WWDC 2019: Apple unveils Mac Pro computer, iOS13 and iPadOS, as death of iTunes announced
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Apple has unveiled updates for iPhone, Apple Watch and a host of other products – as well as its most powerful computer ever: the Mac Pro.
The company made the announcements at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference, or WWDC, in California on Monday.
It revealed all the major software updates that it will push out to the Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Apple TV later this year.
Unlike other events such as the iPhone reveal, none of these new updates will require paying up for new products. Instead, they will come in the form of operating system updates, which will bring a whole host of new features to most existing iPhones.
Apple unveiled iOS 13, for instance, the new software that will power the iPhone. It brings with it a new dark mode, better multitasking features, and changes to the way the phones store health data.
Please allow a moment for the live blog to load.
Normally, these couple of hours before the event can see a flurry of leaks, as new people are briefed on secrets and they then accidentally spill out into the world. There's not been much of that, just yet, but Apple has been rumoured to be cracking down to keep things secret.
With less than half an hour to go until it all kicks off, the hall of the San Jose McEnery Convention Center is filling up. It's been a long wait for many, with our man David Phelan telling us there have been "phenomenally long" queues to get in since before 7am local time.
Here's a picture he shared of the long lines
With just minutes before the event, a leak might have revealed that Apple is introducing a new operating system: ipadOS. This from a developer called Steve Moser who has spotted a change in some terms and conditions.
Until now, the iPad operating system has always been a variant of iOS, the software originally released with iPhones. (It was even renamed from iPhone OS to iOS early on, to reflect the fact it was used across different products.)
This would essentially mean creating a whole new operating system, even though it will presumably be similar to iOS. That could in turn finally allow the iPad to get some of the powerful features that users have been asking for over recent years, such as more powerful multitasking and other more pro tools.
Tim Cook is 10 minutes away from taking to the stage, and it's been a very busy few days for the Apple boss.
In the build up to WWDC he met with app scholarship students who have made their way to California for the event.
The Independent's David Phelan was with them when Tim Cook paid a surprise visit.
More pictures from inside the convention centre. We're almost ready to begin...
Apple's livestream of the event has begun. You can watch along with us here: https://www.apple.com/apple-events/livestream/
And we're off! Apple begins with a video montage of the night-time habits of software engineers.
It signs off with the tagline, "While the world sleeps, you dream."
Tim Cook is on stage, welcoming the normally nocturnal software engineers and developers with the words "you make the world a better place".
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