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Following a quick recap of Apple’s seventh annual iTunes Festival and updates on the company’s retail expansion, company executives moved on to discuss the operating system everyone is waiting for, iOS 7.
Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off a media event in Cupertino on Tuesday by revealing the company will ship its 700 million iOS device in October, a great segue way into executive Craig Federighi’s chat about iOS 7.
Unveiled at WWDC 2013 three months ago, iOS 7 offers an all-new user interface featuring a parallax effect, along with improvements to Notification Center, search, Siri, photos and iTunes Radio, which will also be incorporated into the Apple TV as well as iTunes on Macs and PCs.
“Downloading iOS 7 is like getting an all new phone that you already know how to use,” Federighi remarked prior to announcing that the new operating system will be available to download for existing devices next Wednesday, Sept. 18.
iOS 7 will be a free over-the-air software update for the iPad 2 and higher, iPad mini, iPhone 4 and higher and fifth-generation iPod touch, and will be preloaded onto the latest iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S handsets when they arrive on Sept. 20.
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