(Image: Engadget / Apple)
BY ADAM FALK
You're watching multisource tech video news analysis from Newsy.
So Apple didn’t give users iPhone 5, but Wednesday, iDevices will get iOS 5 - the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system. The company first announced the upgrade 128 days ago, not like we’ve been counting or anything.
The phone facelift has over 200 new features, including iMessage - an iOS-to-iOS messaging service - Newsstand - a hub for your favorite mags and dailies, and direct integration with Twitter. Also inside, a nifty, new notification center that collects your texts, tweets, emails and more and puts them in one spot. (Video from Apple)
Look familiar? It would if you’re an Android user. Engadget reports...
“Cupertino's implementation [of notification center] is very similar to how notifications work on Android. And just like Mountain View's system, that drawer of notifications is revealed with the same downward swipe gesture.”
But for Apple’s most talked about new feature, look to the sky - or the iCloud. A product first introduced by then-CEO Steve Jobs, iCloud is a step towards what Apple calls the “PC free" era.
And CNET adds -- the wireless sync technology makes iOS 5 is a big deal.
“Yes, [iOS 5] is largely a collection of tweaks, improvements, and fiddling with a tried and true formula, but it's also one that--for the first time--breaks iOS devices apart from computers running Apple's iTunes software and goes further to try to unify the devices into the same family.”
ABC reports, it not just the users who will benefit. iCloud could make it rain on Wall Street.
“Several of the analysts we spoke to said, it’s going to beef up that competition with, say, Android phones because if it works right, people are going to stay with Apple devices. ... And an analyst over at RCM Capital says he think potentially that it is worth so much that it could increase the market value of Apple by $100 billion to $500 billion dollars.”
But right now, The Washington Post reports demand for the new OS is causing a server storm for Apple.
“On Twitter, Apple fans are reporting download estimates of up to four hours as the company’s servers try to handle customers trying to download iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion upgrades.”
So, if you have an iPhone 3G S, 4 or 4S or an iPad 1 or 2 or a 3rd or 4th gen iPod, you can update your device from iTunes. And savor it because it might be the last time you plug in.
Transcript by Newsy.
