Apple announced iOS 7 today during the keynote presentation at WWDC 2013. “It’s the biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. As expected, Apple also announced the iRadio music subscription service, its swipe at Pandora, Spotify and Internet radio as a whole. Of the announcements at WWDC 2013, these are the two biggest of the big boys. Noticeably absent are any new iPhone, iPad or iPod devices — but Apple carried its weight well-enough in my book to deflect too much attention on what wasn’t at WWDC 2013, and showcase what was (though I do cover the list of absent device updates and launches).

Here is a quick rundown of the 6 big announcements at WWDC 2013:

1. iOS 7 (publicly available this fall)
2. New 11 inch and 13 inch MacBook Air’s (available now)
3. iRadio (available today through iTunes on any device and is free with ads or without ads if you pay for iTunes match)
4. Mavericks OS X (publicly available this fall)
5. Mac Pro (sneak peek: a shiny black cylinder/sleek computer aimed at professional users will feature several times the processing and memory speed and power of the previous generation)
6. iWork for iCloud, iBooks and Apple Maps apps were coming to the Mac (publicly available this fall)

iOS 7

• Much flatter UI

iOS 7 was the leading lady today, as Apple served up some breathtaking photos of a new operating system. My first takeaway is that everything is much, much flatter. With depth and vitality, iOS 7 redesigns the UI with distinct functional layers that have a hierarchy of order. The iPhone that was demoed responded to movement, as the phone shifted so did the view of the homescreen — the angle of the entire UI adjusts as well as the lightening. With iOS 7 you get a new experience of depth with an interface that is un-intrusive.

• New swipe – app toggle

iOS 7 introduced swiping with a new app switcher — app previews are shown on-screen and you have the ability to slide smoothly from app to app. The keyboard is now translucent, showing the content that is behind it. Settings are now only a slide away. A slide up drawer brings up setting toggles including: volume, wifi/bluetooth, music playback, air-plane mode and yes, even a flashlight app!

“We’ve always thought of a design as the way something looks. But it’s the whole thing; the way something works on so many levels. Ultimately, of course, design defines so much of our experience,” – Apple Lead Designer Jonathan Ive.

• Homepage

Folders on the home screen now support multiple pages. The new Calendar is much more responsive. Based around pinching and zooming, you can move from screen to screen very effortlessly. Example: you can pinch out and go from day to week to month view. Does the new weather app look like Yahoo’s weather app to anyone else? There’s some subtle shots fired at the beloved Yahoo Weather app for iOS — Apple’s new iOS 7 Weather app has a very similar look, minus those beautiful Flickr photos.

• 10 new features for Apple : 2013

Apple showcased 10 features in the keynote: Control Center, Multitasking, Safari, Tabs, Air Drop, Camera, Photos, iOS in the Car, App Store, and Music. And with music, came the announcement of iRadio.

iRadio

iRadio is Apple stealing food off of the plate of Pandora, Spotify and the broder Internet radio industry, as witnessed by a stumble in Pandora’s stock when news of Apple’s rival iRadio emerged.   Sticking with its native-first approach, iRadio is built right into the music app for easy access within Apple’s ecosystem.

• Built-in app with song streaming + sharing

“The first thing you notice, we’ve got a set of ‘featured stations’ that show the music that is trending on Twitter right now, or, in this case, the music you’ll hear this week at WWDC. But right now, I feel like listening to Summer Songs,” said Eddy Cue, presenting iRadio to the WWDC crowd.  Cue is the senior VP for Internet services and software at Apple.

Once a song starts playing, you’re able to share that station with your friends, or create a new station based around that artist. It’s not featured stations only — you can create (just like Pandora or Spotify) your own station based on artists, genre or song.

You can modify by hitting the star and see more, less or never again based on any one song. iRadio functions across all stations on all of your devices. iRadio is built into iOS7 as well as iTunes on your Mac and AppleTV. iRadio lets you preview and purchase music right from the point of listening. iRadio is free with ads, and it is free if you’re an iTunes Match subscriber.  iRadio will launch first in the US, and make its way to other countries soon.

What’s missing?

The world’s been waiting with baited breath for today’s presentation, hoping for a completely new and revolutionary device.  Or at least a new iPhone model.  So despite today’s worthy and much-needed updates, there’s surely some disappointment over the lack of news around these devices:

1. No new iPad
2. No new iPhone
3. No new iPod
4. No iWatch launch
5. No new MacBook Pro
6. No iTunes update

WWDC 2013 was very software heavy, and hardware light. There were no new consumer products announced outside of the new 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Airs. No wearable technology what-so-ever.

As an Apple fanboy, I think the news out of WWDC 2013 is going to be plenty to keep Apple in the good graces of all of its users. Tomorrow I’m going to cover the announcements in-depth, as well as discuss a couple of the storage related news from the WWDC 2013 keynote.