WWDC 2010 Flashback: iPhone 4, iOS 4, Safari 5

May 31, 2014

As we head towards WWDC 2014 we thought it would be fun to look back at Apple World Wide Developer Conferences past, what they introduced, and what impact they made. Today let's take a look at WWDC 2010, the first post-iPad WWDC, and the last WWDC to feature the introduction of an iPhone...

Apple's dominance as a mobile developer was on display in 2010. While in previous years WWDC tickets were available for weeks or even months prior to the date (with early bird discounts available, too), WWDC 2010 sold out in eight days — and every ticket was full price.

The iPad made its debut in April of that year; by late May, Apple announced it had already sold 2 million of them (it'd pass the 3 million mark a couple of weeks after WWDC wrapped up).

So iOS was becoming the focus of Apple's efforts, and iOS was definitely the centerpiece of that year's show. iPhone OS 4 had already been previewed earlier that year, offered as a beta to registered developers. App Store apps gained multitasking, folders were added to help make app organization easier. iBooks were introduced, along with Game Center and Apple's iAd service. FaceTime debuted with that release, and more - more than 100 new features in all, with 1,500 new APIs for developers.

With the introduction of the iPad, however, "iPhone OS" wasn't an accurate branding, so Steve Jobs announced at WWDC that henceforth the operating system would be known as "iOS" instead.

WWDC 2010 saw the introduction of the iPhone 4. Apple's previous iPhone models all looked similar, but the iPhone 4 featured a more flat-backed design made of stainless steel and glass, a stunning 9.3 millimeters thin. The iPhone 4 was the first iPhone (and the first Apple device) to be equipped with a Retina display — the first Apple device to sport such a high-resolution screen. Inside the iPhone 4 was an A4 processor, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and improved battery capacity with 40 percent longer talk time.

Apple also introduced Safari 5, with big performance increases, the ability to choose different search engines besides Google and support for Safari Extensions, which enabled developers to add new capabilities to the popular web browsing tool.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who was absent from WWDC 2009 during an extended medical leave that saw him receive a liver transplant, was back for 2010.

Give it a watch and let me know — what do you think of WWDC 2008 and what, if anything, does it make you hope for at WWDC 2014?