Calling it the “best music player we have ever done,” Cue said the service will start in the United States before being unveiled in other countries. Much like its rivals, the service will allow users to create their own stations and share them with friends.
Even though many still question whether Apple without Steve Jobs can continue to truly innovate — and tellingly the company has gone months now without a significant new product launch — the show Monday seemed to be channeling Jobs’ kid-in-a-candy-store excitement about everything Apple touches.
Following the announcement of the new Mac operating system, named Mavericks after the world-famous surfing spot off California’s Half Moon Bay, it was the unveiling of iOS 7 that provided the biggest bang of the morning.
Analyst Avi Greengart with New Jersey-based Current Analysis was on hand for the show and he said users will be blown away by the new iOS 7 features, starting with the way the iPhone’s home screen appearance will magically change as the user moves the gadget around, enabling the viewer to essentially “look behind” the icons.
“That tilt factor will provide a very pleasing initial reaction that’ll be huge,” he said. “But the true and more important improvements to OS 7 are the multitask feature, which will keep apps running in the background and allow users to swipe back and forth instead of having to go back to the home page as you do now. That’s a real pain point for people.”
