At its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC), Apple has announced iOS 6, the latest version of its mobile operating system for iPhones, iPads and iPod touches.
Scott Forstall, Apple's head of iOS, started off by announcing that Facebook is joining Twitter in iOS 6, meaning you can send messages, links and photos to Facebook without using an app. Developers will be able to bake Facebook support into their apps, for example for sharing scores from games. Facebook calendars can also be pulled into the iOS calendar app.
New maps
One of the biggest updates, however, is that Google Maps has gone -- Apple has built its own global mapping system, which includes 3D city renders (which got a massive applause at WWDC), traffic reports, business listings and -- at last -- built-in turn-by-turn navigation. Bye bye, expensive TomTom app. Updated 11:00, 12/6/12: It turns out that TomTom is actually providing the maps for iOS6. That's a smart move from the company.
The maps service will also crowdsource traffic congestion information based on anonymous data gathered from other iPhone users. If Apple knows there's a traffic jam on your route, it'll automatically reroute you.
Siri
Siri, Apple's virtual assistant app on the iPhone 4S, supports the turn-by-turn system and is the voice of the navigator, and it too is getting some updates.
Firstly, Siri is going to be supported on the new iPad with iOS 6. The UK is (finally) getting local search and business listing support, and more broadly Siri will be able to pull in sports scores and player performance stats -- including from the UK football Premier League -- as well as more detailed restaurant information, including reviews from Yelp and reservations from OpenTable.
Siri can pull up cinema listings, with ratings and reviews from RottenTomatoes, for cinemas it knows are geographically nearby. Information about directors and actors are also supported and Siri can now launch any app on your iPhone or iPad as well as compose and send messages to Twitter.
Finally, Eyes Free is a new feature that lets you interact with Siri in the car, and Apple is working with manufacturers including Toyota, Audi, Honda, Mercedes and BMW to integrate the technology with their models, using a button close to the steering wheel.
Passbook
A brand new feature was introduced in iOS 6 -- an app called Passbook. It's a digital ticket system that supports on-screen versions of things like plane boarding passes, gig tickets and coupons for coffee stores. It's unclear how shops will support this, but in essence it should allow you to buy a ticket for a movie, have it land directly into the Passbook app, and let you show the digital ticket at the door to get in and see the film.
The iPhone's phone app didn't escape attention -- it's getting a reminder system that allows you to tell your phone to remind you to do something when you leave a location. For example, if you tell your iPhone where your home is, you'll be able to tell it to ring and remind you to do something when you leave the house. This is because the iPhone has GPS, and it knows when you move away from any location.
FaceTime 3G and more
FaceTime is getting support 3G for videocalling over cellular data, and you can tie your phone number to your Mac, so if you FaceTime someone from your laptop it can show up as if it's calling from your phone. iMessage is getting the same treatment.
Mobile Safari got some updates including offline reaching for Reading List, Apple's Read It Later/Instapaper-like text-caching system. Want to read a 6,000-word web story offline? That's what this enables within Safari.
A few small but important updates came to the Mail app, including the ability to insert photos and videos when composing new email, VIP starring to flag up email from important contacts, and support for password-protected document attachments.
Finally, much-improved accessibility support is coming with iOS 6, such as support for hearing aids and better ways to stop kids accessing parts of the phone they shouldn't be playing with.
Release date
There are reportedly over 200 new features, of which the above are some of the highlights. Some raise questions. For example how complete with the global maps service be? Will there be a cost for turn-by-turn navigation?
But iOS 6 won't be released until the autumn, so there's plenty of time to find out more. It will be supported by the iPhone 3GS, 2nd and 3rd generation iPad and the 4th generation iPod touch when it does release.
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The last major release for iOS was iOS 5, released in October 2012 alongside the iPhone 4S. It included the Notification Centre, iMessage and, on the iPhone 4S only, Siri.
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