Apple Inc unveiled a swath of new products, from iPhones to computers, at its annual Worldwide Developers' Conference last week. However, the much anticipated appearance of founder Steve Jobs, who is on long sick leave, did not materialise.

Apple unveiled the next-generation iPhone 3G S, which is faster, with video and voice commands. A price cut on the current model was also announced. The conference also showcased the new Mac OS X Snow Leopard operating system. The company introduced a MacBook Pro notebook computer line with more battery life and more competitive prices and released the final version of its Safari 4 web browser.

Apple said its new iPhone 3G S is the fastest and most powerful iPhone yet and comes with improved speed and performance - up to twice as fast as iPhone 3G - with longer battery life, a high-quality 3 megapixel autofocus camera, easy-to-use video recording and hands free voice control. It includes the new iPhone OS 3.0 with over 100 new features such as cut, copy and paste, MMS, Spotlight Search, and landscape keyboard. It also supports 7.2 Mbps HSDPA for faster networking speeds.

During the same developers' conference Apple launched an update of its aluminium unibody MacBook Pro line to include 13-inch, 15-inch and 17-inch models featuring a built-in battery for up to 40 per cent longer battery life. Prices for this line of notebooks were also revised downwards.

The much-awaited new version of the MAC OS X, codenamed Snow Leopard, was also unveiled. It will be available from next September.

The new OS offers out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange and new accessibility features. Users will notice a more responsive Finder; mail that loads messages 85 per cent faster and conducts searches up to 90 per cent faster; Time Machine with up to 50 per cent faster initial backup; a Dock with Exposé integration; a 64-bit version of Safari 4 that boosts the performance of the Nitro JavaScript engine by up to 50 per cent, and is resistant to crashes caused by plug-ins.

Snow Leopard also includes an all-new QuickTime X, with a redesigned player that allows users to easily view, record, trim and share video to YouTube, MobileMe or iTunes. Snow Leopard is half the size of the previous version and frees up to 6GB of drive space once installed.

Finally, Apple released Safari 4, which the company claims is the world's fastest and most innovative web browser.

Apple products are available from iCentre of Pietà, Malta's authorised Apple representative.

www.icentre.com.mt

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