 as a beta for the first time. The beta will be available in July.
Siri is smarter
Siri is much smarter in iOS 9, according to Apple executives, who demonstrated by having Siri do things like search an iPhone user’s photos with a voice command, such as “Show me pictures from San Francisco last July.”
With the coming software update, Siri also will be able to anticipate certain requests and remember websites. So, a user can tell Siri to “remember this” and it will later show a link to a website viewed earlier.
Siri will also gain the ability to search within apps loaded on the iPhone, to provide links to information from a restaurant or food app, for example.
Apple Pay
Along with making payments tied to a credit or debit card, Apple Pay will soon incorporate store-issued payment cards and rewards from loyalty programs offered by merchants like Walgreens and Dunkin Donuts in the U.S.
Apple also announced Apple Pay will soon be available to users in the UK – however, no word yet on a Canadian launch.
Transit directions in Apple Maps
Apple Maps is finally getting in-app transit directions for many major cities.
Toronto will be the first and only Canadian city to have transit directions in Apple Maps. Baltimore, Berlin, Chicago, London, Mexico City, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and many cities in China will also feature transit directions.
OS X El Capitan
Apple’s new desktop operating system is called El Capitan, a landmark within Yosemite National Park. Last year’s update was called Yosemite, so the use of El Capitan is an indication that the upcoming version is largely a refinement of Yosemite.
Updates allow users to run multiple apps in split-screen mode, the ability to compose multiple emails in the Mail app through the use of tabs and improved search across the entire computer.
Users will be able to download El Capitan as a public beta in July and as a free update this fall.
Updated operating system for Apple Watch
The tech giant also released an updated OS for its latest gadget, the Apple Watch. The update will give developers access to the Watch’s crown sensors, taptic engine and digital crown.
A new feature called Time Travel will let users scroll the dial to go back and forward in time, whether that’s for upcoming meetings or weather forecasts.
Perhaps the most exciting news for Watch users is that the update will allow them to personalize their watch face with their own pictures.
Apple Music
The new streaming service will cost $10 per month after a three-month free trial. Apple also has a $15-a-month plan for up to six family members.
The Apple Music app will continue to allow download purchases from iTunes. It will be available this summer for Apple devices and Windows PCs, and in a break from Apple’s usual practice, it will also be released as an app for Android devices this fall.
The live radio station, called “Beats 1,” puts a twist on Internet radio, a field led by Pandora, by having DJs host a constant stream of talk and music from Los Angeles, New York and London, led by former BBC host Zane Lowe.
READ MORE: Canadians only willing to pay about $6 to $8 a month for music streaming: report
The company is also touting a feature called “Connect,” which artists can use to share notes, recordings and photos with their fans who subscribe to Apple Music.
“Apple Music is the next chapter in music,” Cook told an estimated 5,000 software developers attending the conference. “It’ll change the way you experience music forever.”
– With files from The Associated Press
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